My fish are gasping at the surface and "breathing" very heavily?

Answer 1

Does their tank have an air pump?? If not, then this is the problem. The water needs to aerated in order for the fish to be able to extract the oxygen through their gills. You can buy one from almost any pet store and they are not too expensive! In fact, many pet stores will have 2nd hand pumps to sell as well! Do something about it quick though if you want your fish to live!

Answer 2

OMG, this is easy to see, and quite frankly a little obvious. I am not blaming you for questioning, but some of the "unique" answers I saw. Fish need oxygen. They are at the surface as oxygen levels are higher there.
Are you overstocked? Do you have enough filtration or water movement? Fix these things, but for now, hurry and get a powerhead. Maxi-jet is good. Point it at the surface of the water and hope that things get better. If not, you should really check out the questions I asked.
Contrary to common belief, air pumps do not add any oxygen to the water. The bubbles go up to the surface, and break the surface of the water, thus allowing c02 out and 02 in. A powerhead is more efficient because it allows more surface disruption.
Also, nitrogen, in the form of ammonia and nitrite, can easily impair a fish's breathing. Check the levels (you do have test kits right? aquarium pharm master is good) if they are anything but 0, go buy BIO-SPIRA, and just that, or amquel and also do loads of daily 25% water changes until the levels are at 0

Answer 3

If your diagnosis is correct then the problem is that you are not oxygenating the water adequately. Basically all that entails is to allow some air to continually bubble up through the water. When this happens the Oxygen in the air makes a chemical transference with the water shifting some of the oxygen molecules to the water allowing your fish to use it. If you have a filtration system then this should not be your problem as most all systems work on this principle. Talk to the person who sold you your filter and find out what the problem is.

Answer 4

There are several things that can cause the fish to do this.

The first that comes to mind is a high ammonia level in the water. Amminia is a natural byproduct of the fish and is what their waste turns into. When these levels rise it begins to burn the gills of the fish so they need more oxygen.
Adding more air to the water will not solve the problem. What you need to do is a partial water change. I would change out 30% of the water right off the bat.
Another thing to keep in mind as summer hits it the temperature in the tank. Depending on where you keep the tank the added sunlight could cause the tank to overheat. Unfortunally when the temperature rises so do the toxicity of the ammonia. Leading us back to the first part of my response.

Answer 5

do you have an airpump? is it working correctly? did you recently raise the water temperature? hotter water holds less oxygen. maybe you need an extra pump or a stronger one, fish gasping are usually desperate for oxygen. get more air cyrculation asap. in the mean time, take a cup full of tank water, pour it back gently from a few inches above the water surface repeat as often as possible.. the bubbles it creates will create more oxygen.

Answer 6

could possibly be low oxygen levels (check your filter it may be time to clean or maybe even change it) and maybe try a water change, and at the worst may be and infection. but i would try the first two first and still no result, try medicating the water melafix is a very good all natural infections medacation that works very well, but if you do this...make sure you have all the carbon media out of your filter, otherwise no medicine will remain in the tank. i hope ive helped and good luck with your fish

Answer 7

Sometimes fish just do that but most of the time they need oxy try cleaning the tank or filter or adding some more water or maybe just move them into a bucket of clean treated water and then clean out the tank

Answer 8

Do water changes at least 10-20% until they stop. Something is wrong with the fish environment and they're water is probably got too much ammonia and/or nitrite.

Google and read up on the "nitrogen cycle".

Answer 9

It could be something simple like not enough oxygen in the water or your fish could be poisoned from either too much ammonia or nitrite. If you don't have a test kit most petstore will test it for you if you bring in a sample.

Answer 10

The fishies at the library I work at do this sometimes. I was told they get gassy when they eat. I thought it was going to die! I wonder if switching the food would help? This was in a tank with an air filter.