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grayRavenn

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thank you for adding me to your forum. I need your help. in short I have been a tank owner since my dad gave me my first tank when I graduated 6th grade...I am now 61. my love has always been fresh water angelfish, and still is. I have 5 medium sized tanks (55, 40, 30, 29, 20hex) and several betta tanks. all of my angels are 6 years old. any way, my problem developed yesterday. Monday night I fed the troops as usual, my big male golden (helios) ate, did well. no difference in behavior. next morning, he is standing on his head...literally standing on his head. not breathing any different, not trying to right himself, just standing on his head. his 6 year girlfriend is normal, sitting beside him. all other tanks normal acting angels. quickly did a water check, all parameters within normal, just did a 20% water change 2 days prior (always use RO water, same outlets and always check water before adding to tank). been all over the internet looking for information but nothing seems to fit. is this "angelfish virus" , swim bladder dz? the only other symptom, which is why I am frantic about this angel fish dz, is his fins are starting to rot off...there is no real evidence of rot, but they are frayed and disappearing. has anyone seen this before.... did a quick 25% water change, increased the water temp, added an airstone, took all the plants and knick-knacks out.....
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum! :hi:

May I please see a picture of said fish?

What are your water parameters?

(Please consider voting for the July POTM contest, by clicking the banner at the top of your screen, Thanks!) :) :thanks:
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?
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.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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

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Swim Bladder problems cause the fish to have trouble staying buoyant in the water. They either float to the surface and struggle to swim down, or they sink to the bottom and struggle to swim up.
Your angelfish doesn't sound like it has a swim bladder problem.

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What other fish are in the tank?
Other fish might be picking at his tail. Poor water quality can cause fins to rot. If you can provide the water parameters,as requested by PheonixKingZ, it would help. We need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (in numbers). :)
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum! :hi:

May I please see a picture of said fish?

What are your water parameters?

(Please consider voting for the July POTM contest, by clicking the banner at the top of your screen, Thanks!) :) :thanks:
Hello, and welcome to the forum! :hi:

May I please see a picture of said fish?

What are your water parameters?

(Please consider voting for the July POTM contest, by clicking the banner at the top of your screen, Thanks!) :) :thanks:
hi. parameters...by the way, using a relatively new API freshwater master test kit. ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite lower than 0.25 ppm, and nitrate, lower than 5.0ppm. unfortunately, just euthanized helios. I will send video of him swimming last night. I have striped the tank of plants, knock-knacks, wood (for my pleco). will do a water when done, add more heat and a air stone...i'm afraid for my girl champagne, that was her in the video giving a love bite. even though they "fight", there were no injuries ever, look at her fins, they are in good shape. ugh...sorry, file too large.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?
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.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

----------------------
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

----------------------
Swim Bladder problems cause the fish to have trouble staying buoyant in the water. They either float to the surface and struggle to swim down, or they sink to the bottom and struggle to swim up.you
Your angelfish doesn't sound like it has a swim bladder problem.

----------------------
What other fish are in the tank?
Other fish might be picking at his tail. Poor water quality can cause fins to rot. If you can provide the water parameters,as requested by PheonixKingZ, it would help. We need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (in numbers). :)
 
you guys are amazing, thank you. I will try and post the video to utube. too large for the reply. unfortunately I just euthanized helios, but I am frantically worried about my other kids, I still have champagne in that tank, and 10 other in the various tanks. the substrate is medium sized river rock, easily moved around the bottom of my tank to get all the yuck off the bottom during every water change, 20-25% weekly. I know I over feed, always have, and my fish are fat, but he seem abnormally bloated, and I noticed that his stool is clear, no feces is being evacuated. I was going to have my boss (I am a veterinary nurse) do an autopsy...
 
It says video is unavailable :(

If you can get the fish necropsied for free then go for it. Ask them if it's ok to freeze the fish or just keep it really cold but not frozen before taking it to them.
 
I have taken everything out of the 29gal, including the river rock. all I have left is my female golden (poor champagne) 2 cory cats and boris, my pleco. did a 20gallon water change, boiled the filter in salt water and am drying it in the sun....radiation will either kill the stuff or turn it into some giant virus and eat me.....I am adding an airstone and raising the temp. will continue the water changes for the next 10 days.....will probably send stool sample into the lab from helios, see if there are any parasites that will do this. any suggestions?
 
A quick internet search suggests an average lifespan of 10 years.
Could it just be that it was his time?

Note: None of the references I found were from sources I would seek out as reliable, but they were all I found ...
 
A quick internet search suggests an average lifespan of 10 years.
Could it just be that it was his time?

Note: None of the references I found were from sources I would seek out as reliable, but they were all I found ...
he was going on 6, maybe it was, but usually they fade out, slowly fail to thrive. this was pretty acute. think he was bloated, between his tummy appearing larger this morning, and the fact that the feces casings were empty/clear. I am worried about angelfish virus, the report is that is highly contagious......
 
I wouldn't have boiled the filter media. There is going to be microscopic organisms in the water, substrate, filter media and the fish. You are better off just doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week or two, and cleaning the filter. Then monitoring the fish.

The angelfish could have had organ failure, a heart attack, stroke or died from disease. Any diseases it had, will probably be in all your tanks unless you wash up between tanks and use separate equipment for each tank.

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I haven't heard of an angelfish virus but most viruses have to be introduced into the tank so unless you added diseased fish in the last few months, it's unlikely to be that.
 
I wouldn't have boiled the filter media. There is going to be microscopic organisms in the water, substrate, filter media and the fish. You are better off just doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week or two, and cleaning the filter. Then monitoring the fish.

The angelfish could have had organ failure, a heart attack, stroke or died from disease. Any diseases it had, will probably be in all your tanks unless you wash up between tanks and use separate equipment for each tank.

--------------------------
I haven't heard of an angelfish virus but most viruses have to be introduced into the tank so unless you added diseased fish in the last few months, it's unlikely to be that.

totally replaced the filter media, boiled the filter, boiled the rocks, nothing in the tank but airstone, heater and filter. water changes planned, and still worried about angelfish virus (specific to angelfish, outbreak in the 1980's) but probably not. thinking it was bloat, but will send in lab samples to see if there is a parasite that I need to look for. he was almost 6, in good health not fading so organ failure not top on my list. I work for a vet and one of my docs is as crazy about fish as I am, so I will bring helios up to him and do an autopsy. in the mean time, maybe treat for a bacterial or parasitic infection.
couldn't add any fish to this tank...I called them the piranha pair...they shredded anything I put in, but they were so very handsome together...
 

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