Angels

[Katchan]

Does anybody know of any diseases that angels are more susceptible than other fish? I've lost 6 angels ranging from breeding adults to small ones about an inch in diameter between 2 different tanks, no sign of any problems with other fish except one lost festivum. All help appriciated. only sign of illness/troubl;e hass been sitting at surface and possible gasping for air (no other fish have been doing this)

Andrew

 

[The-Wolf]

cichlids in general are more suceptable to HITH than other fish.

when fish are at the surface with rapid gill movement it could be an indication of lack of O2, gill flukes or many other things.

please post your water params

 

[nmonks]

Angelfish, at least the mass produced ones, tend to have very high parasite and bacteria counts. That's why people say now never to mix angels with discus or festivums, even though in the wild they live together, and in the right aquarium can get along pretty well, too.

Like a lot of "difficult" fish that have now been farmed to be as cheap as possible (also see rams, neon tetras, and dwarf gouramis) a lot of the fish farming practises depend upon the fish being tanked up with hormones and/or antibiotics. As soon as you get them home, then the problems start. The bacteria and parasites are no longer being surpessed by chemicals, and they quickly spread out in the tank, infecting everything else. Some things, like neon tetra disease, will normally only wipe out the neons, but other things, like hole-in-the-head, can do all kinds of damage to many different species.

There's a lot to be said for tracking down wild stock, or at least amateur-bred stock, if you want to really enjoy angels.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Did the fish show any symptoms like skinnyness/wasting away, lack of activity, white /stringy poop, gasping at the surface etc? What fish do you currently have in the tank right now and how many gallons is it? What do you feed your fish on average and how, plus any things like tubifex etc?