Posting this on behalf of a friend. He has 2 Angel fish that have lost a lot of colour and possibly their slime coat. (I’m not sure from the pictures) There are no other fish in the tank. He has a 55 gallon tank with 2 hob filters. LFS told him his water was good. However I told him to buy his own api test kit. Parameters are ph 8 ammonia 0 nitrite 0.25 and nitrates look to be between 40-80. I know that nitrite should be zero and the nitrates a lot lower too. He’s currently performing a 50% water change after doing a 25% yesterday (which indicates they were higher than what was just tested). They’re eating and swimming fine. Could the nitrite and nitrates be causing the colour loss and shedding of slime coat. He’s just swapped out his gravel for sand in the last 2 weeks too, could it be a crashed cycle? Pictures below for reference. The last one is how they look now.
2 Angel fish lost colour & possibly slime coat
- Thread starter R84achey
- Start date
Edit they’re not eating
UnknownFishies
Fish Addict
Is there anything that was added that could’ve been stressing them out.
Hey there,
Colour loss usual means the fish is stressed. What is temp. ? AF wants 26-27°C / 78-80°F.
pH has to be 7 and hardness 12 maximum. He should use ROW.
tapwater doesn't suit AF.
Nitrite 0.25 is way too high, has to be undetectable (being 0.01 mg/l).
Nitrate 40-80 ?? Nothing more accurate ? Lower nitrates to 10-12 mg/l.
What does he feed them and how much ?
Keep in mind angelfish is a schooling fish that must live in group of 5 minimum.
When doing waterchange, water must be at the same temp. as tank's.
Colour loss usual means the fish is stressed. What is temp. ? AF wants 26-27°C / 78-80°F.
pH has to be 7 and hardness 12 maximum. He should use ROW.
Nitrite 0.25 is way too high, has to be undetectable (being 0.01 mg/l).
Nitrate 40-80 ?? Nothing more accurate ? Lower nitrates to 10-12 mg/l.
Very likely.
What does he feed them and how much ?
Keep in mind angelfish is a schooling fish that must live in group of 5 minimum.
When doing waterchange, water must be at the same temp. as tank's.
He should check his ammonia readings, of there is Nitrite there probably is Ammonia A pH of 8 is fine for Angels and don't worry about the hardness. looks like the substrate change is probably what stressed them and caused a mini cycle. Nitrate is a little high but of no concern if he is not getting new fish. If it is 80 a 50% water change should bring it to 40 and another should bring it to 20. He should probably do a 50% change every day for about 5 days to get the Nitrates down. And no you don't need 5 Angelfish, they do fine as a single or pair. Don't stress out over water temp. for changes, a cold water change that drops tank temp about 5 degrees is perfectly fine.
We would require a lot more data on this issue (the tank size, fish species, how long he's had the angelfish, etc) before making any firm diagnosis, but a couple things do stand out.
The increase in nitrite and nitrate may be related to the substrate change. The source water (tap) should be tested on its own for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to confirm that as a source of any of these, or not. If negative, and these three are occurring within the aquarium, continue partial water changes of 50-70% daily to reduce ammonia/nitrite to zero and nitrate as low as possible. Nitrate above 20ppm is now known to be detrimental to cichlids according to the cichlid authorities on those sites. Excess slime coat is a sign of water issues (and other things too of course). And stress is certainly behind much of this.
The increase in nitrite and nitrate may be related to the substrate change. The source water (tap) should be tested on its own for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to confirm that as a source of any of these, or not. If negative, and these three are occurring within the aquarium, continue partial water changes of 50-70% daily to reduce ammonia/nitrite to zero and nitrate as low as possible. Nitrate above 20ppm is now known to be detrimental to cichlids according to the cichlid authorities on those sites. Excess slime coat is a sign of water issues (and other things too of course). And stress is certainly behind much of this.
You can't have nitrItes w/out ammonia, may have tested wrong
What do you mean ? At the same time ?
Ammonia is converted to nitrites, nitrites are converted to nitrates, by nitrifying bacteria.
I know.
Maybe I understantood it wrong. By w/out I hought you were saying at the same time while the first stage is ammonia, followed by nitrite and finally nitrate.
R84achey said "Parameters are ph 8 ammonia 0 nitrite 0.25 and nitrates look to be between 40-80" so ammonia has gone (luckily).
In the aquarium; esp a smaller aquarium keeping 5 angels is a huge mistake unless they are all the same sex. In the wild pairs can sep but in a 55 gallon tank 5 angels is asking for 3 of them to be killed off.
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Angels are fairly hardy and can adjust to a wide set of parameters - i can't say i know the limit of hardness they will be accept and let others chime in but if the owner has had them for several months i would say they are well adjuted. However some substrate is not neutral and it is possible the new substrate is inducing a change to the water chemistry.
Every fish requires a minimum tolerated and a maximum tolerated which doesn't mean prefered or needed.
I always say never aim for extreme parameters.
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