Fish seem to be gasping?

[Marcellina]

This morning when the I was feeding my suncoral before lights on I noticed my jawfish and one anthias dead at the bottom of the tank. I checked the parameters and the nitrite was high!
My 3 year old just told me he was helping feed the tank the last couple of days .... time to put a lock on the tank cabinet doors....:smash:

Anyway I did a 10G water change on my 29G biocube. I redid the the tests and the nitrite is 0.25 and the ammonia is 0 and the nitrate is 5 (using API tests)

I did this about 6 hours ago and have been watching the tank. The fish look like they are gasping. The seem to be hovering at the surface. Should I do a 5G water change???? I have never had to change almost all the water before. When I was blwoing off the rocks there was alot of food floating off, I dont use a protein skimmer just filter floss and everything has been perfect - thats bc I dont overfeed.

Why else could be causing them to gasp? Do they need time to readjust? Help!

 

[motortrendz]

whats the temp?? oxygen deprived....possibly or just really stressed

 

[Marcellina]

temp reads 82. I dont have the heater on and dont have a chiller for the 29G

Salinity is 1.025
I just changed the the carbon and the PURA Phosphate Lock. I rinsed the chemipure bag I had in the back chamber and the Blue Sponge. The sponge was filthy.

Two fish are MIA. My 6 line and one anthias so I think they must have died and are fouling the water? I cant find them. I blew around the rockwork a few times and just keep making the water cloudy.

I have 5 G of fresh saltwater ready to do another water change if necessary?

I already did a 10G water change on the tank. I have a 4 inch sandbed and about 40lbs of rock in there so its like 50% water change I would guesstimate? I dont know if its worse to do another waterchange tonight. THe fish are still gasping. I just finished replacing all the stuff mentioned above.

I have the Koralia 2 running close to the surface to create more oxygen.

Anything else I can do right now?

 

[NYreefNoob]

blow and get as much of the extra food out, find the missing fish, if they are dead then you will continue to have problems look for where ur hermit crabs are, = find dead fish

 

[motortrendz]

yes.. take a breath..lol

 

[Marcellina]

I have been 'blowing' on the tank all day. I cant figure out where the two fish are. The anthias was small and the sixline was medium size. Could they have been eaten overnight?

This morning I found my jawfish and one anthias (they were a pair) dead in the sandbed and I removed them, they hadnt been touched by the CUC.

I dont see the crabs eating anything.

I removed some of the top layers of rocks while I was doing the water change but didnt see them. My firefish was hiding and then reappeared and now she is hiding again- she leaves her tail hanging out of a hole she hides in so I know where she is. I doubt the 6 line is hiding its usually always visible.

THe extra food I think is mostly all removed, all I notice now is all the detritus I seem to have conjured up, ewww.

 

[motortrendz]

i might have died and wound up inside the rock work...watch your nitrates.. and watch for where your snails and crabs go...nassarious love dead fish.i wouldnt do another water change tonight mayne make anothe 10g and do 5 tomoro and 5 the day after.. make sure when you syphen it out you blow all the crap up into the water column to get sucked out..

 

[Marcellina]

Im thinking maybe I need more clean up crew bc I dont see a mass of snails or either of my 4 hermits going after anything??

It might be really nestled in the rockwork even though I did disassemble as best I could. And I blew so much all over the place I didnt see anything float up. So for tonight I guess there is nothing more I can do.

I hope they breathe easier soon, I did all I could to fix the problem. The new carbon and Phospate remover should help if there are dead fish in there right?

 

[motortrendz]

eeeh carbon will help for a lil while, with the odor anyway,... i love nassarious snails bc the sift thru the sand and when you feed they all come out its crazy to see, but also when i have a fish that died id leave it bc by the end of the day it was a skeliton.. all the hermits and snails would completely cover it.. never saw my nitrates come up.. but i had a 120 with abt 150hermits(small red and blue leg) abt 200 nasarious and they reproduced like crazy..

 

[Marcellina]

I really need to get more nassarius, the lfs near me dont sell them only astreas and turbos. I got the 9 I have from reefcleaners in sept and I dont think they have reproduced. I think they are the best for detritus and keeping the sandbed clean. I definitely need to order some more.

 

[motortrendz]

reefcleaners has a bulk order section.. if you wait abt 2 weeks im gonna put in a biiiig order for my new tank.. ill put them into the order so maybe you can get a better price..did u see my new tank thread??

 

[Marcellina]

wow thats a biiiig tank! I love the 24 inch depth.

 

[motortrendz]

meeeee toooo.... thats why i mentioned earlier that i wasnt too upset abt the 125 breaking.. only 18 deep the 24 is a world of a difference...

 

[Marcellina]

I was just looking at a tank at the store today that was 48" x 24" and like 20 ish height it was really great looking. I think it was made by OceanView is that a good tank manufacturer? Not crazy about their silicon job though. There was a nice one by Aqueon too but that was only 18 inches.

 

[Marcellina]

reefcleaners has a bulk order section.. if you wait abt 2 weeks im gonna put in a biiiig order for my new tank.. ill put them into the order so maybe you can get a better price..did u see my new tank thread??

How would this work? would they mail them to me or would you get them all and then I have to pick up from you?

 

[motortrendz]

never heard of them.. i smell an upgrade??

 

[motortrendz]

well i would have themsent to me.. and im always in brooklyn so i could meet you halfway up the belt if you want..or lie whichever is easier..if its worth the few bucks in savings.. up to you..and if you upgrade ill def be there to help out if you need it

 

[LongIslandAndy]

PW has nassarius snails

 

[Marcellina]

Yes I would love to upgrade. I keep missing out on some great deals on tanks and setups on MR.

I went to a LFS today so my son can see the shark being fed for the week and I was looking at different size setups and pricing them out. The oceanview one was going to be about $500+ The Aqueon (AGA) was about $300+

Not crazy about any of their stands. I liked the modern/minimal look the fluval frontier has. Thinking about maybe making a stand similar to that but having it open in the front as well.

 

[Marcellina]

PW has nassarius snails

They do? I never saw them there. Do they have them there now? I might stop in tomorrow or Tuesday to pick some up. How much are they?