Why fishes use air bubbles to rise to surface?

Question

Most of my fishes did same before they died. After shrimp died ( symbiosis partner of goby) goby is the only one left. Since worms became a finger size and I saw while they re attacked some sick fishes, I decided to kill them all. I boiled stones, sand, half of water. So all reef and ecosystem died. I put one quarter new water and one quater old filtered water without sterilezed, so that new bacterias grow again. Salt level is low but acceptable. PH is too low. amonia and nitrite are not ideal but acceptable level. Nitrate is high. I added Calsium, iodine, Moynb, other minarales and micro inverebrate foods for new reef growth. after 6hours I took gobi to the aquarium. Water is muddy but ox rich. I fed and he ate. but now he is more active then normal and do the same thing which other fishes did before they died. He goes to air column and uses air bubbles to reach surface and dive. Anybody know it reason or what causes that ?

Answer 1

Well my question is what were your water params before all the death occured? What kind of worms? Brisstle? There are easy ways to eradicate worms from live rock short of boiling it. (This is usually only done for hand farming) I am not sure you will get anything to grow on it once it has been boiled unless you plan on adding it yourself. Also boiling the rock does not necessarily rid the rock of Fungi spores.

There is a serious problem going on here. Why would you put your gobie back into the tank which is not cycled, low PH and low salt? Just adding back some of your tank water after killing your whole ecosystem is like having a new uncycled tank. The high nitrates alone are enough to make him want to surface to breath.

Are you running a skimmer?

Your nitrates are high because boiling the water concentrates the nitrates and does not remove them.

I am confused as to what you actually did here. If you like you can email or im me and we can discuss and try to get to the bottom of the problem with your tank.

Also, to remove unwanted worms from your rock, just remove the rock and place it on a rag or towel wet with tank water and cover with a wet rag. This will keep the pollyps and growth wet yet drive out the worms. Also, a piece of shrimp in an old piece of panty hose tied up will also draw out the worms. Brisstle worms will get stuck on the nylon.

Usually the worms will not attack healthy fish. Your fish were sick or dieing prior to the attack.

Answer 2

It sounds to me like you're trying to add too much to your tank.

If you have any amount of ammonia and nitrite, this isn't good for your fish. Nitrates should be kept as low as possible, and definately below 20ppm.

What is the pH? It should be above 8.0, preferrably between 8.2-8.4.

What is your salinity? for fish it can be between 1.020 and 1.026, but for inverts (like the shrimp) it should be between 1.024 and 1.026.

Was the tank cycled before you added your fish and inverts? You might have added too many too soon for your size of tank. If you don't have sufficient bacteria to convert ammonia and nitrite to nitrate, the buildup of these products will be toxic to your tank life.

If you boiled your rock, there will be no new reef life to grow. It would have been killed along with the bristleworms and any beneficial bacteria your tank had built up to that point. Right now your tank is cycling again. Reef organisms will use the calcium, moly, iodine, magnesium, strontium, etc. from the water, but unless you have the actual orgainisms in the tank that will be using them, you're upsetting the ionic balance of the tank. The best way to replenish these is weekly water changes of around 20-25% of the tank volume - all the minerals needed are in the saltwater mix. Invertebrate foods are unnecessary at this point if you don't have living reef organisms - and usually these will get enough food from particles the water from feeding the fish. Adding food with nothing to eat it will only contribute to your ammonia/nitrate problem and clog your filter.

This is why I think your goby is hyperactive - I think he's having a problem with the general water conditions in the tank. If your ammonia or nitrites are above 0.5, and your nitrates are above 40, you need to do a 25% water change as soon as possible and get your pH and salinity within the rage the organisms in you tank need. If the water test high again tomorrow, another water change (20%) should be done.

Answer 3

I am not really sure, you should contact an icthiologist.