Hi , i do hope somebody can help , one of my parrot fish is looking 
incredibley short of breath , he kept heading for the top of the tank to 
talk a gulp of air , both my air pumps are working fine , but he seems to of 
lost all his energy and is now struggling and is just sat near the bottom of 
the tank , he seemed perfectly fine earlier in the day , one of my other 
parrot fish was doing the same but seems to of calmed down and appears to be 
acting much more normally.

My tank is a rio 240 and the fish are tropical.

But one thing i have done to my tank set up in the past few days , is to 
take out all the plants , they seem to be doing little more than making the 
place messy with dead bits of plant floating around etc and the plants just 
seemed to float around at the top all of the time , still living etc with 
but not at the bottom in the gravel.

Have i done the wrong thing and should i introduce more plants fairly 
quickly ?

I've check the ph and aminona levels and all seem fine ?!?!!?!? my temperate 
of the tank is around 76

I'm stuck and the plants seem to be the only major change i have made to my 
tank set up in the past 5 days ?!?!?

By the signs of things i'd say my parrot fish won't make it through to the 
morning ....... any advice ?!?!?!?!

Just Wondering wrote:
> Hi , i do hope somebody can help , one of my parrot fish is looking 
> incredibley short of breath , he kept heading for the top of the tank to 
> talk a gulp of air , both my air pumps are working fine , but he seems to of 
> lost all his energy and is now struggling and is just sat near the bottom of 
> the tank , he seemed perfectly fine earlier in the day , one of my other 
> parrot fish was doing the same but seems to of calmed down and appears to be 
> acting much more normally.
> 
> My tank is a rio 240 and the fish are tropical.
> 
> But one thing i have done to my tank set up in the past few days , is to 
> take out all the plants , they seem to be doing little more than making the 
> place messy with dead bits of plant floating around etc and the plants just 
> seemed to float around at the top all of the time , still living etc with 
> but not at the bottom in the gravel.
> 
> Have i done the wrong thing and should i introduce more plants fairly 
> quickly ?
> 
> I've check the ph and aminona levels and all seem fine ?!?!!?!? my temperate 
> of the tank is around 76
> 
> I'm stuck and the plants seem to be the only major change i have made to my 
> tank set up in the past 5 days ?!?!?
> 
> By the signs of things i'd say my parrot fish won't make it through to the 
> morning ....... any advice ?!?!?!?! 
> 
> 

Possibly it is the removal of the plants causing a shortage of Oxygen in 
the water...you could either put the plants back in or put in an air 
brick/pump to oxygenate instead...

Gill

"Gill Passman"  wrote in message 
news:43fed322$0$1174$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
> Just Wondering wrote:
>> Hi , i do hope somebody can help , one of my parrot fish is looking 
>> incredibley short of breath , he kept heading for the top of the tank to 
>> talk a gulp of air , both my air pumps are working fine , but he seems to 
>> of lost all his energy and is now struggling and is just sat near the 
>> bottom of the tank , he seemed perfectly fine earlier in the day , one of 
>> my other parrot fish was doing the same but seems to of calmed down and 
>> appears to be acting much more normally.
>>
>> My tank is a rio 240 and the fish are tropical.
>>
>> But one thing i have done to my tank set up in the past few days , is to 
>> take out all the plants , they seem to be doing little more than making 
>> the place messy with dead bits of plant floating around etc and the 
>> plants just seemed to float around at the top all of the time , still 
>> living etc with but not at the bottom in the gravel.
>>
>> Have i done the wrong thing and should i introduce more plants fairly 
>> quickly ?
>>
>> I've check the ph and aminona levels and all seem fine ?!?!!?!? my 
>> temperate of the tank is around 76
>>
>> I'm stuck and the plants seem to be the only major change i have made to 
>> my tank set up in the past 5 days ?!?!?
>>
>> By the signs of things i'd say my parrot fish won't make it through to 
>> the morning ....... any advice ?!?!?!?!
>
> Possibly it is the removal of the plants causing a shortage of Oxygen in 
> the water...you could either put the plants back in or put in an air 
> brick/pump to oxygenate instead...
>
> Gill

Hi gill , thank you for you reply , i do have a pump and a small air brick , 
i've done some tests this morning and its the nitrates that are massively 
out , the test reccomend to use plants and a chemical , so i will be buying 
some plants this morning and a nitrate balancer chemical.....thank fully 
last night a did a partial water change and he looked much better this 
morning , he was at around 60% of his normal self , i have just done another 
partial water change and fingers crossed i can sort this out.

Id do a 30% water change immediately, test for ammonia, nitrites and 
nitrates first, keep doing 10% daily, until a solution can be found, di
"Just Wondering"  wrote in message 
news:SaCLf.18125$bw1.4179@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
>
> "Gill Passman"  wrote in message 
> news:43fed322$0$1174$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
>> Just Wondering wrote:
>>> Hi , i do hope somebody can help , one of my parrot fish is looking 
>>> incredibley short of breath , he kept heading for the top of the tank to 
>>> talk a gulp of air , both my air pumps are working fine , but he seems 
>>> to of lost all his energy and is now struggling and is just sat near the 
>>> bottom of the tank , he seemed perfectly fine earlier in the day , one 
>>> of my other parrot fish was doing the same but seems to of calmed down 
>>> and appears to be acting much more normally.
>>>
>>> My tank is a rio 240 and the fish are tropical.
>>>
>>> But one thing i have done to my tank set up in the past few days , is to 
>>> take out all the plants , they seem to be doing little more than making 
>>> the place messy with dead bits of plant floating around etc and the 
>>> plants just seemed to float around at the top all of the time , still 
>>> living etc with but not at the bottom in the gravel.
>>>
>>> Have i done the wrong thing and should i introduce more plants fairly 
>>> quickly ?
>>>
>>> I've check the ph and aminona levels and all seem fine ?!?!!?!? my 
>>> temperate of the tank is around 76
>>>
>>> I'm stuck and the plants seem to be the only major change i have made to 
>>> my tank set up in the past 5 days ?!?!?
>>>
>>> By the signs of things i'd say my parrot fish won't make it through to 
>>> the morning ....... any advice ?!?!?!?!
>>
>> Possibly it is the removal of the plants causing a shortage of Oxygen in 
>> the water...you could either put the plants back in or put in an air 
>> brick/pump to oxygenate instead...
>>
>> Gill
>
> Hi gill , thank you for you reply , i do have a pump and a small air brick 
> , i've done some tests this morning and its the nitrates that are 
> massively out , the test reccomend to use plants and a chemical , so i 
> will be buying some plants this morning and a nitrate balancer 
> chemical.....thank fully last night a did a partial water change and he 
> looked much better this morning , he was at around 60% of his normal self 
> , i have just done another partial water change and fingers crossed i can 
> sort this out.
>

"SpiceySpice"  wrote in message
news:43ff4e93$0$3600$ed2e19e4@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net...
> "Just Wondering"  wrote in message
> news:SaCLf.18125$bw1.4179@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
> >
> > "Gill Passman"  wrote in message
> > news:43fed322$0$1174$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
> >> Just Wondering wrote:
> >>> Hi , i do hope somebody can help , one of my parrot fish is looking
> >>> incredibley short of breath , he kept heading for the top of the tank
to
> >>> talk a gulp of air , both my air pumps are working fine , but he seems
> >>> to of lost all his energy and is now struggling and is just sat near
the
> >>> bottom of the tank , he seemed perfectly fine earlier in the day , one
> >>> of my other parrot fish was doing the same but seems to of calmed down
> >>> and appears to be acting much more normally.
> >>>
> >>> My tank is a rio 240 and the fish are tropical.
> >>>
> >>> But one thing i have done to my tank set up in the past few days , is
to
> >>> take out all the plants , they seem to be doing little more than
making
> >>> the place messy with dead bits of plant floating around etc and the
> >>> plants just seemed to float around at the top all of the time , still
> >>> living etc with but not at the bottom in the gravel.
> >>>
> >>> Have i done the wrong thing and should i introduce more plants fairly
> >>> quickly ?
> >>>
> >>> I've check the ph and aminona levels and all seem fine ?!?!!?!? my
> >>> temperate of the tank is around 76
> >>>
> >>> I'm stuck and the plants seem to be the only major change i have made
to
> >>> my tank set up in the past 5 days ?!?!?
> >>>
> >>> By the signs of things i'd say my parrot fish won't make it through to
> >>> the morning ....... any advice ?!?!?!?!
> >>
> >> Possibly it is the removal of the plants causing a shortage of Oxygen
in
> >> the water...you could either put the plants back in or put in an air
> >> brick/pump to oxygenate instead...
> >>
> >> Gill
> >
> > Hi gill , thank you for you reply , i do have a pump and a small air
brick
> > , i've done some tests this morning and its the nitrates that are
> > massively out , the test reccomend to use plants and a chemical , so i
> > will be buying some plants this morning and a nitrate balancer
> > chemical.....thank fully last night a did a partial water change and he
> > looked much better this morning , he was at around 60% of his normal
self
> > , i have just done another partial water change and fingers crossed i
can
> > sort this out.
>
> Id do a 30% water change immediately, test for ammonia, nitrites and
> nitrates first, keep doing 10% daily, until a solution can be found, di

I'd get some floating 'pond weed' and throw it into the tank.
Takes out all sorts of 'low level' but toxic elements in the water
much better than trying to calculate very small amounts of chemical to
balance
the chemical which is harming your fish.

Dave
who has 'Fairy moss' Azolla Mexicana for exactly this reason