okay so i no its not the best but i keep my light on about ten plus hours a day. and shortly after 1;30 am when i was feeding him i noticed he was breathing heavy gills goin all the way! but he was still swiming around and actin normal??? i dont no wats up maybe its one of those things but i gotta get this fixed. i no u all r gona ask fur my watr paramiters and heres wat i just got done PH 6.6-6.8 Nitrate Oppm and nitrite Oppm but i have two tests and one says my nitrates are 80 ahhhhhhhh im gona work on all the othr crap but i want to test and retest before i say again so dont go by the numbers im puttn its to late for me to do a water change cause my parents are asleep but in the morning im doing a Emergency 50 water change ill keep yall posted oh and by the way he started doing this no more than five minutes after i fed him a superworm MATT feeling crappy -----------------------------------

its a little over two thirty now and i walked into my room to check how he is doing and he seemed to be breathing okay but once i turned the light on i started seeing the thing under his gil slip im pretty sure his breathing was normal but im still gona do a fifty water change and i lowerd my temp to 82 degreese and im gona leave the lite off tommorow so it reduces his stress

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


What do you mean 'thing under his gill slip?' Are you trying to say he's flaring his gills, 'gasping,' or 'yawning?'

You LOWERED the temp to 82 degrees? Are you treating ich or something? Why do you have your temp so high? The higher temp the less oxygen the water holds...that might be a problem right there...

Did you also check for ammonia?

Matt from what I read in your two posts, you need to do a 30% water change today... Then test your water again in a few days. With Nitrate that high you may need another water change.

And you should also drop the temp in the tank to 78-80 degrees and leave it. As Johnny said higher temps equal lower oxygen in the water. And honestly 78 is high enough for Oscars.

Hope this helps.

ohhhh so you think because the temp was so high he didnt have enough ooxygen and and also does the superworm have to do with anything

NO, the super Worm should not cause an issue. My money is on the high nitrates and the temp.

but my test that is supposed to be more acurate said it was Oppm and the other standard dip test said 80 why would they be so high oh and by the way he isnt breathing heavy today

He isn't breathing as heavy because you dropped the temp...

I would also bet that you are not testing accurately with the liquid test.

Add 10 drops, cap tube, shake for 30 sec. Shake bottle 2 for 30 Sec, add 10 drops, cap tube, shake for 1 minute. Wait 5 minutes and read test.

well mine have glass tubes i fill to a sertian point and then put the number of drops it says on the bottle then i cap shake wait and read and every time its oppm for nitrate and nitrites

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


Yeah, but like nicki said some of the tests are different.

Some have 2 solutions you need to put in, some need more shaking etc..are you reading the directions for each individual test carefully?


Matt E. fish lover wrote:

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


Matt you are going to have to read your directions VERY carefully... If it is indeed 0, then you have not cycled or you have lost your cycle....

And Johnny that pic made tea come out my nose! LMAO!!!!

well my tank is new cause when i moved tanks i just moved gravell and the lfs ppl said that was enough to cycle my tank