Angelfish Dying

[ace61502]

From WWM:

Super Thanks for Answering - Freshwater Angelfish plague
<Sure thing, Lorraine. I do apologize that I'm late in this reply, though; I've been frustrated researching an angelfish/discus "plague" that took out my little altum angels quite recently, and unfortunately, this and your other recent email are definitely leading me to believe that you're dealing with this bizarre illness, as well.>
Am using the 20 gal. as a starter tank. Will be setting up a 55 or larger later. As for symptoms, the first ones would stay at the top in a corner and breathe hard. (Added air stone) as dying, they were disoriented.
<Although these symptoms are consistent with what I know as this 'plague', there are other possibilities - flukes, other gill parasites possibly>
Was also told that the stock was not really first class. First class or not, I want them to live.
<I completely understand. I've never accepted that line, "It's just a fish" myself, either.>
Not into breeding, just love to watch them. The deaths were cutting down as I did different things. Letting the faucet water set with Wardley's CHLOR- OUT, etc. Thought I was winning with the last fish. There were NO signs. They were all swimming, eating, chasing my finger when I ran it across the glass. The next morning, 4 dead.
<Same symptoms? Or any symptoms at all?>
The 2 other angels are fine and so are the Corys. (As of now.)
<If it is this 'plague', it should not affect the Corys at all. Please do a Google search on "discus plague" and see if that's what you're experiencing. Please do understand that for every dozen accounts you read, you'll find a dozen different opinions on what might work and what won't. My recent experience with my altums showed Nitrofurazone, Kanamycin sulfate, Metronidazole, and Melafix all to be completely ineffective. I truly wish you more luck than I had, and hopefully you can find something that works for you. Please do keep us updated, Lorraine. -Sabrina>

I think we have a match. Now to keep scouring to see how I ready my tanks for new angels without them getting it, too.

 

[colleen0309]

So sorry to hear about your angels. I keep several pairs of angels and I would be crushed if that happened to me. If you are anywhere near me, and my baby angels actually make it to dime size this time, I'd gladly give you some to get started again. I have 2 pair breeding right now, but I'm in the middle of setting up a fish room and don't have a place to put the fry to keep mom and dad from snacking on them until I get set up. Not to change the subject, but I noticed the Petco sale in your signature. Is that still going on or is that old? I need a few more tanks for my fish room and I have been waiting for their $1 a gallon sales. Good luck when you get more angels.

 

[ace61502]

So sorry to hear about your angels. I keep several pairs of angels and I would be crushed if that happened to me. If you are anywhere near me, and my baby angels actually make it to dime size this time, I'd gladly give you some to get started again. I have 2 pair breeding right now, but I'm in the middle of setting up a fish room and don't have a place to put the fry to keep mom and dad from snacking on them until I get set up. Not to change the subject, but I noticed the Petco sale in your signature. Is that still going on or is that old? I need a few more tanks for my fish room and I have been waiting for their $1 a gallon sales. Good luck when you get more angels.

I'm in Mississippi, so a bit far from NY. I do appreciate the offer, though! I plan to go to the same store (local owned) that I got my first angels from in a few months to give the tank time to clear out whatever it was that caused it, unless I can find some info on how to clean it up faster. It looks so barren without my big beauties swimming around, and it's going to be a long few months. *sniff*

Petco's $1 per gallon sale runs through Saturday!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I learned many years back never to buy fish from pet stores, expecially larger chain type ones. I rarely even buy from LFS either. The other thing I learned was that shipping fish is not a big deal, exspecially when the sender is experienced at it. I also learned the hard way the price one can pay for not following good quarentine practices.

I would have to agree that your problem likely came in on the Petco Angels and that it was something particularly deadly to angels but not to most other fish. However, there is no guarantee of this so I would suggest that you not add anything new to that tank for several weeks to be 100% certain things are safe.

Try to find local or regional breeders for angels if you can. If not i can probably help you locate a few.

Coleen- the Petco buck a gal sales usually happen in summer (July if I remember right) and again in December. They only offer 10, 20, 29, 40B and 55 gallon tanks.

 

[ace61502]

Wanted to update and thank everyone for your time and comments.

Still have not lost a fish outside the angels. It was obviously something that affects only angelfish. I guess that's good and bad. Good that I didn't lose a lot more fish, bad that who knows how long my tanks will be infected with whatever it is!

TwoTankAmin (love the name!), how long would you wait? Would you medicate the tanks at all, or just give time for whatever it was to die without angel hosts? I really, really miss my angels. I'm tempted to set up an old 10 gallon tank to go ahead and get some started in since they are not much bigger than dime size when bought. They'd need time to grow a bit before going in the 75 anyway, and I could get my hands on some angels to fill the void.