Angelfish Help

[GUPPY92]

I bout three Angle fish yesterday I added them to tank and this morning there was one dead one half ways and the third one looks pretty good it ate some flakes this morning. I also have two swordtails in the thank and they are doing good. They all looked awesome fish when I bout them from the pet store. They are quarter size. What AM i DOING WRONG AND WHAT SHOULD i DO TO SAVE SECOND FISH..... HELP!!!!Gold one is doing good

[H.K.Luterman]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. First of all, can you tell us your tank's water parameters? What are the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate levels and temperature. Knowing these basic details is usually the first step to diagnosing any problems.

Next, are there any visible symptoms you are seeing? Any strange behavior, spots, fuzziness or redness?

Can you provide any close up photos of the ailing/deceased fish?

[Mmiller2001]

15 minutes ago, H.K.Luterman said:

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. First of all, can you tell us your tank's water parameters? What are the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate levels and temperature. Knowing these basic details is usually the first step to diagnosing any problems.

Next, are there any visible symptoms you are seeing? Any strange behavior, spots, fuzziness or redness?

Can you provide any close up photos of the ailing/deceased fish?

I will add to this. Did you acclimate them, and for how long. What is your KH and GH? What is your water temperature?

[GUPPY92]

I acclimated them from a hour. Water temp 76, Nitrate 15, Nitrite 3.0, GH 75, KH 120, pH 8.2 . And i don't see any spots or anything like that. Just weakly floating around or just sitting in one place. My biggest confusion is y is one fish great and the other two are not?

[H.K.Luterman]

How long has the tank been set up? You have nitrites present, which should always be 0. Nitrites are toxic to fish, and could be the culprit.

[GUPPY92]

Here is second one on way out

[GUPPY92]

the tank has been set up for two weeks

[GUPPY92]

The Nitrite level is about 3.0

[Solidus1833]

Just now, GUPPY92 said:

The Nitrite level is about 3.0

your tank is not cycled yet. 

 

[H.K.Luterman]

I agree with @Solidus1833, it does not appear that your tank is cycled yet (please watch the video provided). You will have to proceed with a fish-in cycle. First you need to get the ammonia and nitrites down to 0 via daily large water changes (50% or so). Are you using a water conditioner, such as Prime?

[Mmiller2001]

27 minutes ago, H.K.Luterman said:

How long has the tank been set up? You have nitrites present, which should always be 0. Nitrites are toxic to fish, and could be the culprit.

I agree here. New fish, under stress added to 3ppm nitrite. 

Start water changes. 

[anewbie]

As others said your nitrite is 3ppm and that is extremely unhealthy. You should also test ammonia which you did not provide. You can maybe save the fish by adding a few drops of sachem prime (or similar) every other day until the tank is cycled else it is likely they will die.

-

Also angels would prefer the temp being a few degrees warmer esp while young so I would raise the temp to 78 (which is also fine for the swordtails).

[GUPPY92]

I dont have any prime but I have AquaSafe. I did a 25% water Change and the nitrite is shill not 0. What do I do?

[H.K.Luterman]

You definitely need to lower the ammonia and nitrite to 0 asap. Do another water change and see what your parameters are then. I highly recommend picking up some Prime or Fritz Complete, as they will detoxify ammonia and nitrite. You will need to test all of your parameters daily and do the necessary water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites at 0 until your tank is cycled. I would also feed sparingly, or maybe even stop feeding altogether for a week to help the beneficial bacteria colony catch up. Keep in mind, it may take another two weeks or even more of daily monitoring and work until the cycle is complete.

A bacteria starter, such as API Quickstart, might help the process. 

 

[Schwack]

3 hours ago, GUPPY92 said:

I dont have any prime but I have AquaSafe. I did a 25% water Change and the nitrite is shill not 0. What do I do?

You can sort of guesstimate how much water you'll need to change out to hit 0 nitrites. A 50% change should bring you down to ~1.5ppm. Another 50% and you're in the .75ppm and so on. You're in for several weeks of frequent water changing, so make sure to pick up things that might make them easier on you (buckets, siphons with nice, flexible hoses, dosers for your water conditioner, etc.) edit: Typically, folks recommend smaller, more frequent changes to avoid stressing the fish, but in your case I'd be willing to do enough to get things down to less than .25ppm.

Assuming the remaining two recover from what sounds a lot like nitrite/ammonia poisoning, don't add any more fish until you've managed to cycle the tank. It's a bit tougher with fish in there, but there are lots of resources available to solve exactly this problem, likely because lots of people end up in the same situation.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Schwack

[GUPPY92]

Thanks guys for all the support.... But How does a guy know if there tank has cycled already or not? and Y doesn't it seem to bother the two sword tails or are they tougher fish?

[H.K.Luterman]

You will be able to tell that the tank is cycled when you test the water for several days in a row and see the Ammonia and Nitrite stay steadily at 0, and there is a presence of Nitrate only. As for the sword tails, yeah, some fish can be pretty hardy and make it through the cycling process. They might have shortened lifespans because of it, though, or develop issues down the road.

[tonyjuliano]

Nitrite levels are unsafe, and need to be lowered, but that would not have affected them so quickly, IMO.

The real culprit is likely pH shock.  His tank measures 8.2 and how much do you want to bet that these fish just came out of water that measured around 6.5?

Edited May 16, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[GUPPY92]

When acclimate fish do you guys add tank water to the bag after a hour of floating or do you just fish them in when the water temperature is the same?

[Solidus1833]

26 minutes ago, GUPPY92 said:

When acclimate fish do you guys add tank water to the bag after a hour of floating or do you just fish them in when the water temperature is the same?

This can differ between species, but mostly its should be between what water they are in, and what water you are placing them in. Me personally, I forego any quarantining because my source does this form me. So I place my new fish still in its bag in my tank and turn the lights out for about 30mins. Then I get a bucket and net, dump the fish in the net and place it into the aquarium. This is all because my source (LFS) has nearly identical water parameters as my own. 

Drip acclimation is beneficial for some species like shrimps. But mostly, you need to be sure the aquarium they are going into is not too much of a ph shock or nitrate shock to the fish. If you take a fish from 0ppm nitrate and throw it into an aquarium that's above 100ppm, that could spell doom. In some species, even going from 0-50ppm nitrate could be deadly. Before you ever get new fish you must be sure you don't have 'old tank' syndrome. Where your nitrates are high, but the fish slowly acclimated to it. Still not exactly health for your fish, but they can survive. However any new additions will not do well at all. 

Its a good idea to ask your LFS what their water parameters are and compare it with your own. An instant PH shift from say 7 to 6 or 8 can be lethal if its not slowly acclimated. 

[Schwack]

Bear in mind, however, that no amount of acclimation will help if the water you're acclimating them to is full of ammonia/nitrite. Both chemicals interfere with a fish's ability to process oxygen. Until your tank is cycled, you'd be best to avoid adding new fish. The 3-4 you have at the moment will be more than enough to provide an ammonia source to get your cycle moving.

[GUPPY92]

Thanks for the info guys

[Griznatch]

All good advice here!  You main challenge is going to be keeping the fish alive while the tank cycles.

 I had a big rant prepared here about store employees and how they should ask basic questions of potential customers before loading fish in to a bag to make a sale.. but then I realized it wouldn't help you out any. I really hope your remaining fish make it ok.

We've all made mistakes, it's how we learn.

[GUPPY92]

Another Quick Question. Lets say the Pet Store PH is 7.0 and my is 8.2 should i lower my PH or should I acclimate them kind of like you would shrimp just a little quicker.

[Colu]

I would drip acclimate them over a longer period of time with your pH being over 1.2 difference between your water and the lfs