Tetras breathing from surface

Luckyyy

Discussion Starter · #1 · Oct 29, 2017 (Edited)

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Hello, I recently got some cardinal tetra. The first couple of days everything was fine, but now they're breathing from the surface. I lowered the temperature and put on some extra oxygen. The nitrite is low and it's about 24celcius in the tank. Any idea what the problem might be? They don't do it all the time, but they've done it two mornings in a row now. The oxygen addition is off at night, so I can sleep. Got something to do with that? The other fishes seem unaffected.

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JJ09

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Joined Sep 11, 2014

2,947 Posts

#8 · Oct 31, 2017

'The nitrite is low' - but it should be zero, or your fish could be experiencing nitrite poisoning. Gasping and hanging at the surface is a symptom of this. It's possible you had a mini-cycle when you added the new fish; the bacteria have caught up and it is now resolved so your fish look better. I'd check your nitrite levels again to be sure and do a few partial wc if needed.