Help! A water change ended up making my fishes breath very hard. WHY?

[numan]

My first post didn't get in so I'm hoping this one will.
Hi,
2 days after my tank cycled I put in a couple of Clowns and 3 days later I added another fish and they were all doing fine for 4-5 days and after I did a water change last night they started breathing hard 4 hours later. I checked all my levels twice and were ok, everything read zero but nitrates were still 10ppm. They never had a problem with this level they weren't even breathing hard not untill I did a water change of about 20% and added more water no salt to adjust salinity which the salinity is now 1.024. I didn't want to rush things by putting in these fishes but I just had no choice. They appear to be eating ok though. I've had fishes that died in the past and I don't want that to happen again.
My setup:
75 Gallon tank
Filstar XP3 filter
Rio 1400 power head (sometimes on or off)
Sand 2" thick
No Live Rock
I look forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks

 

[buzz]

Nitrates of 10 are not a problem for fish...what is your pH? Alkalinity? What temp was the water you added? Tank temp? (getting at how drastically the temp may have swung)...
You want to add very slowly to a tank that has just cycled...also, how did you do the water changes?
You say you added fresh water to cut the salinity down to 1.024. What was it before you did that? Also, how much fresh water did it take? In dumping fresh water in the tank, you may have given them a bit of a fresh water dip...

 

[elan]

how did you mix the water? and how long was it before you put the water in your tank??
you having to adjust the salinity tells me that you didnt really check the salinity of the premixed water before you added it to your tank....
in the future, the recommended plan of action is to mix up a batch of water in a nice large rubbermade or garbage can (clean)...put a powerhead in the let it run for a day or so.. check salinity and adjust... if you have to adjust, let it run for another half day or so depending on how much you had to adjust.... after a day or so running, the salt would have diluted well and as an added plus, your new water will have plenty of oxygen from the powerhead.
then, and only after the above, can you do your water change.
this will be the least stressfull for your fish....
i dont know for sure, but i wouldnt really worry about your fish at this point... just keep an eye on the salinity.

 

[buzz]

Question also...sorry....how did you cycle the tank if you have only a 2 inch sandbed, and no live rock?

 

[foulbrew]

Did you use RO water? If so, did you run some air into it. RO water right out of the filter has extremely low levels of oxygen.

 

[numan]

Hi to you all! thanks so much in helping me out.
My Salinity was at 1.028 I believe before the water change. I then took out 5 gallons at a time from the tank using a 5 gallon bucket so 3 buckets total. Using a therm. adjusting water temp for 80 deg. I then made 15 gallons with salt and stired it by hand and a little with a power head. I done each 5 gallon bucket in 15-20 mins and dumped it back into the tank. After reading one of your replies this is not an ideal way to do it but now I know better. And the last bucket was fresh water to top it off and lower salinity.
As far as adjusting salinity if I'm not mistaken took 5 gallons to bring it down from 1.026 or 1.028 down to 1.024
I cycled using the 2 dead shrimps plus 15 pounds of live sand.
I wish I could use RO water but I'm not willing to pay so I'll wait around and my brother might get tempted sooner or later and get one so I can use it also.
I appreciate it everyone! my fishes seem to be doing better as I'm typing this. they aren't breathing as hard much. Because I hooked up the spray bar supplied with my Filstar xp3, and I think it did the trick by spraying bubbles in the tank for oxygen? maybe they weren't having enough?
I'm still new to all of this so you guys will be hearing more from me, if that's ok

 

[uking]

I believe you just over whelmed your fish. They went thru alot in a 3 day period. One thing that makes saltwater so much more diffcult to keep is that they come from a environment that never changes. never!!!!!!!! And when we put them in a fish tank, and we stick out hands in there and sturr stuff up and change water.........we are causeing changes to there environment. They are very delicate. if someone took you from a room that was 105 degrees and to a room that was 30 degrees you would go into some type of shock. And God made our bodies to be able to adjust to that sort of change. However saltwater fish are totally different. Anything from having a little colonge or lotion on your hand can cause changes to the water chemistry. Some fish react to those changes a little different than others. If I spray a aresol can with airfreshener in it in a closed room, it can cause some people to choke or cough........where as some it will not harm them. so in a way, we are just like fish. but a 1000 times stronger.
Good luck!

 

[buzz]

Tap water contains various elements that you can't test for with any kits available. Also, there may be copper, nitrates, and phosphates present. The use of tap water is among the top reasons for fish death that I have seen or heard of. You say you aren't willing to pay for RO water. You are going to pay more down the road in fish replacement than you are for water. Do it right.
A Specific Gravity of 1.028 is too high. 1.022-1.024 is ideal. I use 1.023.
Water changes - 5 gallon buckets are good. However, you should check the specific gravity/salinity of each bucket before putting it in the tank. You want that water to be as close to the same as what is currently in the tank as possible. Don't mix, dump it in the tank, and then cut it with fresh water. If you dumped a 5 gallon bucket of fresh water straight into your tank, you most likely did bathe them in fresh water.
Get the levels the same in each bucket, and then add to the tank. Did you use Amquel or anything like that?

 

[thomas712]

Numan - One procedure that I like to use and that is widely suggested is to mix your water change water in a tub or other aquarium with powerhead, heater using Reverse Osmosis water. Let this mix for at least 24 hours in order to let the salt throughly mix and desolve. Sometimes a fresh water change like you did can really mess with the ph, or cause so called "salt burn" to corals.
I normally let my waterchange water sit for 2 days before changing. Then check temp, salinity, ph, alk and calc. in both tanks right before the change.
Thomas

 

[numan]

Hi. Yes I did use Amquel and also a salinity checker and adjusted for 1.021 before adding the saltwater to the tank since it originally was at 1.026-1.028 . I did not add fresh water without using amquel. Thanks for advise and suggestions!