Advice needed for sudden rapid breathing...

[ToddTT]

Sunday...

Superbowl Sunday my fish were looking happy and healthy. I was feeling very good about the tank, and the health of the inhabitants.

Monday...

Monday evening I replaced my MAG3 with a new Tunze pump (for quieter, and more approriate flow).

I was disappointed as the new pump seems to operate very closely to the old pump, in both flow and noise.

Very shortly after noticed my bicolor blenny was breathing harder than I had ever seen. A few times per second. He was also turning near white at times, something I had seen him do a couple of times when appearing to be spooked, or defending his spot.

I also noticed one of my two firefish was also taking huge gulps of water.

I imagined that while I was changing the pump, I either scared them, or there was some sort of scuffle in the tank during the pump change.

It was late in the day, so I shut down the lights hoping to reduce stress.

Tuesday...

Tuesday, my small clarkii clown and half of my six green chromis are breathing heavy, and either hiding or hovering just above the sand. The other three chromis seem fine.

The two firefish both seem fine today.

The blenny seems to alternate from breathing 3 times per second, to about 2 times per second. Occasionally he switches between his favorite spots in the tank, and looks like his old self while doing so.

My two ocellaris clowns, scooter dragonet (one), and sleeper goby (one) all seem unaffected. Happy as they were on Sunday.

To eliminate variables, I yanked the new pump, and put the old one back in.

Then I added a variable, by placing a Pura pad in my sump. I keep thinking the new pump maybe released some bad stuff into the water.

Wednesday...

It's morning, and the fish all seem alive and still sleeping.

I'm writing this and wondering if the pump change somehow caused an issue, or if there is something else that would cause sudden onset of heavy breathing, like a parasite or disease.


Tank info...

75 gallon tank (running about 10 years)
Rock, not so live any more. 3 football size, 6 fist size.
Shallow sand bed. Under 1 inch.
bio balls (clean appearance)
AquaC Urchin Skimmer
MAG3 pump

Population:

1 mean tomato clown, died at 7 years old, about 3 months ago. Since then:

2 ocellaris clown (~10 weeks)
1 small clarkii clown (~10 weeks)
4 turbo snails (~10 weeks)
6 green chromis (~5 weeks)
2 firefish (~3 weeks)
bicolor blenny (~3 weeks)
scooter dragonet (~3 weeks)
sleeper goby (~3 weeks)

No quarantining. Although I'm in the process of putting together a QT during the last week, ironically. I hope I don't need to start using it already.

In general they all get along happily, and the tank is peaceful.

PH ~ 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates, about 60-80 ppm
Phosphates are low.


Any advice, or similar experiences that people have had? Where one day things seems great, and the next you have lots of fish breathing very heavily?

Thanks,
Todd

[ToddTT]

A little more info...

No visible ich.

One chromis is a little blotchy looking. Similar to when they are sleeping, though not as pronounced.

The other 2 affected chromis have great color and look healthy, just breathing very heavy.

I am feeding a mix of frozen and flake (trying to follow advice found on this forum).

In the last 24 hours (yesterday, Tuesday), the fish breathing heavy are eating less than usual, and some not at all.

[leebca]

There is often manufacturer's residues on new equipment. Especially with a pump, the wetted areas often contain oils. Thus it is always important to clean out new equipment with hot soapy water, with plenty of rinses followed by pumping saltwater (like the saltwater that is exchanged in a water change). Was this done?

[ToddTT]

No, I did not clean the pump.

I assumed the pump would be clean and aquarium safe. And I would have been afraid to use any soaps to clean it. It looked and smelled clean, but maybe there were issues with it I couldn't detect.

Is a dish soap like Dawn safe to use?

I've been through about 4 pumps in 10 years, and this is the first time I've ever seen an issue after a pump switch. I'll be washing and running future pumps in a tub first.

If the pump had residue, might the fish recover? Will the Pura filter pad help remove such things?


The fish are awake now today (Wednesday).

The blenny is breathing a little slower right now, but still too fast.

4 of the 6 chromis are swimming around now, up from 3. The other 2 chromis are still hiding in lower corners of the tank, and breathing faster than normal.

The clarkii is swimming around more normally today, and breathing just a little faster than normal.

The rest of the tank, as throughout, are acting basically unaffected.

I'm preparing for a water change if needed, filtering some water right now.

My current stance is... watch and wait. If things do not improve, do a 25% water change tomorrow morning.


Any additional advice is very welcome.

Thanks,
Todd

[leebca]

You want to use a soap that contains no ammonia. You also would prefer an unscented soap. Ivory liquid hand soap is about as good for this as you'll find anywhere.

Under the circumstances, you can help the fish by performing a very large (over 80%) water change immediately and then once again in 5 days. Since this will be a large water change, you should follow this guideline: How to Make a Successful Water Change

The 'unclean' equipment issue is random and not a serious problem, but it does happen. Sad considering all we do to provide high quality water only to have a new piece of equipment spoil it in a few hours. Try to get into the habit of cleaning everything. The only think I don't 'clean' is chemical filters and chemicals (e.g. carbon) -- them I just rinse in old salt water before using.

[ToddTT]

I think I'll need to pick up another garbage pail tomorrow to pull off that size water change (blizzard outside right now).

As for the current conditions in the tank, the bicolor blenny, Bob, seems to have recovered! His breathing is back to normal, and his color as well. He is also swimming around again and eating like the pig that he is. The last 24 hours were a complete turnaround for him.

That makes the remaining issue the 2 green chromis that are still affected. One looks good, color is very vibrant, but remains at the tank bottom, breathing slighly fast and not eating.

The other chromis is breathing fast, and his color is darker than all the other chromis in the tank, and he is not eating. He is also the smallest of them all (maybe it hit him the hardest).

Tomorrow I will do the best water change that I can, and perhaps try to capture these 2 chromis and QT them. Especially if the other fish start picking on them more significantly.

I have a feeling that some of the success of today came from the Pura filter pad, and the feeding habits I established after visiting this forum. Just a guess of course.

Thanks,
Todd

[ToddTT]

Saturday...

Conditions were improving every day since Tuesday, so I went with a 30 gallon water change a couple of days ago, the largest I was prepared for. And still running with the 8x15 Pura pad in place.

I also added some PVC to the tank, to provide a makeshift in-tank quarantine, exactly where the sick chromis had parked themselves. This immediately stopped the healthy chromis from picking on the sick ones. And I didn't have to stress them out by catching them. Worked out really well.

Started feeding the sick ones with the Kent squirt feeder, also worked like a charm:

Kent Marine Nautilus Sea Squirt Feeding Prong

Of the 2 chromis that were still breathing heavy, one has just rejoined the "school" today!

1 chromis is left that is not feeling well yet, but I think the odds are with him, considering the rest of the tank survived the "new pump" incident.

Here's the tank today, with 14 more fish in it than I thought I would have!



Bob is the blue blenny sticking his head out of the rock... he was white as a ghost on Tuesday.

Veronica is the severely spoiled mutt on the couch.

Assuming the pump was the problem, avoid the bullet my tank dodged this week by cleaning all new equipment before adding it to your system!