Ok, I am having a hard time with my little (well actually big) Angel Fish. She got a cataract in one of her eyes 3 weeks ago. I changed the water yesterday, used bottled water, and she started not being able to swim. Occassionally, she swims, but she laying on top of the water sideways. Her fins are still moving, she has been like that for a day and gets going then goes right back up. I researched it and I know she probably has swimmers bladder (or something) or she could just be stressed. I can't have her die!! I know she is just a fish but she means a lot to me. I tested the water today and everything is wrong with it. I have no idea how to get the water softer, the nitrates gone and the ph balance under control. ARGUH! The pet store fish people told me to let her die. Come on, she is my fish, I want her to live. She is a fighter. Please help, please
Help! Please. I Don'T Know What To Do With My Angel Fish.
- Thread starter crobin007
- Start date
First, fill this out to help us help you, we need numbers on the stats, not ok or normal;
Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Volume and Frequency of water changes:
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Tank inhabitants:
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
Exposure to chemicals:
Frequency of feeding, and foods offered:
Digital photo (include if possible):
Second, ignore pH & hardness, there are things you don't want to get involved with. These things really don't matter.
Third, forget about bottled water. Tap water is a more consistent product than bottled water, and is more tightly regulated. Tap water with a good dechlorinator is all you need.
Swim bladder can be either bacterial, diet related, or both, with the tank stats thrown in, which can at times lead to either.
Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Volume and Frequency of water changes:
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Tank inhabitants:
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
Exposure to chemicals:
Frequency of feeding, and foods offered:
Digital photo (include if possible):
Second, ignore pH & hardness, there are things you don't want to get involved with. These things really don't matter.
Third, forget about bottled water. Tap water is a more consistent product than bottled water, and is more tightly regulated. Tap water with a good dechlorinator is all you need.
Swim bladder can be either bacterial, diet related, or both, with the tank stats thrown in, which can at times lead to either.
First, fill this out to help us help you, we need numbers on the stats, not ok or normal;
Tank size: 5 gallons
pH:7.8
ammonia: 40
nitrite:160
nitrate:1.0
kH:40
gH:300
tank temp: 73 (however, I just put the heater back in). I had a major problem with algae and removed it a couple months ago to help stop it.
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): I can not really see her. But her coloring is bad. She is located at the top of tank, trying to find her balance, sideways.
Volume and Frequency of water changes: I have not changed the water in about 3 months
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:none
Tank inhabitants:
She is the only one
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): n/a
Exposure to chemicals:n/a
Frequency of feeding, and foods offered: Twice a day
Digital photo (include if possible):
Second, ignore pH & hardness, there are things you don't want to get involved with. These things really don't matter.
Third, forget about bottled water. Tap water is a more consistent product than bottled water, and is more tightly regulated. Tap water with a good dechlorinator is all you need.
Swim bladder can be either bacterial, diet related, or both, with the tank stats thrown in, which can at times lead to either.
Tank size: 5 gallons
pH:7.8
ammonia: 40
nitrite:160
nitrate:1.0
kH:40
gH:300
tank temp: 73 (however, I just put the heater back in). I had a major problem with algae and removed it a couple months ago to help stop it.
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): I can not really see her. But her coloring is bad. She is located at the top of tank, trying to find her balance, sideways.
Volume and Frequency of water changes: I have not changed the water in about 3 months
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:none
Tank inhabitants:
She is the only one
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): n/a
Exposure to chemicals:n/a
Frequency of feeding, and foods offered: Twice a day
Digital photo (include if possible):
Second, ignore pH & hardness, there are things you don't want to get involved with. These things really don't matter.
Third, forget about bottled water. Tap water is a more consistent product than bottled water, and is more tightly regulated. Tap water with a good dechlorinator is all you need.
Swim bladder can be either bacterial, diet related, or both, with the tank stats thrown in, which can at times lead to either.
“Tank size: 5 gallons”
Standard angel stocking guide
Newly free swimming fry 40 fry per gallon
Two week old fry 20 fry per gallon
Month old fry 10 fry per gallon
Pea size bodies 3 fish per gallon
Dime size bodies 2 fish per gallon
Nickel size bodies 1 fish per gallon
Quarter size bodies 1 fish per 2 gallons
Silver Dollar size bodies 1 fish per 3 gallons
Potential breeders 1 fish per 5 gallons
Show Specimens 1 fish per 10 gallons
One breeding pair 20 gallon high tank
I’ve never kept anything above pea body size in a 5 gallon. You need at the very least a tall 20 gallon tank for angels.
“pH:7.8”
This isn’t a problem; it’s my water in the winter, bred angels in it for years.
“ammonia: 40”
I’m sure there results are wrong, if it was 4.0 it would be within reason for a tank with very high ammonia. This is probably one main factor to what is happening.. It could be due to filter maintenance, overfeeding, lack of maintenance, or a combination of all.
“nitrite:160
nitrate:1.0”
I’m sure you have these results switched. Explanation to follow.
“kH:40
gH:300”
Not an issue, once again, explanation to follow.
“tank temp: 73 (however, I just put the heater back in). I had a major problem with algae and removed it a couple months ago to help stop it.”
Healthy angels like it in the low to mid 80’s F.
“Volume and Frequency of water changes: I have not changed the water in about 3 months”
Problem.
What you have here is a fish in an undersized & poorly maintained tank. That fish, in a 20 gallon tank, with 20% water change weekly is the minimum you can get by with. The ammonia at 4.0 plus nitrites at 1.0 would suggest a cycling problem, or too much of a bio load for the filter to handle. Nitrate at 160 indicates that you haven’t changed the water in months, the gH being elevated shows this as well. With ammonia at 40 or nitrite at 160 the fish would have been dead in minutes.
What to do? No guarantees, as the fish has been kept in too small of a tank which has not been maintained, for quite some time. Slowly raise the temperature, over about 24 hours, to 78F. The cloudy eye indicates a bacterial problem more than a dietary problem, pick up Maracyn & Maracyn II. Dose the tank at the suggested rate, do a 50% water change daily & redose, continue for 10 days. Ignore the instructions, I know what they say, and know what will give the fish any sort of chance in these conditions.
Get a tall 20 gallon tank, this is what you need for keeping this fish long term.
Standard angel stocking guide
Newly free swimming fry 40 fry per gallon
Two week old fry 20 fry per gallon
Month old fry 10 fry per gallon
Pea size bodies 3 fish per gallon
Dime size bodies 2 fish per gallon
Nickel size bodies 1 fish per gallon
Quarter size bodies 1 fish per 2 gallons
Silver Dollar size bodies 1 fish per 3 gallons
Potential breeders 1 fish per 5 gallons
Show Specimens 1 fish per 10 gallons
One breeding pair 20 gallon high tank
I’ve never kept anything above pea body size in a 5 gallon. You need at the very least a tall 20 gallon tank for angels.
“pH:7.8”
This isn’t a problem; it’s my water in the winter, bred angels in it for years.
“ammonia: 40”
I’m sure there results are wrong, if it was 4.0 it would be within reason for a tank with very high ammonia. This is probably one main factor to what is happening.. It could be due to filter maintenance, overfeeding, lack of maintenance, or a combination of all.
“nitrite:160
nitrate:1.0”
I’m sure you have these results switched. Explanation to follow.
“kH:40
gH:300”
Not an issue, once again, explanation to follow.
“tank temp: 73 (however, I just put the heater back in). I had a major problem with algae and removed it a couple months ago to help stop it.”
Healthy angels like it in the low to mid 80’s F.
“Volume and Frequency of water changes: I have not changed the water in about 3 months”
Problem.
What you have here is a fish in an undersized & poorly maintained tank. That fish, in a 20 gallon tank, with 20% water change weekly is the minimum you can get by with. The ammonia at 4.0 plus nitrites at 1.0 would suggest a cycling problem, or too much of a bio load for the filter to handle. Nitrate at 160 indicates that you haven’t changed the water in months, the gH being elevated shows this as well. With ammonia at 40 or nitrite at 160 the fish would have been dead in minutes.
What to do? No guarantees, as the fish has been kept in too small of a tank which has not been maintained, for quite some time. Slowly raise the temperature, over about 24 hours, to 78F. The cloudy eye indicates a bacterial problem more than a dietary problem, pick up Maracyn & Maracyn II. Dose the tank at the suggested rate, do a 50% water change daily & redose, continue for 10 days. Ignore the instructions, I know what they say, and know what will give the fish any sort of chance in these conditions.
Get a tall 20 gallon tank, this is what you need for keeping this fish long term.
Thank you. I will follow these instructions tonight. However, she is the only fish I have so a 20 gallon tank is way more than I can handle. They did not tell me that when I bought the fish, otherwise I would not have bought that one. I am not breeding her or anything. Can she stay in the 5 gallon? She has a quarter size body. Thank you for your help.
sami the cichlid
Fish Crazy
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i would defo move her, 5g is tiny for angels, as they get very big, i found it hard keeping angels in a 20g communtiy tank, one they get to big for the tank, they get ill and die (which is what ive found, im no expert but i no my stuff!)
OK, I need help again. I got a new tank and other than the water being a little hard, all the stats are good for the water. My angelfish seemed to be doing better, swimming every once in awhile but upside down. Now, she seems as if she is "resting", still moving her fins but not moving as much. Even though I got a new tank, I did a water change today but that did not seem to work. I am also giving her to Maracyn, but not the Maracyn II because I did not see that at the store. However, the filter is still on, should I shut it off??? I think she has swim bladder but the only solution I have seen for that is crushed peas. She has only gotten a tiny bit of the peas and has not really eaten in a couple days. Is there anything else I can do for her? She refuses to give up which is good but she does not seem to be improving dramatically to the point where I think she is getting better. The only thing that changed is she is no longer floating but at the bottom now. Help, please!
dont turn off the filter! take out the carbon if there is any, but the filter, without carbon wont remove the meds (or at least shuouldnt). is the filter cycled? im no expert on meds, and i havent even seen Maracyn, but try to find Maracyn II as Tolak recommended. keep the meds up to Tolaks dosage. she still may pull through, but shes had a rough time, and the cloudy eye is not a good sign. Hopefully someone who knows more will help
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