fish breathing rapidly please help asap

[CheyenneD]

ok i have two clown loaches in my tank with two yoyo loaches and a kuhli and a golden algae eater, the clowns are brething very rapidly at about 120 gill movements a minute... (counted as in out = 1) all the other fish are fine the clown loaches are very lathargic (not usual for mine) they are always hiding very sensitive to movement, very timid, and one is continually 'graying out'

i have tested for amonia and ph at my local fish shop
they said ntot to worry bout anything else being tested because they would not cause these issues (probably not right)

ammonia was 0.0

ph was 7.0

and my temp is 27degrees celcius/80 degrees farnheit

the tank has been set up for about 8 months now it is only like 50 litres atm because i do not have a big euff house(living with bf's parents)

i jsust did tests now and they are still exactly the same 0.0 and 7.0
what could be causing this it is very unusual for my fish to be like this there is alot of oxygen in the tank i have a cascade 400 internal filter and my tank is only smallthe water cycled thru the filter then falls back in to the water thru a tube running alon the top of the water kinda peltingdown in to tank and i also have an air stine in there to assist in oxygen and water movement...

they are my best friend s i dont want to lose them i have had the little buggers for nearly 6 months and im smitten with them...

any suggestions would be good

[starsplitter7]

Hi there,

Some quick questions. (A quick conversion: 50 liters = 13.2 US gallons = 11 Imperial gallons)

How big are the fish?

What is the substrate?

What kind of decorations?

Plants?

How much and often do you change the water?

Have you changed it recently?

Do you use a water conditioner?

Did you change the filter recently or scrub the tank or gravel really hard?

Do you know the Nitrites and Nitrate reading? (Nitrite and Nitrate can cause these problems.)

As I am sure you know, if the fish are not already stunted (the tank is much too small) they will all grow very large except the Kuhlie (3 inches). Clowns: 12-16 inches, Yoyo: 6-10 inches, and Golden -- not sure 6+ inches and get very nasty as they age. All the fish except the algae eater should be in groups of 5 or more fish in a large enough tank.

Your tank is too small, but dithers would help make your fish feel better. The Yoyos could be stressing your clowns, or the Yoyos and the clowns could be stressing themselves trying to establish a hierarchy.

Nitrite and Ammonia can burn the gills and make it difficult to breath.

We have all made this exact mistake. Plan on a larger tank soon. A better algae eater would be a Bristlenose, and they are much cooler.

Good luck and I am sure the experts will be along soon to help.

Take care.

[mistergreen]

50 liters is pretty small for the loaches... Sorry, but you might have to find most of your friends a better home. I don't see this stress issue going away unless you get them a much bigger tank.

but for now, it wouldn't hurt to do a partial water change.

[Diana]

That small a tank is really only suited to fish that only grow an inch or an inch and a half long (3-5cm).

At this point I would increase the water changes but re-home these fish ASAP.

In a cycled tank the ammonia and nitrite are likly to be 0, but the nitrate could be very high, and this also can stress the fish.

Fish in a tank without enough room to have a territory can be rather shy; they do not understand they are safe from predators, and their instinct is telling them there is nowhere to flee if a predator shows up, so they hide the best they can.