Angelfish can't eat

[wuht]

I've been having a lot of trouble figuring out what is wrong with a few of my angelfish. I've had a group of 6 in the tank for around 7 months and 2 months ago I had one of them stop eating and eventually die. Since then it's spread to 2 more and I'm not sure what exactly is wrong.

It's not an issue of them not wanting to eat, they will go for a piece and when they get it in their throat they seem to be in pain, they'll thrash their head around and spit out anything.

I can't seem to find a med that helps them, and I've tried a few different meds so far. First I started with Maracyn and salt thinking it could be bacteria as I sometimes see fin damage. I never saw a reaction for the 1 fish that was sick at that time and it eventually passed in the hospital tank around 2 months ago. This last week I've been treating with Prazipro since I can't see any other physical signs and thought in might be an internal parasite, but have had no improvement.

As far as parameters my water has been very clean because of all the water changes from meds. When I last checked before a water change on Wednesday I was at 0 for ammonia, nitrites and around 10 for nitrates. My ph has been staying stable in the 6.5 - 6.8 range, my tap water is on the soft side so I use a little crushed coral in my filter to help. I use an inkbird for temp control and it's been at 78 all summer without even needing the heaters to turn on but they would at 76.

[DiscusLover]

On 9/29/2022 at 10:05 AM, wuht said:

I've been having a lot of trouble figuring out what is wrong with a few of my angelfish. I've had a group of 6 in the tank for around 7 months and 2 months ago I had one of them stop eating and eventually die. Since then it's spread to 2 more and I'm not sure what exactly is wrong.

It's not an issue of them not wanting to eat, they will go for a piece and when they get it in their throat they seem to be in pain, they'll thrash their head around and spit out anything.

I can't seem to find a med that helps them, and I've tried a few different meds so far. First I started with Maracyn and salt thinking it could be bacteria as I sometimes see fin damage. I never saw a reaction for the 1 fish that was sick at that time and it eventually passed in the hospital tank around 2 months ago. This last week I've been treating with Prazipro since I can't see any other physical signs and thought in might be an internal parasite, but have had no improvement.

As far as parameters my water has been very clean because of all the water changes from meds. When I last checked before a water change on Wednesday I was at 0 for ammonia, nitrites and around 10 for nitrates. My ph has been staying stable in the 6.5 - 6.8 range, my tap water is on the soft side so I use a little crushed coral in my filter to help. I use an inkbird for temp control and it's been at 78 all summer without even needing the heaters to turn on but they would at 76.

Do your angelfish stay near the surface?

[wuht]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:05 PM, DiscusLover said:

Do your angelfish stay near the surface?

The first one that passed did but only towards the end, the 2 that are sick currently will usually be hiding either in plants or a cave.

[DiscusLover]

On 9/29/2022 at 11:07 AM, wuht said:

The first one that passed did but only towards the end, the 2 that are sick currently will usually be hiding either in plants or a cave.

Is there anything that is scaring them or bothering them. They might be stressed from that or because of your lighting being too strong

[wuht]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:20 PM, DiscusLover said:

Is there anything that is scaring them or bothering them. They might be stressed from that or because of your lighting being too strong

I had my first pair in the tank about 3 weeks back but since then no one has been fighting, they broke off and I haven't even seen chasing over territory. I thought it might have been an injury from then but it's been over 2 weeks and a third fish has gotten sick.

[DiscusLover]

On 9/29/2022 at 11:28 AM, wuht said:

I had my first pair in the tank about 3 weeks back but since then no one has been fighting, they broke off and I haven't even seen chasing over territory. I thought it might have been an injury from then but it's been over 2 weeks and a third fish has gotten sick.

What do you feed them and how many times do you feed. A reason they might stop eating could be because of swim bladder

[wuht]

On 9/29/2022 at 3:32 PM, DiscusLover said:

What do you feed them and how many times do you feed. A reason they might stop eating could be because of swim bladder

I have a variety of pellets and flakes, also frozen blood worms and repashy. I usually feed twice per day but I think it's been too much since they aren't juveniles anymore.

It's just really strange, I can get him to take some things that are moving like blood worms but once it's in his mouth it's like something hurts and he can't eat it. Could it be some kind of blockage? I just don't understand how something like that could spread to others.

[DiscusLover]

On 9/29/2022 at 12:45 PM, wuht said:

I have a variety of pellets and flakes, also frozen blood worms and repashy. I usually feed twice per day but I think it's been too much since they aren't juveniles anymore.

It's just really strange, I can get him to take some things that are moving like blood worms but once it's in his mouth it's like something hurts and he can't eat it. Could it be some kind of blockage? I just don't understand how something like that could spread to others.

I had that happen to my angelfish before as well. They eat and then all of a sudden stop eating and stay lifeless near the top or the bottom of the tank. Most likely its because the fish was rapidly eating and couldn't digest it all quickly enough. Just in case you should give it a salt bath and see if that helps

[Colu]

What your describing sound like wasting disease what I would do is treat with fritz Expel p once a week for 4 weeks and you can add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table for 5 gallons that will aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes and add an extra air stone while treating @wuht

[Rusty Sprinkler]

Recently went through what your describing and tried EVERYTHING... Colu was right on, I think it was internal parasite in my case. Fritz Expel P turned it around in my tank. The sooner the treatment the better IMHO.

[wuht]

Thanks everyone, hoping it works. Don't have high hopes for the one that hasn't eaten in 2 weeks but the other is just starting to show symptoms and will hopefully recover.

[Rusty Sprinkler]

On 9/29/2022 at 6:19 PM, wuht said:

Thanks everyone, hoping it works. Don't have high hopes for the one that hasn't eaten in 2 weeks but the other is just starting to show symptoms and will hopefully recover.

Quarantine them if you can while treating. One of mine went 5 weeks without taking a bite ! its now one of the biggest eaters in the tank and growing like crazy !

[quikv6]

In my experience with wasting/spitting, Flubendazole will be more effective than Levamisole (Expel-P), though both can work. Flubedazole seems to work better in the water column, which is what you want, since the fish is spitting.

But given a dire situation.....use whichever one of the two you can get a hold of faster. It will be Expel-P.