BoSox Fan7

My cherry barb is breathing extremely fast, sitting on the bottom of my tank and has trouble swimming upright. What is the problem and what can I do to help my fish?

Shawnie

what is ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate readings?

usually breathing heavy and lethargic is ammonia poisioning

BlowPhish

If you know your water parameters it would help us help you. pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. How old is the tank? Do you have an air pump? That sort of thing.

cerianthus

i thought that was little bug on my screen, trying to squaash! lol

BoSox Fan7

According to my test strip everything is in the safe zone.

BlowPhish

Hehehe DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any damage that may occur to a persons monitor during the viewing my avatar.

BoSox Fan7

And my tank is a year and a half old.

BlowPhish

Hrm then it should be cycled. Unless you cleaned your filter recently with tap water or added a bunchy of new fish or rearranged things. Do you have alot of agitation of the water surface to promote gas exchange? Maybe your lil fishy is having a hard time breathing.

Shawnie

age doesnt matter for a mini cycle it happens all too often when we least expect it

id get an API liquid test kit as test strips are not accurate and dont usually even have an ammonia test on it...does yours?

BoSox Fan7

No, it does not.

BlowPhish

Do you have a hang on the back type filter or an air pump?

Shawnie

no it doest not have air or an ammonia reading on your strip?

BlowPhish

If you use a hang on the back filter. You can always lower your water level so that the filter's waterfall agitates the surface more until you get yourself and air pump or a powerhead. In the meantime you should do a nice big water change. 50% water change today. Use a water conditioner for the new water of course. Then thereafter you could do daily 25% water changes for about a week. I don't know if you know this or not but always rinse your filter media in aquarium water not tap water.

BoSox Fan7

What do you mean by a hang on the back and I did a 50% water change yesterday. And when I said no it meant the test strips don't have ammonia reading.

Shawnie

you really should get an api liquid master test kit..it has EVERYTHING you need all in one pack..and it lasts forever..test strips are too unreliable...I still think its a mini cycle for some reason and the signs are an ammonia issue ...do you have some prime or stress coat+? that will detox for 24 hours, any harmful ammonia or nitrites in case that is whats going on..

BlowPhish

Your problem probably is an ammonia problem as Shawnie is suggesting. This is a hang on the back filter. http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DG
The api master test kit is great.

BoSox Fan7

Ok I'm put some stress coat in.

BoSox Fan7

I think he is going to die he is just laying on the ground and he is breathing even faster.

Shawnie

it has to be stress coat+ (plus) the regular stress coat will not help with ammonia or nitrites you can at least for now do another water change of 30-50 % with the regular stress coat, until you find out for sure what the accurate readings are.but the regular stress coat will not detoxify the ammonia or nitrites if you have some ..thats always a safe bet when fish arent doing well

BoSox Fan7

On the bottle it says it helps regeneration of damaged fish tissue and removes chlorine, chloramines and ammonia.

Shawnie

it doesnt remove ammonia and alot have questioned why it says that...even api doesnt have an answer for that when you call them....neither of them , the plus or just plain stress coat, do not remove the ammonia only detoxify it(plust only not the plain detoxes it)...but again, another water change wont hurt...and the plus is what you need as well as the test kit...maybe you can just get the liquid api ammonia kit for now? at least you will have an accurate reading..but the strips are very misleading ...