Sick Angel fish

[Shlomi]

Hi
Need your help with sick Angle fish that lying on the bottom of the tank and breathing fast almost 1 week.
The fish struggling to move.
The water temp וs 28 degress Celsius.
The fish in a separate tank.

 

[Shlomi]

Hi
Need your help with sick Angle fish that lying on the bottom of the tank and breathing fast almost 1 week.
The fish struggling to move.
The water temp וs 28 degress Celsius.
The fish in a separate tank.

 

[Aqua67]

There is likely more to this story than what we’ve heard so far.

When you first noticed this behavior in the main tank, did you test your water parameters? What were they? Was this tank already cycled? How long have you had this tank? What size is this tank and how many other fish do you have in it? Have you added anything new to the tank in the past few weeks?

Now that your fish is in the hospital tank, what are the parameters in that tank? What size is this tank? I’m assuming it is a rather recently set up tank specifically for this angelfish. Did you use any old filter material or add substrate from the main tank when you set up this hospital tank?

Did your main tank have any recent problems or disasters right before you saw your angelfish struggling?

 

[Shlomi]

There is likely more to this story than what we’ve heard so far.

When you first noticed this behavior in the main tank, did you test your water parameters? What were they? Was this tank already cycled? How long have you had this tank? What size is this tank and how many other fish do you have in it? Have you added anything new to the tank in the past few weeks?

Now that your fish is in the hospital tank, what are the parameters in that tank? What size is this tank? I’m assuming it is a rather recently set up tank specifically for this angelfish. Did you use any old filter material or add substrate from the main tank when you set up this hospital tank?

Did your main tank have any recent problems or disasters right before you saw your angelfish struggling?

 

[Shlomi]

I have 10 angle fish and the one that sick started few week ago to swim close to the top of the tank and breating fast.
so I moved him to a seperate tank (30 liter)
I make 20% water change every 2 days in his tank.
I cant test the water (I didnt have test kit) but the water in his tank are regular tap water.

 

[Aqua67]

I’m thinking there was either a water problem or an overpopulation problem. Without a kit you don’t know if your water is playing a role. What size is your tank? It’s possible that overpopulation contributed to a water issue or low oxygen issue. I’m not sure if your fish will be able to recover. Not only is the hospital tank too small, but if you didn’t transfer over anything from a pre-cycled aquarium (assuming that your original aquarium is already cycled - is it?) and your other aquarium is not over 100 gallons (378 liters), the problem likely is due to overpopulation and poor water quality. How long have you had this other tank going and what size is it?

 

[Shlomi]

I’m thinking there was either a water problem or an overpopulation problem. Without a kit you don’t know if your water is playing a role. What size is your tank? It’s possible that overpopulation contributed to a water issue or low oxygen issue. I’m not sure if your fish will be able to recover. Not only is the hospital tank too small, but if you didn’t transfer over anything from a pre-cycled aquarium (assuming that your original aquarium is already cycled - is it?) and your other aquarium is not over 100 gallons (378 liters), the problem likely is due to overpopulation and poor water quality. How long have you had this other tank going and what size

 

[Shlomi]

The size of the main tank is 250 liter.
The tank runing almost 1 year.
THe other fish are not sick and the air pump fit to the size of the tank.
My question is how can I help to the sick fish?
Can I do something to help him?

 

[Aqua67]

I would think the best thing you could do would be to provide good clean water and a stress free environment. An airstone might help get more oxygen into the water, gasping is usually due to lack of oxygen. In an uncycled hospital tank you may need to change some water daily until you start seeing an improvement.

There is no way to tell if your fish can recover or if too much damage has been done. Since it has been struggling for over a week now, it may be “too little, too late” to help this fish.

What can help your existing fish would be to get a proper test kit which includes ammonia, nitrate and nitite at the very least.

Also, your tank is really only suitable for 4 or 5 adult angels. You should find a new home for 4 of your fish, or see if the fish store can take them back.

I’m not sure what happened, but you seem like a well-meaning fish keeper and you were probably trying to stay on top of your water changes. It is possible you had a crash in your aquarium which caused your tank to go through another cycle. If you weren’t on top of regular water changes in your extremely overpopulated aquarium, then perhaps it was a spike in ammonia or nitrite. To prevent unstable water parameters in the future it is important to be able to monitor water quality and without the proper test kits that is not possible.

Good luck. I do hope your angelfish recovers, but just know that it is possible he has sustained too much damage.

 

[Shlomi]

I would think the best thing you could do would be to provide good clean water and a stress free environment. An airstone might help get more oxygen into the water, gasping is usually due to lack of oxygen. In an uncycled hospital tank you may need to change some water daily until you start seeing an improvement.

There is no way to tell if your fish can recover or if too much damage has been done. Since it has been struggling for over a week now, it may be “too little, too late” to help this fish.

What can help your existing fish would be to get a proper test kit which includes ammonia, nitrate and nitite at the very least.

Also, your tank is really only suitable for 4 or 5 adult angels. You should find a new home for 4 of your fish, or see if the fish store can take them back.

I’m not sure what happened, but you seem like a well-meaning fish keeper and you were probably trying to stay on top of your water changes. It is possible you had a crash in your aquarium which caused your tank to go through another cycle. If you weren’t on top of regular water changes in your extremely overpopulated aquarium, then perhaps it was a spike in ammonia or nitrite. To prevent unstable water parameters in the future it is important to be able to monitor water quality and without the proper test kits that is not possible.

Good luck. I do hope your angelfish recovers, but just know that it is possible he has sustained too much damage.

Thanks

 

[Shlomi]

Thanks, I will follow your advice

 

[GaryE]

It sounds like violence to me. As the group grows, aggression rises, and if a fish is hit in the wrong spot, what you see develops. There's not much you can do other than what you are doing. If he has a ruptured swim bladder, his chances aren't great.