Problem after partial water change

[jenron]

I performed a partial water change yesterday and today two of my fish seem to be suffering from oxygen deprivation. I see no visible signs of any other disease - just rapid breathing, etc. One of my tangs actually was lying on his side on the bottom of my tank. All of the levels seem to be stable and the temp is within range. Can't figure out what the problem is???? Anyone out there have any ideas?

 

[darren111]

Hi Jenron I read you letter the only thing I can ask is what sought of water did you use and how much did you take out of your tank,sometimes its best to wait a few hours before you test your water condictions after a water change. I change my tank every 2 weeks with a 20% water change using 3 tubs of Salt water and a tub of RO water. It might be just possiable you increased the salinaty of your tank and the fish are having problems with that and that could be why they are not getting the oxygon they need. Tank a sample up to your Aquarium and get them to test the measurememt of your salt content you just might have raised it with out knowing.Goodluck and please let me know how you went .....Darren......

 

[bobj]

Rapid deterioration of seemly normal fish is usually due to chemical toxins. If you used tap water for the change did you forget to neutralize the chlorine and chloramines?
Many water treatment facilities are adding the chemicals that produce chloramines which are more difficult to eradicate that simply chlorine.

 

[jimi]

We definately need more info like exactly what you used how you did the change and your water readings now. Did you premix the water, use r/o or tap water?

 

[jenron]

Originally posted by jimi:
<STRONG>We definately need more info like exactly what you used how you did the change and your water readings now. Did you premix the water, use r/o or tap water?</STRONG>
Jimi - I used R/O water that was pre-mixed with salt using a pump. I checked the salinity of the water before adding it. It should've been just right. I also checked the temp with a thermometer and it was within 1 degree of the water already in the tank. When I saw there was a problem I also checked the pH, nitrites and ammonia levels and found no problems with these. My yellow tang originally acted like he was becoming sick (gasping for air, swimming vertically, etc.), but now he's acting a little better. The next thing I knew one of my angels was lying on his side. He's still alive, but just barely. I'm considering another partial water change just in case something strange got into the water system. I think I'll take the rock back out as well. We interchange the large rocks each time we do a water change because we sun bleach our rocks to clean them rather than chancing chlorine. Any ideas as to what might be happening? I don't want to lose all of my fish. Any suggestions would be helpful. By the way, I cleaned all of the filters as well.

 

[jacrmill]

you have never exactly said how your water tests. you do a water change and that removes some good bacteria, but you should have enough to make up for it, most of the time alot of those bacteria live on your filter. what kind of filter do you have? what are the inhabitants of your tank? im guessing you dont have any LR cause you say you sunbleach your rock. alot of good bacteria is going to live on your rock also. then you change that rock with some rock that has no bacteria on it. i think your problem is that you just wiped out a huge portion of your biological filter. this would give the symptoms of your fish. so how does your water test? what is your ammonia and nitrite level?

 

[jimi]

I dont think its the water but maybe something is dying in your rock other then the bacteria. A partial water change would not hurt.

 

[jacrmill]

i know that a partial water change wont hurt. but added to that she cleaned off her filter and removed a good amount of decrotive rock. i was just thinking that a lot of good bacteria lives on filters and rocks. it was just an idea, but if her water does test ok then that is not the case.