Please Someone Help Me Save My Angelfish!

[lolly292]

What does it mean when your fish keeps facing to top of the tank. She has ragged fins which ain't being fixed by melafix, and he just keeps facing the top of the tank,
Is there anything i can do?
Also my no3 is high. I keep doing water changes but it won't go down.
It is a 64lfreshwater tropical tank. I have a pair of angels, male and female. 2 tetras and 2 bottom feeders. I have real plants and I give them a varied diet. Please help!!!
I have other posts regarding this fish. Please please please help me! Nobody has really helped me and I need to save my fish!

Laura


no3- 100( it says water change which i have been doing every other day but it wont go down)
no2 - 0 (safe)
gh - 16d (safe)
kh - 3d (o.k)
ph - 7.6 (o.k)
cl2 - 0 (o.k)

 

[star4]

If melafix is not touching the ragged fins (I am presuming here its a case of fin rot, maybe a pic would help if you could) Try something stronger like Myxazin or Esha 2000. The male sounds like he is having a buoyancy problem, which could be related to a bacterial infection in his swim bladder. Esha 2000 can be used for both swim bladder problems and fin rot, personally I would concentrate on the male with the odd swimming first, as fin rot can be cleared up with lots of wc.

It might be worth getting you water tested by a LFS if you are getting the same readings even with doing wc, just in case you are getting a constant false reading (something wrong with your test kit?). If its still the same do a larger wc

Hope this helps.

 

[KittyKat]

I seem to remember already asking for a few more details in this set up...

 

[karin]

Given the size of this tank, there could be aggression between the angels. Even though they are a pair, the size of this tank is far too small for angels and they often take out their frustration by beating each other up.

Just an idea. You will need to look for a larger tank if your intention is to keep the angels. You will need at least a 40 gallon.

Just some ideas.

 

[Tolak]

I'd get a divider at the very least for now, breeding pairs are not always the best of pals. Breeding pairs of cichlids in general are not show fish, some torn fins & such are going to happen at times. That is pretty tight quarters for a pair, I've kept plenty of pairs in 20 gallon tanks, for fish with an aggressive streak a 29 works better.

 

[hamfist]

You also really need to sort out what is causing that really high nitrate level. A chronic level of 100 ppm could certainly be causing long term health problems for fish, immuno-compromising them, and allowing infections to take hold. No amount of treatment will heal a fish that's swimming in sh1t.
I would suspect that you have an amount of dead organic matter in your system, possibly dead plant bits, which are simply rotting and poluting your water. Or simply a filter full of crap.

If you can't get on top of the nitrates, then maybe remove ALL your plants to another tank, or even to a bucket, give the substrate a good vac, and have the tank without plants for a while. Make sure the fish still have ornaments/wood of some sort to provide some cover. This will ensure that you don't have dead plant matter polluting the tank.
If the angels are fighting at all, you also need to separate them.

It is also true that, long term, you will need a bigger tank for your fish.

Good luck with things. Let us know how it's going.

 

[lolly292]

I don't think my tank is too small. Maybe I have told u guys the wrong figures for that.
I have tres for ages to get my nitrate down, i do a little water change once every 2 days ANSI still have high no3. I'm not sure what the difference between no2 and no3 as my no2 is clear.
I have vacuned my stones, replaced all my plants. Been cleaning out my filter sponges.
Tw strange thing is, every other fish is okay but that one!!!
I don't want my fish to suffer. I will try and take a picture if my fish and tank. Also my water keeps going dark, i have a lump of wood in there and that was boiled for a week to get the colour out so in not sure what's making the water go like this.

You also really need to sort out what is causing that really high nitrate level. A chronic level of 100 ppm could certainly be causing long term health problems for fish, immuno-compromising them, and allowing infections to take hold. No amount of treatment will heal a fish that's swimming in sh1t.
I would suspect that you have an amount of dead organic matter in your system, possibly dead plant bits, which are simply rotting and poluting your water. Or simply a filter full of crap.

If you can't get on top of the nitrates, then maybe remove ALL your plants to another tank, or even to a bucket, give the substrate a good vac, and have the tank without plants for a while. Make sure the fish still have ornaments/wood of some sort to provide some cover. This will ensure that you don't have dead plant matter polluting the tank.
If the angels are fighting at all, you also need to separate them.

It is also true that, long term, you will need a bigger tank for your fish.

Good luck with things. Let us know how it's going.

 

[hamfist]

I don't think my tank is too small. Maybe I have told u guys the wrong figures for that.
I have tres for ages to get my nitrate down, i do a little water change once every 2 days ANSI still have high no3. I'm not sure what the difference between no2 and no3 as my no2 is clear.
I have vacuned my stones, replaced all my plants. Been cleaning out my filter sponges.
Tw strange thing is, every other fish is okay but that one!!!
I don't want my fish to suffer. I will try and take a picture if my fish and tank. Also my water keeps going dark, i have a lump of wood in there and that was boiled for a week to get the colour out so in not sure what's making the water go like this.

Nitrate tests are notoriously unreliable. It would be worth taking a tank water sample to an LFS for them to test it too.

What sort of % of the water are you changing every couple of days ? Are you dechlorinating it as well ?

As for bogwood and releasing brown colour into the water. THey can literally do it for YEARS !!! Seriously, I had a piece shich was still releasing significant brown colouration into the water after 20 years in tanks !!

 

[lalo99]

Have you tested your water source for Nitrates? If they are at 100 ppm them you can change water until your blue and never get them down.

 

[lolly292]

I'm only doing like 10% water change. Maybe not even that. And yes I using tape safe.
I looked in the tank today after not feeding them as a pet store said not to to try and help the nitrate.
And she seems to have perked up. Maybe because she is a greedy pig and wants food I'm not sure. Haha
Yeah it's the wood, annoying. I will try and take some pictures on here tomorrow!!

I don't think my tank is too small. Maybe I have told u guys the wrong figures for that.
I have tres for ages to get my nitrate down, i do a little water change once every 2 days ANSI still have high no3. I'm not sure what the difference between no2 and no3 as my no2 is clear.
I have vacuned my stones, replaced all my plants. Been cleaning out my filter sponges.
Tw strange thing is, every other fish is okay but that one!!!
I don't want my fish to suffer. I will try and take a picture if my fish and tank. Also my water keeps going dark, i have a lump of wood in there and that was boiled for a week to get the colour out so in not sure what's making the water go like this.

Nitrate tests are notoriously unreliable. It would be worth taking a tank water sample to an LFS for them to test it too.

What sort of % of the water are you changing every couple of days ? Are you dechlorinating it as well ?

As for bogwood and releasing brown colour into the water. THey can literally do it for YEARS !!! Seriously, I had a piece shich was still releasing significant brown colouration into the water after 20 years in tanks !!

 

[hamfist]

I'm only doing like 10% water change. Maybe not even that. And yes I using tape safe.

Personally, I would be changing more than 10% each time, especially as you are fairly heavily stocked. I'd try doubling that to 20% every couple of days.

A great motto to stick by when having problems with any tank or fish is ...... If in doubt, water change ! It's a great motto to stick to, and has saved me many a time. So many of our problems are self inflicted, and are down to poor water quality.

BTW, if you do the maths, a once weekly 50% water change will have more impact on nitrate levels than 3 times a week 20% water changes. Large water changes are fine, so long as you ensure that the the water is dech;orinated and that the temp doesn't fall by more than about 2-3 degrees C. Add boiled water from your kettle to ensure that if needed.