I am sure this question has been addressed before, but I couldn't find it. What would cause my four fish to stay on top of the tank gulping water? Also is it ok to change the water more than once a week, or every three days?

Normally, this would mean there is something wrong with the water, usually not enough oxygen in the water.

Short term improvement in the water quality would be to change at least half.

Without more info on your setup, its quite hard to say.

Its perfectly ok to change water as often as you like. Unfortunately the reverse is not true...

Slugger

I moved this to help get a better idea of what may be happening with your
tank. When you reply to this, there will be a white box at the top of the page,
answer as many of the questions as you can. This will help us out greatly.
One additional question, do you have a air pump for your tank? Slugger is
on to something with the O2 level or water being not good. Let us know
what you come up with. If you don't have any water testing kits, take a
sample to your pet store. Most places test for free. Make sure to get
actual numbers for ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and ph level. Don't get OK or
good.



If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. I asked LOTS of questions
when I first started out with fishies.

my two bubble eyes were doing this last night, it was horrible to see, so i checked the water. the nitrite was almost purple very deadly indead, did a 50% water change, and added salt, still no difference i just set up a rubber maid and just had to get my poor fish out of that water. the tank is getting taken down now as i dont need it anymore as i'm moving in a few weeks. and the fish were horribly over crowded. but yes i removed my fish from that situation right away. i dont think mine would of made it through the night. so check your nitrite. along with everything else.

Hi Neeraj - as slugger mentioned, one possibility is that the water carries inadequate oxygen as decay of uneaten food, plant material, etc. can consume massive amounts of oxygen. If the oxygen levels are fine, it may be some gill trouble, like pH crash, parasitism or chlorine toxicity.... but we'll have a better idea with some water parameters.

Post back soon

agree with Slugger's analysis