Struggling to breath

Howzit okes.

I've had my tank running for a few weeks now and I'm struggling a bit, my mind is baffled.

I've noticed that my angels have been breathing very fast and my one bronze cory is gulping air at the surface.

I have a 60 litre tank with:

a canister doing 200 litres per hour
an airstone blowing air into the tank

Livestock:

2 x angels (still very small)
5 x corys
5 x flame tetras
5 x glolite tetras
1 x miniature pleco (very small)

Plants:

1 x java fern
4 pieces of another aquatic plant

Substrate:

pool filter sand

Light:

1 x 15watt aquaglo

Temp:

26

Please i'm worried about the fish. Had them 3 weeks now, haven't lost one yet and they are eating like pigs. What could be the problem?

 

Did you do a full tank cycle before you added the fish?
what are your tanks paramenters?
it might be an amonia spike or nitrite spike/ nitrate spike (can't remember which is the bad one) that is causing the problem

 

Hi Lowflyer, i would first do a water change if you haven't done one yet and add maybe another air stone.
Agree with Gareth as well get you water tested.

 

I would also do a 75% water change as a minimum so fast possible.

 

Maybe there isn't enough surface movement. just a thought

 

Maybe dropping the temperature slightly might also help, but I'm no expert so I would wait for someone else to confirm this logic.

200litres per hour only? That doesn't sound right.

 

The tank is being cycled almost 4 times a hour that should be ok, i would try a connect a air hose to the power head to get more bubbles and surface agitation going.

 

Yeah I'm not really worried about that, just sounds extremely low for any Canister filter.

 

True true - maybe a slightly bigger one will be a good investment.
Lowflyer what make is the power head/canister filter.

 

I think the advice to do at least a 50% water change ASAP is the nmost import. Then you can worry about the specs for the filter etc. It definatly sounds as if the tank was not cycled correctly.

 

agree 100%

get your pump to work at max for the air stones