Fish rapidly breathing??

[smlw]

OK, this is a long story so... bear with me please!!
I have been treating tank with a copper-free parasite killer (got possible ick from a new tang.. no I didn't QT and yes, I undestand that was a mistake ). Good news is, the ick seems to be gone, haven't seen any other fish affected other than the initial tang, and no longer see white spots. Bad news: the medication caused my pH to go haywire.

Really bad news: while I was at work, my pH TANKED! Killed my neato fish (unsure what he is, see this post http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1900919 to help me with identification) and now 2 of my fish (powder brown tang [the icky tang] and foxface) are breathing RAPIDLY. My scissortail and clowns all are fine. To help the pH, I tried buffering but, it wasn't working fast enough for me so, I did a 25% water change (with Instant ocean), the pH is now perfecto but my fish are still breathing for their life. I also turned the lights off on the tank to try to help them calm it down.

Also, I did add "Stress-Coat" which was a suggestion from my LFS. Anyone have any other suggestions of what to do??? I don't want anymore fish to die!! I think this is what killed off my 'mystery' fish, looked like his gills were purple/bruised looking.

Any advise would be appreciated. Also, your opinion on what my mystery fish was, would also be great! (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1900919)
THANKS!
Steph

 

[smlw]

well, just to update, my powder brown tang was dead this morning. Foxface is still breathing rapidly. He now has red spots on his skin over his gills.. I'm off to work, guessing that I'll find a dead Foxface when I get home... Is this from when my pH was low, even though I did a water change and they never recovered?

 

[JHemdal]

The fish in the bag is a Pentapodus emeryii (spelling?)

Just how low did you pH go? Did you add aeration to the tank in case the problem was due to carbon dioxide build-up?


Jay

 

[Pickupman66]

Same as Jay, how low did the PH go and how fast did you bring it up, as well as the aeration of the water. one more thing is that the Crypt Parasite (ICH but for Marine) does imbed in the gills and can cause rapid breathing and this is likely the death of a fish. I am not a fan of the "reef safe" treatments. sometimes they work, sometimes they dont.

 

[smlw]

Hi all, thank you so much for replying to my problem!!

I have a 55 gal tank with a AquaClear filter (a 110 gal model). As of right now I have the carbon insert out due to that reef safe treatment I was adding to the water.

My pH was in the 7.6 area, maybe even less than that. As soon as I saw that light green color I knew something was up so I added buffer but it wasn't helping fast enough so I did a 12 gal water change with Instant Ocean salt and got my pH back to 8.3 or so.

Im not entirely sure how long the pH went that low because I left for work @ 6:30 and didn't get home til 4:30 and found my dead fish. Then the next morning even after the water change, my tang still died. LFS thinks its from the stress from having the pH so low and b/c it takes out the oxygen in the water when its that low.

But, happily, I came home this afternoon to my Foxface still swimming! He's still breathing rapidly but, I'm about to feed them all and I'll see if he eats and such. I don't know what else to do for him! Its hard to watch him breath so hard because its like he's gasping for air but only getting enough to get by. My pH was tested @ LFS and they say its still perfect.

I am done with the treatment so am going to add the carbon filter back in. Do you think I should do another 25% water change first or should I just put the carbon filter back in? I don't want to further stress my Foxface out and since my water tested fine, I see no reason to but, the bottle suggests doing water change before putting filters back in, etc.

Thanks all! And big thanks to helping with the ID of the 'fish in the bag'


***Update:*** Just fed all my fish, Foxface ate a little bit and now is grazing the bottom of the tank for extra's that fell. Still breathing rapidly, his eyes look almost like they have cataracts in them in certain light.. I think he's on his way out.
Also, I have (or had) a long tentacle anenome, and Im thinkin he's dead ?? He was doing fine, moving around the tank, but I guess the low pH deal got him too. He is shriveled up to about 2 inches, all his tentacles are deflated looking and pulled in, and some white substance is protruding out from where his mouth is... should I get him out and dispose of him or should I wait and make sure he's dead??

 

[smlw]

I just googled Pentapodus emeryii and that was him!! Thanks, Jay! Now I just have to find another one!

 

[smlw]

Foxface is still alive and is now breathing normally. I guess it was just the stress of the initial low pH. I also took out about a gallon of water so that the filter created more oxygen in the water, this seemed to really do the trick.

Guess it was too late for the anenome as he was dead. :/