Almost gassed my fish!!!

[Oreo]

Phew, that was a close one!

I had decent CO2 levels in the water already when I got this wild hair up my arse that it would be a good idea to try and kill all those little bugs on the water surface by suffocating them with CO2. I didn't realize that my water CO2 levels were already near the limit 'cause I don't yet have a drop checker or even know what the hardness is. So I go taping a plastic sheet over the top of the aquarium and pumping CO2 gas under there to fill it like a balloon. 5min later all three of my gorami's are unconscious.

I did manage to save the gauramis by scooping them into another, non-planted, well oxygenated tank. They began to perk up right away. I had to hold the one by the tail so his mouth was over the air bubbler. I thought for sure I was going to lose him but he made it.

SCARY! Next time I try that stunt it will be in the morning when the water has out-gassed all it's CO2.

There was no warning though. No fish scooping at the surface or breathing heavy. Just one minute fine and the next almost dead. Apparently the Gauramis are the most sensitive fish in the tank though. The rest of the fish weren't struggling so much.

[Gerryd]

Hi,

Gouramis are labrynth fish which come to the surface regularly for 02.. when you covered the top with plastic and pumped in c02, this layer HAD no 02, and when the fish came up for a sip of 02, they got c02 instead.

I am glad they are okay now. That is why they were affected before the other fish were....

[Oreo]

Thanks for the tip. I think I'll leave them in the other tank till Monday then when I can finish exterminating the bugs.

[Left C]

What kind of bugs are they?

I'm really glad that your fish survived.

[Oreo]

They are almost like fleas. Very tiny and they seem to live on the surface of the water and on any leaves or rocks that break the surface. When I open the hood of the aquarium to feed the fish I get the bugs all stirred up and you can see them jumping like fleas. Looks like they're all bouncing around on the water surface. They don't live anywhere but in the aquarium. They hitched a ride on some plants I bought from the LFS. I tried asking around what they are but no one had any idea what I was talking about. One thing is for sure though... that CO2 trick was working like a charm till the Gouramis started going belly up and I had to rip the plastic off the top of the aquarium in a panic.

[Left C]

I wonder if they could be the Spiny Water Flea and/or the Fishhook Water Flea? They were introduced from Europe from ships' ballasts in the '80's and 90's.
http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/spiny_and_fishhook_water_flea.pdf

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s320/Left_C/SpinyWaterFleaandFishhookWaterFlea.jpg

[csmith]

They are almost like fleas. Very tiny and they seem to live on the surface of the water and on any leaves or rocks that break the surface. When I open the hood of the aquarium to feed the fish I get the bugs all stirred up and you can see them jumping like fleas. Looks like they're all bouncing around on the water surface. They don't live anywhere but in the aquarium. They hitched a ride on some plants I bought from the LFS. I tried asking around what they are but no one had any idea what I was talking about. One thing is for sure though... that CO2 trick was working like a charm till the Gouramis started going belly up and I had to rip the plastic off the top of the aquarium in a panic.

I think I've got the same bugs in my DSM. They live in the bowl of water, but when the lights go off and the humidity rises you can see them climbing low up the sides of the tank. They also "jump". They don't have tails like what Left C showed, though.

[Philosophos]

I've had those and other little critters pop up in my tanks. Poisoning works; I'll bet killing the filter and floating some excel or higher purity glutaraldehyde on the surface would knock em' back.

My weapon of choice? Apistos. If it's shrimp size or smaller but still visible to you, odds are these guys will eat it. That's just my unscientific observations and some conjecture from their natural behavior. Either way, it's an excuse for apistos and that's not a bad thing.

[Oreo]

I'll have to look into the apistos but my current fish definitely eat the bugs. The bugs just multiply faster then the fish are able to catch them. I don't think they're the spiney / hooked things. I expect the CO2 trick to erradicate them entirely if I give the CO2 enough time- say an hour.

[Biollante]

Hi,

Can you say Daphnia? :)

Grab them culture them, do not gas (or poison) them. :gw

http://www.caudata.org/daphnia/
http://www.nih.gov/science/models/daphnia/
http://www.google.com/images?q=daphnia&oe

Biollante

[DaBub]

you will kill the fish long before you harm the water fleas.

[Philosophos]

With CO2? Probably.

With other toxins? Daphnia are very sensitive. Check the MSDS here:

http://www.safety.vanderbilt.edu/pdf/hcs_msds/asepti_steryl_3_05.pdf

and this paper including O. mykiss embryos:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T4G-4F8TVV6-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1032627971&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b30f1aba5590efcc8601b444b0e7ad4e

It's the same kinda pattern for everything else that I've compared so far; daphnia are some sensitive little critters.

[DaBub]

sorry, I was referring to CO2.