Fish breathing hard!

So for the past few days my fish have been breathing hard and now my clown has stopped eating. The tang is eating just fine but is breathing hard, and the fire fish is doing just fine. What could be wrong? My parameters:
PH-8.2
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Alkalinity-2.3meql
Salinity-1.023

Thanks in advance!

 

How long has the tank been setup?

what's your filtration like? Do you have a protein skimmer?

Have you started dosing/adding something?

Did you just add any fish/inverts/corals?

 

The tank was downsized from a 4 year old 125 and its now 4 months old in the smaller tank.

I have a magnum 350 canister and a penguin 200 hob and I am running a protien skimmer.

I only does essential elements every other week and thats all I "dose"

I just added a silvertipped frogspawn and a duncan in separate areas of the tank. Thats been about 2 weeks when they were added and they are eating and open.

 

By breathing hard, do you mean breathing fast? Are you certain that they are or are you guessing because you are paying closer attention since one fish is not eating?


How is the tank – any issues lately? Anything new to the tank. Color loss, irradic behavior, spots ect.

Try adding garlic to the food to entice the clown to eat.

Your alk is a little low - are you doing water changes ? (ro/di)

 

Hmmm . . . sounds like it's not a cycling or overstocking issue.

Only thing I didnt see was a temp?

If you are running hot and do not have a sump - low oxygen may be an issue.

Can you post a pic of your surface agitation? Is it a "reflecting pool" of calm water on the surface ? Or many ripples/little waves?

What kind of protein skimmer do you have? This may be the only oxygenation your tank is getting and it may not be enough.

What sizes are your fish?

If the hippo is large he might be sucking up a lot of the oxygen in the tank.

This is just a thought as it was the only thing that came to mind.

 

Yes that is what I meant lol can't articulate words today lol. I haven't noticed any new behavior by any of the fish the only new thing is the firefish has been exploring the tank a little more and the clown is in constant hiding in the tank. I have changed the flow in the tank so its not a whirlpool but other than that no oddball behavior. Havent tried garlic yet and will def give that a try, and I do normal weekly water changes with RODI water and water change day is tom.

 

good call on questioning temp ! I passed on the O2 when I read a skimmer was on the tank -- anything new or changed would be important bits of info right now.

 

Hmm, with the circulation change in the tank you could have stirred up a dead spot and stressed the fish a little. I think you should continue with the changes, monitor for any changes and try some garlic in the food. I suspect you will be just fine.

 

Yes I can post a pic of the surface agitation I have the Korlia 1400 pointed towards the surface. The water temp is 78.5F and Im not to sure what kind of skimmer I have it does pull alot of nasty out of the tank during the evening. The tang is in the process of being rehomed bc she is at the point of getting to large for the tank.

 

Update the tang is now doing juts fine and has found a home that she will be moving to once I get my car back from my wife, but my clown is doing 10x's worse. He cannot close his mouth completely and now physically cannot eat bc of this! Any help would be greatly appreciated!