Fish breathing fast at night?

[CamoFan]

I’ve noticed my fish breathe faster at night than they do during the day. Does this happen to anyone else? My clowns typically hang out in the top left corner next to my thermometer probe along with the solo chromis and the wrasse buries in the sand. I think I have fairly decent surface agitation with both the outputs from my filter pointed up and my gyre mixing into that.

Also noticed my young ocellaris clownfish discolors at night and he gets these white splotches all over.

Thoughts?

 

[blecki]

Discoloration at night is normal. They're just wearing their pajamas. Breathing fast only at night, though, could be an oxygen issue when the lights are off. If you've got a lot of macroalgae it could be using up oxygen while the lights are out.

 

[CamoFan]

Discoloration at night is normal. They're just wearing their pajamas. Breathing fast only at night, though, could be an oxygen issue when the lights are off. If you've got a lot of macroalgae it could be using up oxygen while the lights are out.

I have some nuisance algae in the tank but not a lot left after a heavy cleaning. I’m hoping that since I adjusted the outputs and cracked the lid, I’ll get some more O2 into the water column.

 

[blecki]

Couldn't hurt to drop an airstone in the tank and rule that out. You say the tank is lidded - glass lid? Is there a skimmer?

 

[Idech]

Aim a powerhead at the surface, to create water movement.

 

[CamoFan]

Couldn't hurt to drop an airstone in the tank and rule that out. You say the tank is lidded - glass lid? Is there a skimmer?

Don’t have an air stone, so maybe I’ll have to grab one in the morning. Glass lid with holes cut out in the plastic backing. No skimmer. I have an FX4 filter which has dual outputs so I turned those up to almost be at the surface and my gyre is almost at the surface too.

 

[CamoFan]

Aim a powerhead at the surface, to create water movement.

Already moved my filter outputs up to almost out of the water and the same with my gyre.

 

[blecki]

Glass lid with holes cut out in the plastic backing. No skimmer.

Yeah, that sounds about what I suspected from what you described. I'm not saying there aren't potentially other issues; but the oxygen issue needs addressed and it's easy to do so. Agitating the surface is a good step but the glass lid makes it so there's a pocket of still, stale air between the water surface and the lid, greatly limiting the rate of gas exchange. I asked about a skimmer because they are basically an airstone on steroids. I would ditch the glass lid or add a skimmer ASAP. Short term, air stone, the sooner the better.

 

[CamoFan]

Yeah, that sounds about what I suspected from what you described. I'm not saying there aren't potentially other issues; but the oxygen issue needs addressed and it's easy to do so. Agitating the surface is a good step but the glass lid makes it so there's a pocket of still, stale air between the water surface and the lid, greatly limiting the rate of gas exchange. I asked about a skimmer because they are basically an airstone on steroids. I would ditch the glass lid or add a skimmer ASAP. Short term, air stone, the sooner the better.

I’ve been thinking of ditching the lid for a mesh lid, but I’ve got a cat that likes to hop on the glass lid. I’ve attempted to discourage it but she continues.

 

[exnisstech]

I’ve been thinking of ditching the lid for a mesh lid, but I’ve got a cat that likes to hop on the glass lid. I’ve attempted to discourage it but she continues.

Place a few set mouse traps on the glass lid for the cat. They love the snap of a mouse trap. Works for dogs and kids too lol

 

[Hats_]

Every time my cat jumped on the tank i briefly put her nose in the water. She jumped on twice in total lol

 

[blecki]

Foil on the lid. When she learns you can switch to a mesh top.