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i had a problem about a month ago with my clown loaches. They started breathing funny, as in their gills were opening and lcosing extremely quick. and one had its mouth stuck open. im not new to fishkeping, but i cant say i know it all. two of my three clwon loaches died, they just kept getting vertical behind my intake pipe and eventually just died. now this was out of the ordinary, but one survived (and still has) without any of the symptoms. more recently (2-3 weeks) i had two neons die within a few days of each other, they seemed to "lose control" of their body. its hard to explain, but they could still swim around, but kept doing barrel rolls and their stomach seemed to float to the surface (therefore turning them upside down) thesde were old fish so i put it down to old age (id had them for years) however just today i had a glowlight tetra exhibiting the same problems. i euthanized the fish but i am worried bout my other fish.

my ph is around 7
ammonia is 0
nitrites and nitrites are fine
temp is 26.8 C
the tank is 4ft roughly 50gal (200ltrs)

i read somewhere on here ages ago that air bubbles in a fish's gills can have a more then adverse effect. i have a bubble wall that runs through the centre of my tank, would a fish unluky enought to swim thru the wall and catch a bubble in the gills have these symptoms? ohh BTW the nean i euthanized today had bright red, open gills.

i know its long to read but plz help.
KRIS

Sounds to me like Ammonia Poisoning.
When u say "Nitrites and nitrates are fine" what do u mean?
The only Fine Nitrites are 0.
I suspect you dont have 0 or you wouldnt say fine.
Sounds like your tank is still cycling, and the fish in
it are suffering.
Buy some Prime water conditioner. It will detoxify the nitrites while your tank finishes cycling.


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It won't be the bubble wand, my fish play in the bubbles all the time, and nothing happens to them.

It may be your cycle, or it may be some thing else in the water - cleaning stuff got in from ouside and poisoned the water? is anything rotting in the tank that you haven't noticed? - that could cause a mini cycle?

I am not sure about this but could you pH of dropped or increased? i think that might cause problems?(it certainly has in my tank!) have you used any meds that could still be present in the water?

either way I would do a water change - 20 -25% and do a tank check, maybe quarantine the worst affected. i would also keep doing WC daily - I beleive it nearly is always to do with some thing in the water or Water quality. Alot of people wouldn't do that, it is stressful for the fish so it is not always recommended.

also check your water out of the tap for NO3 No4 and even Ammonia? maybe thats a problem?

Good luck

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