bamboo_turtles 4 Posted November 26, 2011 I changed the water this morning , filled it up , i forgot to add the airstone , twelve hours later , i look to turn out the lights , two goldies are floating upside down gasping for air ...I added an airstone and lowered the water level to where the canister filter wand breaks the water surface as well .. I'm not sure if it's bloat or ??? Anyone have any ideas ? This really nnnnnnnnnnnnnn me off ... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Helen 8,511 Posted November 26, 2011 it's odd that they would all behave like this after a wc and no airstone. water should hold air without aid of an airstone for at least a day.. please fill out the form at the top answering all the questions incase there is something more happening here. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Helen 8,511 Posted November 26, 2011 have there been storms or flooding in your area? what is your watersource? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bamboo_turtles 4 Posted November 26, 2011 Light showers only .... central texas is in stage two drought ... anyways , I was thinking , I'm wondering if I've over fed them .... the presoaked flakes are small so I'm wondering if I fed out too much ... the two are floating upside down gasping . I'm wondering if i should fast them for two or three days and maybe fourth day feed them peas .... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted November 26, 2011 Did you add the dechlorinator? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bamboo_turtles 4 Posted November 26, 2011 Yup , I always add declorinator in each bucket prior to pouring water in the tank since I was told it could kill my healthy bacteria otherwise........... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted November 26, 2011 Did you check/do you have the water parameters? I just wanted to make sure you've checked the obvious, such as things like pH crash... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shellbell4ever 1,381 Posted November 26, 2011 Oh no that sounds horrible what is your heat set on?did you match your ph & temp during re fill??lets get some answers to the questions on the DD sheet ok 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chrissy_Bee 144 Posted November 26, 2011 As Stakos said, please answer all the questions at the top of the page....that way we won't need to ask them to you one post at a time to try and get the whole picture 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bamboo_turtles 4 Posted November 27, 2011 Looked in there tonight , both goldies are swimming normal ..... I'm pretty sure I fed them too much yesterday morning .... Sorry for freaking out so quickly , LOL ... and thanks for all the responce ... . 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted November 27, 2011 Looked in there tonight , both goldies are swimming normal ..... I'm pretty sure I fed them too much yesterday morning .... Sorry for freaking out so quickly , LOL ... and thanks for all the responce ... . I'm glad they are OK For fish with tendencies to float, try these: 1. feed smaller amounts at each meal 2. pre-soak pellets etc. in a little bit of water before feeding. The idea is to allow the pellet to expand before they get into the fish and THEN expand 3. switch to making gel food. You can go one step further and make it with agar agar instead of gelatin. I have done all three, and I am happy to say that I haven't had to deal with floaty issues in my fish since 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bamboo_turtles 4 Posted November 27, 2011 is there a good site or instructions on making agar agar mix ?? that sounds very convienent ! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted November 27, 2011 is there a good site or instructions on making agar agar mix ?? that sounds very convienent ! It IS very convenient, and I believe it to be very good for our fish. I use agar agar at 1 tablespoon per cup of pureed/liquid food. You will want to dissolve the agar in a little bit of boiling water on the stove top, add the liquid/pureed mixture, stir slowly but well until well mixed, and then pour out into pan to let set. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trinket 108 Posted December 4, 2011 How warm is the water? Warm water can totally use up all available dissolved oxygen in hours in smaller tanks. There are so many possibles here, it would be good to have more info like water temp and pH which when low can also have fish gasping and floating at the surface. Glad they are doing better now anyway. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites