Rapid breathing and not eating

[Ruizjose_15]

Hi guys, need some of y’all’s knowledge for my flame hawkfish, he’s been gasping rapidly for three days straight, doesn’t eat, my water is good but my salinity, on Wednesday my salinity was at 1.029 and from Wednesday and today I got it to 1.026, for now he’s still rapid breathing and starting to get worried, what should i do??

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure salinity tester is accurate (calibrate) and add air stone.
As for rapid breathing, likely not salinity but may be flukes which is a large cause. Any inverts in the tank?
Any loss of color and are eyes clear?

 

[Mongo1.0]

Make sure all your parameters are good. You could have had an ammonia spike, etc. But yeah like Corvette guy said air stone will help.

 

[Ruizjose_15]

Assure salinity tester is accurate (calibrate) and add air stone.
As for rapid breathing, likely not salinity but may be flukes which is a large cause. Any inverts in the tank?
Any loss of color and are eyes clear?

Salinity is calibrated, got airstone running right now, I got three cleaner shrimps and some hermit crabs, I think he looks fine appearance wise except the rapid breathing

 

[Mongo1.0]

If it was an ammonia or anything else that affected it's gills, stress cost helps with that. Just turn off the skimmer if you have one going for 24hrs. It was recommended to me when I had an ammonia spike. Did seem to help.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Salinity is calibrated, got airstone running right now, I got three cleaner shrimps and some hermit crabs, I think he looks fine appearance wise except the rapid breathing

More history is needed here -

How long have you had the fish?
Are there other fish in with it?
Is the fish still eating?

This species is really prone to flukes.....

 

[Ruizjose_15]

Salinity is calibrated, got airstone running right now, I got three cleaner shrimps and some hermit crabs, I think he looks fine appearance wise except the rapid breathing

More history is needed here -

How long have you had the fish?
Are there other fish in with it?
Is the fish still eating?

This species is really prone to flukes.....

Had my flame for a little over three months, I got other fishes in there with him, and he’s the only one affected by it, other fishes are breathing normal, after three days my flame just ate last night and breathing started to normalize

 

[Ruizjose_15]

If it was an ammonia or anything else that affected it's gills, stress cost helps with that. Just turn off the skimmer if you have one going for 24hrs. It was recommended to me when I had an ammonia spike. Did seem to help.

Got my water tested on Friday, lowered my salinity over the weekend and it seemed to help, breathing starting to slow down to normal and he showed interest in eating last night

 

[Mongo1.0]

Got my water tested on Friday, lowered my salinity over the weekend and it seemed to help, breathing starting to slow down to normal and he showed interest in eating last night

Excellent. How did the salinity get high?

 

[Ruizjose_15]

Got my water tested on Friday, lowered my salinity over the weekend and it seemed to help, breathing starting to slow down to normal and he showed interest in eating last night

Excellent. How did the salinity get high?

Must’ve been when I was learning how to do water changes, instead of topping off with ro water, I topped it off with saltwater, but I’ve learned and won’t make that mistake again lol