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hi i have some angels that gasp at the surface for air and then become really listless and eventually lie on the bottom the tank and die. the water tests ok except phosphates were a little high but a partial water change has been done to fix this . any ideas anyone?

OH TOLEEDY!

How much movement do you have of water at the surface? Do you have an air pump / bubbler, etc? Sounds like they are suffocating due to lack of dissolved oxygen in the water. If you don't have very many real plants, no surface agitation either through filter outflow placement, or powerhead circulation, or airstones, or some time of surface agitatin, there cannot be a reasonable exchange of oxygen and co2 between the water and the surrounding atmosphere. The result would be as you describe. Medications and diseases can compound this problem as fish generally require more oxygen use at these times.

You have to post the test results...

Test strips, if in use, cannot be trusted.

Fish will gasp at the surface when ammonia is high and if not corrected will die.

--garyroland.

sorry about the late reply, got my friend to test his tank again and the phosphate is still too high and judging from the symptoms i think it was swim bladder disease . thanks for your help