# New fish gasping?



## Dempsey (Oct 27, 2009)

Yeah, I would put an air stone in. Also, turn the lights off. I try to only introduce new fish when the lights and CO2 are off.


----------



## bannh (May 3, 2008)

Turn CO2 off completely immediately and get the airstone going.

Only turn the CO2 up *S L O W L Y !!!* over the next several days.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Agreed.

Also, did you drip acclimate? (I suppose it's too late now if you didn't, but for future reference...)


----------



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

I don't run CO2 at night, so that's already off and I just put in an air stone.


----------



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> Also, did you drip acclimate? (I suppose it's too late now if you didn't, but for future reference...)


No, I didn't. This is going to sound really bad, but I've never done that. 

My LFS said that I should simply float the bag in my aquarium, open it in about 15 minutes, and let the fish swim out on their own. But I've never done that because there's no way I'm going to introduce LFS water into my tank.


----------



## Dempsey (Oct 27, 2009)

Not to open a new can of worms but you should(I'm sure you do)have a QT tank. That being said, when I do my WCs I use my "main tank" water to fill my QT tank. I also just do the temp acclimation(I never drip).

I know saying that might cause a debate but I never had any problems. One of the benefits(besides the obvious)of a QT tank is that you can add the fish at whatever time of day you'd like(best being before the lights or CO2 kick on).


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

If I ran CO2 on my tanks I would definitely turn it off and take a few days to slowly bump it back up. Fish aren't used to that much CO2 in the water and need some time to acclimate.

That plus any other water parameter differences can cause some serious issues for fish.

I absolutely agree that a QT tank is indespensible unless you don't care if you have to replace all your livestock after ich, fungus, columnaris, etc takes out an entire tank. Been there, done that, hope to never deal with it again. I QT for a minimum of 2 weeks, and usually for at least 4 weeks.

This is how I drip acclimate all new fish:

Add a small amount of Prime to the bottom of a bucket. 
Add a cup or two of water from the QT tank.
Gently pour fish into bucket along with their bag water.
Start drip acclimation line at a drip or two per second (I use one of the drip acclimation thingies from DrF&S, but you can also DIY one with plain old airline tubing with a knot or two tied in it to control flow rate)
I usually spend at least 2-3 hours drip acclimating, unless I know or suspect the shipping water is extremely contaminated (arrived with dead fish, etc)- then I'll may cut it to 20-30 min.
Gently net fish out of bucket and into tank. If extremely delicate or difficult to catch, sometimes I'll catch them by pouring them into another bucket through a net.


----------



## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I actually find drip acclimating easier than "floating" them. I just tie a knot in some airline until it just drips a little bit, gently pour the fish into a bucket, and let them go for a couple hours. Net them out into the tank, refill with fresh water, and there you go. New fish and a water change in one roud:


----------



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

I'm happy to report that all three gold tetras are doing fine and are even schooling and playing with my red eye tetras. The CO2 in the tank is still relatively high, so I don't think that alone was the problem. 

In researching gold tetras, which I should have done before putting them in my tank, I found out that they are easy to keep in a community aquarium with a pH of 5.0–7.0 and KH of 1.0–2.0, but they will not tolerate dramatic changes to their environment, which I clearly caused by not properly acclimating them. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&tbs=isch:1

In the future I'll be more careful. I should also get a QT tank sometime soon. Thanks to everyone who responded.


----------



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

I started running an air stone at night again and guess what? Algae bloom the next morning. No more air at night.


----------



## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

kcrossley said:


> I started running an air stone at night again and guess what? *Algae bloom the next morning.* No more air at night.


same reason i quit the airstone at night i just start some water ripples by adjusting my spraybar for the night. im DIY co2 or i would just turn it off.


----------



## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

I haven't seen that fish need "a few days off" of no co2 when introduced. However, the shock of just tossing them into high-co2, lower pH water is a bit much, as you saw. Just introduce at night and go back to normal days after that. I don't drip acclimate either.


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

kcrossley said:


> I started running an air stone at night again and guess what? Algae bloom the next morning. No more air at night.


Could also be contributed to the fish water from the store. Who knows what kind of nasties were in that bag.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

kcrossley said:


> I started running an air stone at night again and guess what? Algae bloom the next morning. No more air at night.


I suspect that would be more related to the increase in your bioload/nutrients rather than from running an airstone at night.

Keep in mind that in the absence of light plants actually absorb O2 and RELEASE CO2- so there's a very real risk for fish to experience both O2 deficiency and CO2 poisoning at night in CO2-injected tanks.


----------



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> Keep in mind that in the absence of light plants actually absorb O2 and RELEASE CO2- so there's a very real risk for fish to experience both O2 deficiency and CO2 poisoning at night in CO2-injected tanks.


I already turn off my CO2 at night. Is it better to run an airstone at night as well? It seems like every time I do, I get an algae bloom, or should I put my CO2 on a pH regulator and leave it go at that?


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Personally, I would always run an airstone at night if I injected CO2 into my tanks, just as a safety precaution for the fish.

Equipment failures do happen.

I read all the time on here about "end of tank" CO2 dumps when the CO2 tank is almost empty- great way to wipe out an entire tank.


----------



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> Personally, I would always run an airstone at night if I injected CO2 into my tanks, just as a safety precaution for the fish.


I thought you were injecting CO2. Does that mean you're running an airstone?


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

No, I don't run CO2 on any of my tanks. Too much work LOL


----------

