Angelfish bullied and not doing well

[Vladka]

Need help treating angelfish; what meds should I use? How do I prevent this?

Hi all, I am new and sorry if this doesn’t count as an emergency I couldn’t find a sick fish section.

My beautiful striped angelfish grew well and was very healthy and then I got a new blue boy that grew fast and decided to pair with a female that the striped one liked. The new blue angel relentlessly bullied the striped angelfish, this went on for months, usually nipping at him anytime he was out in the swim space until he would hide in some plants in a corner. I had hoped they’d figure it out and added an extra female to the tank but it seems that stripes has gotten worse, he has yellow and red tint more than usual, torn fins, has not been as mobile, and has fuzz on one eye and a wound on his head. Currently have him in a quarantine tank and using melafix but I am sure there’s better stuff out there just not sure what I should be using? He hasn’t eaten since I put him in yesterday but is holding himself upright just fine, but does like to lean on walls.

The main fish tank is 250 gallons, had 8 angelfish, I just removed Stripes and one of his same aged females just randomly passed away a few days ago which was a surpris. Parameters look fine but I did a water change right away. We do have hard water and a high pH.
Other tank mates include: black ghost knifefish, Senegal bichir, black red tail shark (very old lady at 17 years old), Rosaline sharks/Denison barbs, clown loaches, pleco, SAE, Bolivian rams, and an opaline Gourami. No one else bullies the angelfish except the other angelfish.

Tank has live plants, and here were parameters from most recent test (using strip, I cant keep up with the liquid tests anymore)

Iron	0
Copper	0
Nitrate	50
Nitrite	0
Chlorine	0
Gh	150
TAL (total alkalinity)	120
Carbonate (Kh)	300
Ph	8.4?

I usually add some vinegar to lower pH to closer to 7.8 but I guess it’s been creeping back up. Ammonia test is separate but from experience they pretty much always read .25 ppm in my tanks with our tap water.

 

[TNG]

Need help treating angelfish; what meds should I use? How do I prevent this?

Hi all, I am new and sorry if this doesn’t count as an emergency I couldn’t find a sick fish section.

My beautiful striped angelfish grew well and was very healthy and then I got a new blue boy that grew fast and decided to pair with a female that the striped one liked. The new blue angel relentlessly bullied the striped angelfish, this went on for months, usually nipping at him anytime he was out in the swim space until he would hide in some plants in a corner. I had hoped they’d figure it out and added an extra female to the tank but it seems that stripes has gotten worse, he has yellow and red tint more than usual, torn fins, has not been as mobile, and has fuzz on one eye and a wound on his head. Currently have him in a quarantine tank and using melafix but I am sure there’s better stuff out there just not sure what I should be using? He hasn’t eaten since I put him in yesterday but is holding himself upright just fine, but does like to lean on walls.

The main fish tank is 250 gallons, had 8 angelfish, I just removed Stripes and one of his same aged females just randomly passed away a few days ago which was a surpris. Parameters look fine but I did a water change right away. We do have hard water and a high pH.
Other tank mates include: black ghost knifefish, Senegal bichir, black red tail shark (very old lady at 17 years old), Rosaline sharks/Denison barbs, clown loaches, pleco, SAE, Bolivian rams, and an opaline Gourami. No one else bullies the angelfish except the other angelfish.

Tank has live plants, and here were parameters from most recent test (using strip, I cant keep up with the liquid tests anymore)

Iron	0
Copper	0
Nitrate	50
Nitrite	0
Chlorine	0
Gh	150
TAL (total alkalinity)	120
Carbonate (Kh)	300
Ph	8.4?

I usually add some vinegar to lower pH to closer to 7.8 but I guess it’s been creeping back up. Ammonia test is separate but from experience they pretty much always read .25 ppm in my tanks with our tap water.

I'd use salt to treat injury, search the forum for "salt injury" for dosage.
You're aware of your hard water, nitrate and ammonia so I won't comment on your water parameters.

 

[Vladka]

I'd use salt to treat injury, search the forum for "salt injury" for dosage.
You're aware of your hard water, nitrate and ammonia so I won't comment on your water parameters.

I added salt today, he is not doing well though. This morning he started being upsidedown and I can tell his belly is empty. He hasn’t eaten the food I have tried to give him . I think- it’s possible he ate the vibrates. I tested water, all the parameters in the iso tank look good, 0 Ammonia nitrite and nitrate. Any reason that he would be getting worse in the iso tank? When I took him out of the main one he had been doing okay but the last few days in there I noticed it seemed he was doing worse.

 

[TNG]

I added salt today, he is not doing well though. This morning he started being upsidedown and I can tell his belly is empty. He hasn’t eaten the food I have tried to give him . I think- it’s possible he ate the vibrates. I tested water, all the parameters in the iso tank look good, 0 Ammonia nitrite and nitrate. Any reason that he would be getting worse in the iso tank? When I took him out of the main one he had been doing okay but the last few days in there I noticed it seemed he was doing worse.

I wouldn't be able to tell what is wrong, but it doesn't look like he'll survive.
How much salt did you put in the tank, and what is the tank's volume? Any other medications in the tank? It's not advisable to mix medications. If you mix different med, you should do a large water change, I suggest remove 70% minimum.

 

[Gertrudae]

I usually add some vinegar to lower pH to closer to 7.8 but I guess it’s been creeping back up.

Please do not do this. Vinegar is food for bacteria and is not the right way to lower the pH value.

Angelfish in breeding mode can become very territorial and aggressive. Without suitable vertical structures in the aquarium that allow them to mark out their territory and give others a chance to escape, a pair may kill other angelfish. The pair may not stay together longer than it takes to breed. Then the drama starts all over again in a different constellation.

Plus - angelfish without stripes cannot communicate properly with others. This further fuels aggression ...

 

[Uberhoust]

I haven't found any way to make Angels get along with each other after they have started to seriously fight, other than to separate them, and that can cause issues too. In my limited experience when ever you change the tank around with Angels, either by adding or removing fish, or by changing the setup that has different barriers or hard scape, you risk your existing population of Angels re-establishing their relationships between each other, this can mean a lot of conflicts. If you manage to get your abused Angel well again you will likely either have to keep him in a different tank or perhaps re-home him somewhere.

I see you have some pretty high carbonates, and nitrate, the carbonates is nothing you can do about short of RO, but you should try to get the nitrates down a bit, water changes. I have seen angels do ok in hard water but with the higher nitrates they will be more stressed.

Good luck.