Fish Killa

[fishme2death]

Since I'm new to this forum , I guess I'd better start from the beginning. I have a newly cycled tank that has been up and running since February. I did a fishless cycle and worked out quite well. The tank was initially set up for Angelfish, but now am not sure that was a wise choice. My water parameters are as follows: Ph=7.0, Fe=.25, Kh=10, Gh=3, Po4=5, Nitrates=0, Ammonia=0, Nitrites=0. Its a fully planted tank with wood, peat filtered and laterite substrate. I have previous 3 years experience in Koi ponds, but this is my indoor first tank setup.
Here's my problem. I started purchasing angelfish from my LFS and am now working on my third go of fish as all have succummed to DEATH within the first day of arrival or within 3 days of purchase. The last purchase was on 3 angelfish which do not look very healthy. One has died already shortly after a feeding with no known symptoms. One has fin rot that just showed up today and has progressed very rapidly. The other looks okay right now. They are both eating. The two remaining angels have so far been alive for 5 days and share a 55 gal long tank with 6 female guppies, 2 male guppies, a pleco, and 6 corys. I only have the problems with the Angelfish!!!!!!!!!!! Have any suggestions??

 

[Jimthefish]

Try a store with a different supplier and/or go for bigger fish. Some strores sell very small, very young fish which actually don't travel well. Moving from breeder to wholesaler to store to your tank can be too much for little angels.
Also if the breeder, supplier or wholesaler has a problem batch of angels they'll still want their money for them!
Go for fish at least 2" body length. Alternatively ask the store if you can put down a deposit and get the fish after the store has had them for two weeks. You should also ask the store what their water conditions are. If they're substantially different from your own try taking an hour or more to introduce the fish to avoid pH shock. Float the bag in the tank and every 5-10 minutes add a small amount of tank water to the bag until you've doubled the volume in the bag. This gives the fish the chance to acclimatise. Your conditions by the way are ideal for the angels, plecs and corries but NOT for guppies which prefer more alkline water.

 

[wetwetwet]

HiYa and welcome fishme

Sound advice from Jim there B) - find out what the lfs water parameters are - it does sound like it may have been some kind of environmental shock

Does the shop not have some sort of return policy??? - if not then I'd consider trying somewhere else....

 

[fishme2death]

Will try to make a long story short. I put the guppies in the tank to supply food of sorts to an eel that was once an inhabitant. The eel has since been moved to another tank. As far as the PH at the LFS, they had once told me their water parameter was 8.0. So going from that to 7.0 would be quite a shock. I have set up a hospital tank to acclimate the new Angels slowly to my PH, but still hasnt worked to my full extent. The angels that I have purchased are about the size of a fifty-cent piece. I only have 3 fish stores within a 60 mile radius, so buying Angelfish from a good one doesnt really exist. I am glad that the one that I have purchased the Angels from does have a two week return policy.
The two angels are still living, but the one has fin rot. My next question concerning that would be if the peat fibers may be creating stress to them when its added then creating the fin rot from stress? I'm up for any suggestions. . I have not done any water changes in about 3 days, but prior to that I do water changes about 2x a week.