Darting to the surface and back - please help!

I just noticed one of my bristlenoses darting to the surface and flipping back down to lie on his plant again. Now I've seen most of them doing it at some point. Other than this their behaviour seems normal.

It is a very hot day and the tanks temperature is currently 28degrees (82F). I've had the light off all day. I did about a 40% water change (a bit more than normal) this morning when it wasn't so hot as the tank was due for a good clean. And I just added an air stone 2min ago in case it's oxygen levels.

Is there anything else I should do? Do you think its temperature related like I do? Any better suggestions for lowering it? I'm sometimes a bit scared to play with temperature too much though as I don't want to lower it too much by accident and put them into shock. It is coming to the end of the day so it will probably start going down soon.

Only things Ive found when I googled BN darting to the surface and back resulted in a dead fish so I might be starting to panic a little. Though that WAS only two posts that I found mentioning it.

You are right in suspecting oxygen levels. Te darting behaviour is caused by low O2 levels in the water. this would have been brought on by the increase in tank temp. Cooler water holds more oxygen, as the temp goes up the oxygen goes down.

Playing with temp is a dangrous business, why did the temp go up so high? was it a hot day? I always recommend having an airstone in the tank with bristlenose as they need high O2 levels

Seeing as you have added the airstone you have it all covered

Thanks for the quick reply Doug. I only just remembered that someone gave me their old air stone a while back, I'll be leaving that airstone in there from now on then!

Yes, I think I put in there that its a hot day mustve missed it in my post ;p I live near Sydney and it got to about 32+ today I think. My house gets pretty bad as we have no shade whatsoever. My fish havent gone through an Aussie summer in this place yet as I established the tanks in March. Is there anything I should be prepared to do to help keep the tanks cool?

I did a test on my water btw and came back with

(mg/L)

Ammonia - between 0.5 and 0.75
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 7

Ammonia seems a bit high yeah? Should I be doing ANOTHER water change to fix this? :/ don't know about doing one so soon especially since the temp change will prob be a big difference now that the water in the tanks 28C.

All other fish are acting normal. I just sat in front of the tank for 5min or so and didnt see any more BN darting up to the surface like before

BN's require high oxygen levels compared to many other fish, the fish that are acting normally are probably more tolerent of low oxygen levels.

To help keeping a tank cool on hot days, if your tank has a hinged hood then try opening it and have fan blowing cooler air over the surface. Even if you don't have a hingrd hood a fan will help keep the room temperature down.
Closing curtains or blinds in the room at the hottest part of the day will also help.

Another way to keep the temp down is to lift the light off the top of the tank. My light is easily capable of heating the tank up about 4-5 degrees

TYVM! It looks like that air stone is doing the trick! Havent seen any jump up to the surface since.'ll go out and try to find a little fan or something that will fit. Its another hot one today and the tanks back to 28 :/ its not even summer yet so itll only get worse.

Luckily in england we dont have this prob as the weather is always cold wet windy, which is a plus for our tanks as we can control the temp of the tank with the heater, i have to agree with doug on the O2 levels but a temp between 28-32 is way to high for me...all my tanks are kept at 26.5C bang at all times which is also breeding temp.....firstly i think you need to think about cooling your living space down before the tank as you well no your tank will eventually level at what your room temp is....being an air-conditioning engineer i no all about cooling....maybe you could pick up a small portable air-con unit from ebay or a D.I.Y store, this would allow you to control your rooms temp, then you can easily adjust your tank's temp by a few degrees down, but do it slowly day by day untill ou are happy with it.....also make sure you nitrite's and ammonia levels are kept at there lowest but with tank temp high then its a struggle but water changes of 15% every other day should keep on top of this....other than that you can only stick to the basics move your tank to the coolest part of your house, out of direct sunlight and like jim said in a shady area.....

hope this helps....good luck...CuRbY,....

I wish we could go an air con unit heh but too many restrictions. First the silly house Im renting would probably have the power blow if I plugged anything else in :/ each room has like one powerpoint. INCLUDING THE KICTHEN O_O but thats another matter lol. And moneys too tight atm having just moved out heh. I might try and see if theres a cheapie around somewhere though just in case I can afford it.

I did buy a $5 fan that clips on to the top of the tank tho (from ebay its in the mail heh), hopefully that might take it down a degree or two! And yeah consistent water changes seems like a good idea too.

Agree about the lights, When it's warm, I turn my lights out during the day..and turn em on again during the night , so the plants get their desired necessary amount of light...We also have awnings on the front windows, they get all the afternoon sun..I keep the curtains closed, Have insulation in the roof & a whirlygig & when necessary, I relent and turn on the aircon...

I think I had a similar problem though my tank was 92, and however I did not lose any fish I have no idea... :-)

So you could find more info on temp if you search on here... had a friend who had the clip on fan and it dropped in the tank,
so make sure it is fixed appropriately

You could try a humidifier about 18 inches away from your main tank if all else fails,
though a humidifier works different to a dehumidifier and puts water back in the atmosphere.

I have a portable one that adds water and cool air to the room, for me for my medical conditions, though helps with
the fish keeping too lol...

I have one that cools and adds water to the room at the same time, though it does not cool much it does help to decrease the temp
of the main tank in summer when the temperatures can be quite high.

regards

LJ

Quote :

had a friend who had the clip on fan and it dropped in the tank,
so make sure it is fixed appropriately

ICK! Will do!

I will be getting one of these things

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Aquarium-Chiller-Marine-Fresh-DC-Cooling-Clip-FAN-06-/400172807735?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item5d2c287637

prob similar to what you got.

either that...or bite the bullet and get a chiller