Need help PLEASE.... Rainbowfish with rapid breathing

platytetrafan

platytetrafan

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Jan 20, 2007
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OK....On monday I noticed my australian rainbowfish rapidly breathing. He shows no signs of disease no popeye, velvet or ich on body or fins. The gills do not appear swollen. He is swimming around and his color does not appear pale. He is not eating though the last two days which is unusual because he is usually ravenous. On the last water change I did last week I did have a small spike in ammonia other levels were fine but I may have been overfeeding which I have stopped doing I have been feeding sparingly. I did two water changes and the level of ammonia returned to 0. All other levels were the same ph 6.0 which it has been for a while nitrite 0 nitrate 20-40 all other fish are not affected eating and swimming around as usual. Could my rainbow have gill damage? I am so upset because he is such a beauty. I have plenty of aeration in the tank 1 airstone and 1 shipwreck bubbler the tank is a 36g I have other rainbows in the tank that are fine. Unfortunately I can't quarantine the rainbow because I have a platy in my 2.5g hospital tank that had a wound on her underbelly that I had to quarantine and she is doing better but want to wait a while before returning her back to the main tank. My other male platy died in quarantine he had some sort of parasite so when I return her back I want to add another female and a male platy to accompany her. Not exactly sure what might be bothering my rainbow. I know the ph is a little low but it has been that way for a while. My tap water registers around 6.8 after sitting out for 24hrs but then it drops between 6.0-6.2 after a wc. All the fish have adjusted to the ph so am worried about trying to raise it. I do have a coral skeleton in the tank that I was told would help buffer to keep the ph stable it has been in the tank since cycled a while ago. I am baffled because the rainbow had been doing fine and I see no visable disease on him just rapid breathing and not eating I also see him staying at the back of the tank at times. Not sure what to do for him.:help:PLEASE.
 
You're seriously overstocked. That's probably what caused the ammonia spike. Also, with that many fish in a 36 gallon corner tank (what are the dimensions anyway?) having the two airlines is probably the only thing staving off a catastrophic oxygen deficiency. The rainbow may be showing the effects of lower than optimal oxygen before the rest of the fish because rainbows are oxygen intensive fish, or it could be the ammonia spike (how high did it get?). Your fish may indeed have suffered gill damage. How big are the rainbows currently? Australians get to be up to six inches long. By the time that they are 4", they should really be in a tank that is at least four feet long and hold at least 55 gallons, although an even larger tank would be ideal. Whatever you do, do not add any more fish to this tank! I see three options: 1. Give away/sell some of your fish (probably the rainbows at least as they will certainly outgrow the current tank if they haven't already) 2. Upgrade to a larger tank. 3. Get another medium-sized (20-40 gallons) tank and split your stock, although this doesn't address the problem of the rainbows outgrowing the current set-up.
 
You might try housing/quarantining him with your betta in the 5 gallon tank. I know several people that keep a betta in their rainbow tank without any problems. This might remove him from the stress of the overstocked tank. Other than that, frequent waterchanges are the best you can do for him.
 
The rainbow is about 2 1/2 inches long he has been this size for quite a while and I don't foresee him getting any bigger. The ammonia in the tank did not get that high about .25 and I took care of it right away did 2 back to back wc's and gravel vac. Since setting up the tank I have had very little problem. My other rainbows are doing fine no problems whatsoever. They are smaller. I am afraid to transfer the rainbow to the 5g as my betta has been the sole fish for that tank and fear he may be very territorial. My other fish are doing fine no problems. I guess I will just watch the rainbow he is swimming around I see no external disease and he is flashing his colors will just keep an eye on him. The tank is a 36g corner bow. Thanks for your help.
 
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How long have you had the rainbow? "Australian rainbow" can mean several different species. Most of them get to be 5-6 inches full grown, but some rarer ones are smaller. Do you have a pic? My guess is that he is actually still growing, just very slowly (they go through growth spurts and at times grow so slowly, you might not notice it). What kind of rainbows are the others? Bettas are mostly territorial with their own species, or other similar species, but you never know. The rainbow should be able to hold his own, but if he doesn't, you'll know right away and can remove him before things get out of control. Your biggest problem is still overstocking, you might not have had problems before, but I have no idea when you last added fish, and then there is always the changing dynamic of fish growth. You may be seeing the first signs of overstocking appearing as your fish get bigger.
 
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XMAN...The rainbowfish does look like the one in your avatar. He is swimming around more and did try to eat some brine shrimp that I fed to the others today. My other rainbowfish looks like the male but is smaller and more slender might be a female the other two are bosemani rainbowfish and are smaller. I have in the 36g now the rainbows, tetras,3 cories now one died this morning of unknown cause. I originally had 4.
My algae eaters died of unknown cause a month ago, neons 4 and 2 swordfish. My female platy is in the 2.5g hospital tank she had a wound that is now healed. I have had all of these fish for quite some time. I know I was a bit overstocked I just loved the fish I have not added any new ones as I knew I was pushing it with the amount I had already. I guess I will see how it goes thanks for your help though. If I see that the rainbow is really getting distressed I will call my LFS maybe I can make a trade and get a couple smaller fish in exchange for him will see. He is just such a beauty.
 
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Well to no avail my male rainbowfish died. I found him upside down in the tank last night he was breathing rapidly the last couple of days. Very upsetting I had him a long time could be the last small ammonia spike which I corrected may have had a bad effect on him. So sad because he was such a beauty. Thanks XMAN for trying to help me.
 
Sorry to hear that the rainbow and cory died. The stocking level for the tank is looking a little better now, but I think that you'd be better off and less susceptible to future sudden ammonia spikes if you could find a larger tank. You can sometimes find great deals on Craigslist if you check often and are patient.
Your rainbow was a different species from the one in my avatar which is an M. affinis, Pagwi strain. It's from New Guinea, and not likely to be found in a lfs. I'll bet that yours had longer fins and several of the darker black lines like the fish pictured here:
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Melanotaenia_australis.php
which would make it an M. australis, and they do normally reach lengths of 5 inches or more, albeit not until after they're a few years old.
The best way to tell if an Australian rainbowfish is male or female is to look at the tips of their dorsal and anal fins. If the fins come to sharp points, the fish is male. If the fins are a little more rounded and then go straight into the body, the fish is a female.
 
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