Breathing... Heavy

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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sPuffalopagus
Dwarf Puffer
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Breathing... Heavy

Post by sPuffalopagus »

Hi All,
Sunny, my T.Abei is showing signs of stress... heavy breathing and lethargy... Tested my water and it shows 0 Nitrites and trace Nitrates...

My current guess is actually... Constipation... cos the poop that I find are rather hardish and solid... Ate up the frozen Blood worms with gusto this afternoon but started panting by dinner time... could it be the worms? Tummy looks bloated but not extremely...

What say you guys?

Worried,
Jason
Ohhh... the Anticipation!!!

Hammie the Baileyi
Sunny the Abei
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Kyuri and Hamachi the Female Irrubescos
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manutius
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Post by manutius »

It could be constipation, I would keep an eye on things and try some veggies if he will eat them. There's no harm in doing a water change either. Out of interest what is the temp in the tank, if its warmer than normal this decreases the O2 available and could result in heavy breathing
baily
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Post by baily »

has his color changed, my t. abei does that sometimes, but it is accompanied by darkening of his color
sPuffalopagus
Dwarf Puffer
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Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:03 am
Location: Singapore

Post by sPuffalopagus »

Colour change is minimal... will try to feed some vegs. As for the temp... its not too high... Moreover I have a airstone in the tank too...

But its much better today. No idea what hit it... a mystery it shall be then...

Thanks Guys
Ohhh... the Anticipation!!!

Hammie the Baileyi
Sunny the Abei
Nori the Fang
Kyuri and Hamachi the Female Irrubescos
Beetroot the Fahaka
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Hilly
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Post by Hilly »

Sometimes When I cut off a piece of frozen Mussel and chuck it in I realize I have given him too much but by then its too late. if he eats a bit too much, he then starts to breathe heavily and just sits there until he's digested it. A day later at the most he's back to his normal self though.
Hilly
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Post by Pufferpunk »

1 tbsp Epsom salt/10g & increase to 1 tbsp/5g the next day.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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