Rapid breathing

[DarrenMnaples]

hello every one i am new here let me start off by saying i have 5 clowns and about 8 mixed cichlids and 4 gouramies in a 55 gallon tank oh yea and a sucker fish too. so far so good except all of asudden one of my loaches got a blotted stomach and extremly rapid breathing none the less he dieed with in 3 days. now another loach has the rapid breathing??? please help

[EdenAU]

Any chance of some more information?

Water temperature in the tank (warmer water holds less oxygen)?
Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate levels?
pH?

When's the last time you did a partial water change?

Rapid breathing is often a sign of poor water quality, so it probably wouldn't hurt to do a 20-30% water change (just be sure to match the pH & temperature of the water as close as possible, and make sure if it's tap water that it's been treated).

[DarrenMnaples]

thank u for all that repleyed ph 7.2 water temp 82 lots of air tubes going in to tank....the wierd thing about the rapid breathing was that it was only 2 out of 5 loachesand the one had a really blotted stomach so bad he would swim like an air plane out of control and yes i did a 50% water ch i think the one got an air bubble some how but im not sure about the other one i dont really see his stomach being blotted...any more input would be greatly apreciated

[EdenAU]

This is a bit out of my league, but I'll give it a shot until someone else can answer

My tank is at the same temp as yours (around 82 F - 28 C), but I keep my pH slightly lower (6.8 - 7), so I don't think either of those would be affecting your fish.

What were your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels?

Apart from dropsy (which I have no experience with, I've only heard/read about it), I don't have a clue apart from it still being a possible water quality problem. Sorry