Why did my angelfish die?

[Anizzo19]

I have a 50 gal tank with a penplax cascade rated for 100 gal. Tank has been up and running for about 2 years. I have 1 Senegal Bicher, 3 angels, 3 rams, and 5 tetras. I had and angel die a couple nights ago out of nowhere. I have had him in there about 6 months now and he seemed to be doing good other than my other angels messing with him when they lay eggs. I tested the water when I found him dead and everything checked out. I haven’t had any fish deaths since I first set the tank up other than my Senegal eating one of the rams one time. He was a fairly large angel and I can’t figure out why an angel of that size would just drop dead out of nowhere.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It was either a disease or poor water quality. Can you post the water test results (in numbers) for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?

Did you add anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?
Did you do anything to the tank within the last few days?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Did the fish have any symptoms before it died?
What did it look like when it was dead?
Was it floating or sitting on the bottom when dead?

Have you got any pictures of the sick/ dead fish?

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The following link has information about what to do if your fish gets sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for the next week. This will dilute anything that is in the water that might have caused this, and reduce the chance of the other fish developing anything.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Monitor the remaining fish for the next 2 weeks and if any of them act or look odd, then test the water and post the results and pictures ASAP.

 

[Anizzo19]

Ive done about 50% water changes every week on this take for over a year now. I woke up to another dead angel this morning with a chunk taken out of his belly. I'm going to post pics of. I do regular water testing. Always 0 ammonia. 0 nitrite and about 20 nitrate depending on how close to water change time it is. Ive had 4 angels in this tank for 2 years now and havent added anything since the 4th angel at that time because the 2 females pairs up in my tank and was picking on the 3rd. So after that they always stayed on seperate sides of the tank. Im thinking my 2 females that spawn eggs regularly might have done this.

 

[Anizzo19]

Could that last angel I bought had parasites for the whole 6 months I had it. It kind of looks like my bicher took a bite out of him

 

[Anizzo19]

Posted pic of second angel on profile. Is this from my other 2 angels. Ive had him 2 years and he was one of my 1st fish.

 

[Anizzo19]

I'm doing another large water change now. Been doing them since the 1st died.

 

[Colin_T]

Could that last angel I bought had parasites for the whole 6 months I had it. It kind of looks like my bicher took a bite out of him

If a fish has parasites and disease organisms, it will show up within a couple of weeks. The only disease that gets carried for 6 months or more is Tuberculosis (TB) and this is not TB.

The Birchir is one possible cause or the breeding pr of angels. Birchirs are nocturnal predators that shouldn't bother adult angelfish, but they might chase them or hassle the other fish at night. Unlikely but possible.

The breeding pr of angels might be bashing the odd angels if there isn't enough room.

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I'm going to need a proper picture of the fish. I can't tell anything from your avatar.

If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

 

[Anizzo19]

Honestly I cant figure out how to post a pic. It keeps saying to put a url.

 

[Colin_T]

Normally you just type in whatever you want in the box, then underneath the box is a button called "Upload a File". You click that and find the picture you want to post and double click it. Then follow prompts.

If it still doesn't work then you might need to get a moderator to help.

 

[Anizzo19]

Do you think I should be worried about any of my other fish. They all seem to be fine?

 

[Anizzo19]

I just hope the rest are fine and nothing else hapends and I'm not going to put any more angels in there as long as those 2 still are

 

[Colin_T]

If you post clear pictures of the other fish, and maybe a short video, I can check them for diseases. But if it's a territorial thing, then whoever is being the bully could continue to cause problems.

 

[Guppylover3x]

Rearranging the tank usually works for territorial behaviour. However, I don’t have much experience with angel fish so I’m not sure if this would do the trick.

Best of luck.

 

[Byron]

From the information you (Anizzo19) have posted, this is almost certainly a problem with stocking incompatibility. [BTW, welcome to TFF.]

Three angelfish together is a recipe for disaster, and it may not happen for weeks or months, but it is inevitable. Re-arranging space will not help as three angels in this small a tank is just not going to work. Three females might get along, but not with one (or more) males. The spawning pair may or may not be bonded (if not, look out for trouble from this in time) but a 50g is not sufficient space for a third angelfish to be welcome.

The biochir is also an issue waiting to happen, if not already occurring. At 20 inches in length it needs a much larger tank (floor space), and it is predatory.