My angelfish is inverted again.

[Tanked]

Back on July 6th. I started the Angelfish emergency and learning opportunity topic. 

With the help of @Chick-In-Of-TheSeaand @nabokovfan87 I thought the situation was resolved until three days ago.  The fish was normal, actively swimming, and lying on the bottom the next morning.  I immediately put it back in the floating jail with the airstones, salt and waterchanges.  The following day the fish was struggling, but upright.  Last night, it was again upside down.

The water is still testing normal for this tank. 0 ammonia, nitrite, chlorine.  50ppm nitrate, 40 Kh. 6.6 Ph., 300+- GH, 77.2 F. 

Liquid tests will likely show the Kh. a little higher, and the Gh a little lower.   Assuming that he fish recovers again, I would like to prevent another recurrence.

 

 

 

 

[nabokovfan87]

Maybe it's best to move this to the disease section and get better eyes on the situation.

@Guppysnailcan you please help us out with the location?

@Odd Duck @Colu any thoughts regarding what is going on here with the angels? It's a bit of a tough one.

Flat bodied fish will lay on the sides, but the swim bladder issues are always challenging without specialized equipment or anatomy knowledge. 😞

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Sorry to hear about the recurrence @Tanked. A very curious case for sure. ❓

[Colu]

Nitrate 50ppm  is this before or after a water change as high levels of nitrates can affect the swim bladder if it's after a water change its possible you had a spike and that what affecting your angel fish  @Tanked 

[Odd Duck]

Chronically elevated nitrates can cause a variety of symptoms and diseases.  I would for sure work on this by doing more g]frequent water changes or using a different source water if your tap water is the issue.  There are any number of potential issues but like @Colu, I’d start there.

[Tanked]

On 9/30/2023 at 7:07 PM, Colu said:

Nitrate 50ppm  is this before or after a water change as high levels of nitrates can affect the swim bladder if it's after a water change its possible you had a spike and that what affecting your angel fish  @Tanked 

This tank gets a 10-15% weekly water change. Tests were done before the water change, and included a negative test for ammonia.  There have been some spikes this summer.  The last spike was in early August.  Looking at my notes, 5 of the 79 recorded tests have spiked >50.  They have all been this summer.

Unfortunately this battle is lost.

[nabokovfan87]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[Colu]

On 10/1/2023 at 4:43 PM, Tanked said:

This tank gets a 10-15% weekly water change. Tests were done before the water change, and included a negative test for ammonia.  There have been some spikes this summer.  The last spike was in early August.  Looking at my notes, 5 of the 79 recorded tests have spiked >50.  They have all been this summer.

Unfortunately this battle is lost.

Sorry to hear that What I would do is a 50% water change once a week  to keep your nitrate around 25ppm you could also add fast growing plants live hornwort or Elodea and floating plants such as water lettuce Amazonian frogbit to help remove excess nitrates so you don't have any issues in the future 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Sorry for your loss @Tanked

 

was going to type this prior to me seeing about your loss. I will leave it here anyway:

Nitrazorb. Highly recommend it. It will drop nitrates like a rock. But your plants will need nitrogen, so it’s a catch 22

Edited October 2, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Odd Duck]

Sorry for you loss.  If floating plants are an option or emerse plants, they both work well for dropping nitrates (also drop ammonia and nitrites if they’re present) so you can have a chance of keeping your other fish healthier.

[Tanked]

On 10/2/2023 at 5:43 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Sorry for your loss @Tanked

 

was going to type this prior to me seeing about your loss. I will leave it here anyway:

Nitrazorb. Highly recommend it. It will drop nitrates like a rock. But your plants will need nitrogen, so it’s a catch 22

Thank you.  

The frustration with this tank is growing exponentially.  The angels occupy the planted and partitioned 1/3rd of the 65 gallon tank, and liked their space well enought to breed again..  The two Silver Dollars occupy the rest. No partition = no plants.  The water change level has varied widely, but this the first fish to have gotten sick while I have started recording test results in '21. I realize that test strip results are subjective.  The real frustration is that If someone were to ask, I would say that my Nitrate levels average 39.7ppm. This includes the only upward spikes recorded.  Girl talks fish, says 20-50ppm. is ok.  I have been adding 3-5 pumps of EG weekly to try to get the PSO to grow.  The Pothos is the only reasonably happy plant in this aquarium. The nitrates still read 50ppm or less

sorry for the rant.😵

On 10/2/2023 at 12:51 PM, Odd Duck said:

Sorry for you loss.  If floating plants are an option or emerse plants, they both work well for dropping nitrates (also drop ammonia and nitrites if they’re present) so you can have a chance of keeping your other fish healthier.

Anything that will stay behind the fish fence is possible.  Pothos is there now, The PSO is trying to hold on, and I am thinking about reintroducing Hornwort.  The SDs patrol the border to see if they can snag something.

[Odd Duck]

Frogbit is likely your best bet.  It grows fast enough that any the SD’s can snag through the fence won’t matter.  Plus if there’s any extra, just plop it across the fence for some nice, fresh food treat for the SD’s.  I know it’s a delicious edible for many fish because I’ve had plenty that like to nibble the roots.  It has potential to grow very long roots, so the SD’s may be able to snag some themselves by grabbing root tips that get through the fence. If the roots only get pruned, the frogbit will produce forked roots at the break and just have denser roots for the other fish to hang out.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Odd Duck
Clarify and typo.