something is wrong with my aro!!

my aro opens and closes his mouth constantly as if gasping for air. can some experts here tell me what's wrong with him and what can i do to fix this. i did a WC yesterday btw. help please

[Aroboy II]

Originally Posted by hbgoldenaro

my aro opens and closes his mouth constantly as if gasping for air. can some experts here tell me what's wrong with him and what can i do to fix this. i did a WC yesterday btw. help please

After water change is normal. After meal also normal. Just add in extra airstone and see. Cheers!

i do have air stones. what do you mean "after water is normal and also meal normal"??

[Aroboy II]

Originally Posted by hbgoldenaro

i do have air stones. what do you mean "after water is normal and also meal normal"??

After water change and after meal, it is normal for aro to breathe a bit "harder".Hope you understand. Cheers!

Check temp to make sure it's not too high and i think if ph is really off, that may also be the cause.

he was breathing heavy this morning. i havent fed him anything yet. i did WC yesterday. pH is 7 temp 30C. he's acting normal except the breathing.

thanks for replying btw. i posted 1 day and only 3 people replied

[Aroboy II]

Originally Posted by hbgoldenaro

he was breathing heavy this morning. i havent fed him anything yet. i did WC yesterday. pH is 7 temp 30C. he's acting normal except the breathing.

Did you add in water conditioners - antichlorine and anti-chloramine? You did WC with direct from tap or aged water? Did you feed it before water change? Cheers.

Originally Posted by hbgoldenaro

thanks for replying btw. i posted 1 day and only 3 people replied

I'm not exactly an expert here, so i usually let the pros handle it. But i didn't see much help here for you so i drop what i know. Hope he's better now. I experience this heavy breathing quite often, nothing to be too alert about. Just keep eyes open

[kyo_k81]

nitrites affect the bloodstream of fish and reduce the amount of oxygen in their blood.

The effects of nitrite poisoning will slowly subside as the fish's body reclaims the nitrite bound hemoglobin (which cannot transport oxygen) and replaces it with new red blood cells. I am not sure how long this process takes in a fish, but if it's been more than a month since you've had nitrites, that should be plenty of time for new red blood cells to have been produced.

If you believe your aro don't have enough oxygen.

There are a couple things you can do to improve the situation. First adjust your filtration so you get as much surface agitation
as possible.

Surface aggitation is the best way for oxygen rich water

As for surface aggitation, a HOB would work, but might be noisy. You could also redirect the spraybar output to aggitate the surface more. You could do this by putting the spraybar above the water line and creating a bit of a waterfall effect or, if you don't like the noise from that, put the spraybar under the water line with the holes aimed at an angle upwards so waves are created on the water's surface. A powerhead would also be helpful, especially if using the air injection mode. I'd stick a sponge prefilter on it for additional biological filtration (and you can move it to a hospital tank for a quick filter if that need arises).

The other thing do do is add some air stones or other type of bubbling items to your tank. The bubbles will help raise toxic gases and the suface agitation will allow for good oxygen exchange at the surface.

Good Luck

Hope that help....