GASPING ANGEL !!! HELP

[zshopa]

for about 2 days now my angel looks like its gasping for air or water and also has a red tint to him.
it just keeps opening its mouth and gills wide!
pleaassseeee1!!!!!! help me tell me what to do?!!!



THANX any help is appreciated

 

[cutechic]

There may not be enough oxygen in the water (try doing more frequent water changes and adding an airstone) or too much CO2 (again, do more frequent water changes.) Other than that, I don't know what to suggest.

 

[Tolak]

What are your water tests showing? Besides the O2 shortage, it sounds like an ammo or nitrite spike. If this is the case, do daily water changes of 20-25% until the ammo & nitrites zero out. If you have a hang on back filter, try lowering your water level an inch below the top. This will help increase aeration, and will also help if there is an ammo or nitrite spike. Make sure the water temp isn't too high, as higher temp water holds less O2.

Tolak

 

[zshopa]

well this cannot be a lack of 02 because there are alot of live plants and the water level is lower allowing for more oxygen

 

[cutechic]

Your tank isn't overstocked, so maybe a lack of oxygen isn't the cause. Do you have testing kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

 

[zshopa]

no im going to take it to the lfs tommorow to check it out, my angel has a red tint now is that a disease of some sort?

 

[honeybee0_90]

do you have bogwood in your tank, this causes acid water, check your nitrate, ammonia and ph levels adding a small amount of salt can help to

 

[zshopa]

yes my nitrate is very high, i emptied about 60% of the water and refilled the tank
im gonna do it again tommorow is there anything else i could do?

 

[tstenback]

Adding some aquarium salt will help the burning in the gills.

 

[zshopa]

can i just use non iodized salt? and how much?

 

[zshopa]

anyone?

 

[daisycat]

I don't know about whether you can use non-iodized salt...proper aquarium salt is easy to source in the fish shop and cheap. We use 1 teaspoon per bucket of water. I worked it out based on the instructions on the aquarium salt as it tells you what amount to add per volume of water.

In the first instance you have to put enough for all the water in the tank (but mixed into buckets of replacement water), after that just add as much as is required for the replacement water at water change time.

 

[tstenback]

Here is a Link that talks about salt in the aquarium. Non iodized salt is ok to use but be careful if you have scaleless fish like cories and also some tetras dont like salt and it is actually toxic to them.

 

[Clare]

Did you know that having lots of plants in the water is great but at night they actually take oxygen OUT of the water.
Is the angel becoming solitary? It sounds like it could be an internal bacterial problem to me.Make dure the substrate is cleaned witrh a gravel cleaner regularly.
Water changes are good and you could consider fitting a spray bar to the back of the tank to add oxygen to the water.
Hope i have been of some help.
Clare