# fish dying



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Bought and quarantined 5 rainbow fish- they did fine so I added them to the 30 gallon tank 1 week ago.
noticed a couple of days ago that they were breathing a bit faster than I thought they should but having no experience with rainbows I wasn't sure about how fast they should breathe.
This morning found 2 of my platies dead.They were in prime health last week and just at breeding age.They seemed fine yesterday too. One was at the top of the water on its side. The one side was whitish- don't know whether another fish had grazed on her or not. The other dead one was sitting on her stomach looking alive but in fact dead.
I then noticed that the cories were breathing very hard as was 1 black skirt.
So I did a water change and took myself over to Big Al's and checked out the remaining rainbows. They were not breathing fast at all.
So, What am I dealing with?? The store has no idea. 
Since my original fish were ok when I added the rainbows I am assuming that the rainbows brought in a different type of vius or what ever than my own fish are used to.
Sometimes when you buy new fish nothing happens and other times the new fish all die or the original tank inhabitants all die.
So I am assuming that they have gill flukes and am treating with prazipro just now. I did buy "clout" but it seems a bit harsh and I do have the cories and pleco in the tank and it says not to use with bottom feeders.
Periodically I have this issue with new fish wiping out my others and it is very annoying and hurtful to lose fish I have grown attached to.
I feel like I've murdered them.
The only thing to be seen is the hard breathing. They are Not near the surface and whatever it is takes them out in a few hours.
I need some ideas guys!! What am I dealing with and how do I treat?


----------



## SouthernBelle23 (Mar 24, 2009)

Did you check your water parameters? Fish tend to breathe hard when there is ammonia in the tank....well, high ammonia. 

I would get an air pump and airstone in the tank to see if that helps. Could definitely be some type of parasite though since it started when the other fish were added.

Any symptoms like rubbing on stuff or flashing that you have seen?


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I am such an idiot!!:-(. When I was vaccuuming this morning a thought came to me to add the air stone. I had this problem once before in the tank and it is a combination of the fact that I am using an external canister filter and I had the inflow pipe too low down in the water. Add to this the fact that I put plastic over any openings around the tank to prevent fish jumping( The top does not quite perfectly fit this new tank), And you get a build up of carbon dioxide under the hood and NO oxygen exchange.
I ran a bubbler for 4 hours and lowered the water, raised the intake pipe and voila the fish are all breathing ok.- Not a parasite although I did treat them for it.
Unfortunately the one cory is in bad shape. Must be in shock. It is always getting attacked by my BN pleco and today with the low oxygen level it has skin ripped off its back, the dorsal is missing and the tail is completely gone to the flesh of the body. I have it in a holding tank but it is pretty stunned.
Not the brightest fish around at the best of times. It's sibs are ok and zooming around.
Those canister filters need a bit of extra attention that HOB filters don't!


----------

