luckyfish Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 My partner has gone away for the weekend and I'm in charge of making sure his fish are fed and don't die....last night I checked them and they were all fine.... This morning I took my baby down to see this fishys and all his display peacocks and his breeder males and females in the 6ft tank were on the surface gasping and some on their side It appears the flow of oxygen across the surface has stopped so I've played around with pipes and got it going again, threw in a sponge filter to pump some surface bubbles in the tank and watched They're a wee bit better now, still gasping and some are on the bottom laying quietly I also noticed the glass thermometer was floating in the water and had broken, will this leak mercury into the water? I was unsure so i've added a bit of prime to water just in case Have I done the right thing? Is there anything else I should do???? I don't his fish dying on my watch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane r Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 break the surface as much as possible try a powerhead to oxygenate the water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubby Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 What are the water parametres ? Have you done a test ? Also no one uses mercury thermometers in fish tanks, they haven't been used for about 20 years at least in medical thermometers even, so very unlikely for an aquarium. I doubt very much that the thermometer was a mercury type, was the liquid red or silver in the pipe ? Silver is mercury, red will be glychol . Just get as much surface agitation going as is possible with a power head. Check the water for Ammonia and se how you go . Good luck . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titlebound Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Could be ammonia or nitrite poisoning too - similar symptoms - do you have a test kit ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 I have a test kit, will do some testing, thanks guys for all your help. Some real kind people of the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashlum Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 also if you have any purigen, put that in your filter. purigen is really good at removing some of those nasty stuff out of the water so may be beneficial...fingers crossed. also do a water change if you can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercobwe Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 also if you have any purigen, put that in your filter. purigen is really good at removing some of those nasty stuff out of the water so may be beneficial...fingers crossed. also do a water change if you can 1st- Check your water 2nd- Do water change (no matter what's the reading on the test) 3rd- Get your output right on the water surface or get some more air into the tank. Good luck, Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercobwe Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 How big is your tank? 6x?x? what type of filtration do you use? How many fishes in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 its 6x2x2, there is a fluval fx5 on it, about 40+ large afrian cichlids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan013 Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 How long has the tank been running for? And is it just the fx5? Or do you have an internal or airstones etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 ok so i looked inside the tank and found that a piece of the flow pipe had come off, i've pushed it back on and its helping break the surface Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercobwe Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 ok so i looked inside the tank and found that a piece of the flow pipe had come off, i've pushed it back on and its helping break the surface That's might be the reason why you don't have enough air but it's important to set your output on the same level or a tiny bit above your water level to get maximum air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercobwe Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 its 6x2x2, there is a fluval fx5 on it, about 40+ large afrian cichlids That shouldn't be a problem then because I have 45+ on 5x2x2 also on FX5 and they all fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan013 Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 How long has the tank been running for? And is it just the fx5? Or do you have an internal or airstones etc? Bump......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubby Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 What was the results of the water tests ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 ammonia was fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubby Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 ammonia was fine Ok that's good, how are they now ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 they appear to be better, one of the females is hiding at the back of the tank and is sitting on the bottom....they still appear to be swimming closer to the surface and hovering around the sponge filters i put in there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Here are some pics of the flow i have going into the tanks, the two sponge filters and what i didn't see before but another filter on the side of the glass too, what do you think? do you think the fish are abnormally close to the surface? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 and the front view.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane.robinson Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 is that an internal in the back left aswell has it got the attachment to push the air bubbles out?? will help also and even if not just bring it up so the outlet is same hight or above (as stated above) just to get more going for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquaaddict Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 looks like a good save there lucky, keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 thanks aquaaddict Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubby Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 They look fine to me now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfish Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 phew!! I'll be keeping an extra close eye on them tonight A big thanks to everyone who gave advice and thanks to BRISSY and Daydream for personally offering their assistance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
