Fish dying/dead - Heavy Breathing - Need Help

[apex82]

I have not taken the powerheads out and washed them yet. If they are not better by tomorrow, I will.

Ya I talked to water company today and they have been doing a "flush" in area the past while... however they said the chlorine has not been increased that much. I am using prime and has been fine in the past...

Do situations like this take awhile to fizzle out? It has been two full days since the episode, not sure if they should be back to normal by now? I have changed about 50 gallons of water on a total volume of 95 gallons or so. As far as bio-load, skimmer is rated for much larger tank with a heavy load and most of the fish are smaller than 3 inches. I am not sure how it could be lack of oxygen? I have tons of flow agitating the surface with an open top, is this not adequate? Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

[apex82]

Day 3 and tank looks empty... All fish hiding and not eating except for 3 out of 9. Albeit there breathing is better than 2 days ago I would still consider it abnormal and rapid. Breathing before was large wide mouth rapid gasps while today mouth is staying more closed but still seems like excessive breathing. I am not sure what to do at this point... If everything was better should they be back to normal by now? Or does an event like this take a week or so for them to start eating and swimming around again due to the stress?

I just don't know if I should try more things( more water changes, different powerheads, take fish out) or if water is okay now but it just takes longer than 3 days for them to start eating and not hiding....

[silentcivilian]

At this point could just be a stress related thing. You may just have to let time tell, hope the damage is done and the rest will mend itself.

[mws]

If no one is worse at this point I would just give them time.
Keep the stress levels low and hope for the best.

[apex82]

Alright, just changed another 30 gallons so thats puts it up about 80 gallons in 3 days on a total water volume of 95 gallons(almost 100% water change). I took out the new evolution powerheads are soaking in vinegar and replaced with my old koralia 3's. I think thats all I can do and hope for the best...

[mws]

Plag them in and let them run in a backet for a day. Make sure you rinse them well from the viniger bifore putting them back in your tank.

[Wayne]

Best of luck and hopefully your not looking at a bateria infection caused by who-knows-what