zvargulis

I just got my tank on wednesday and got 2 angel fish in there on thursday, today when i got up i found one angel half dead on the floor of the tank still breathing but couldn't do anything about it as i had to work, anyway when i got home from work he had died , but the other angel fish was fine, but now tonight the other angel fish looks like he is struggling, and he isnt floating right, and continously swiming to the top and dropping again,

whats going on?? help

Sabi

If you got your tank on wednesday and added fish on thursaday, your tank isnt cycled and thats the reason the angels are dying. You need to run your tank with filter for a week or more for it to cycle. read here for more info.
http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/index.php?topic=620.0

Butterfly

Angels are very sensitive to uncycled tanks. sorry
Carol

zvargulis

I'm sorry to say it but that angel died last night. quiet sad but there is still one left, you see before the second one died last i though the first death was just like a freak one off thing so i had bought another angel and 2 cat, so that explains why the 2nd angel got sick quicker (thanks to that link).

And so today that third angel started to get really crook but lucky i knew what was up so i replaced half the tank water with new water and, whala, the 3rd angels health increased rapidly and is now back to normal,

Its funny though that the cat fish haven't seemed to be affected, they are very active which is really cool not sure what species they are but they are great to watch.

thanks guys,

My question now is how often do i change the water?? do i only do half changes??
another question is how often do people do a full water change? and how do you use 2 tanks??

Allie

25 to 30% water change weekly...and use siphon to clean the gravel & excess food out of the tank.

Sabi

full water changes can be done once a year i think, at least thats what i do.
Catfish are generally hardier, thats probably why they dont take it so hard. By the way you could post pix of them someone could name them. Catfish and angels are my fav. fish!

zvargulis

So just to give an update tonight the third angel again was starting to get inflamed gills and going to the top so i did a 1/4th tank water change and it livened him up heaps, will i have to keep doing this or should the tank sort its self out?? thanks for the help guys a photo will be on its way, also what do you guys think about a plant will that help??

armadillo

Yes, definitely a plant will help. The plant will process some of the waste in the tank.

I'd buy a test kit (not the paper kind, but the liquid kind) that tests nitrates/nitrates/ammonia at the next opportunity. In this situation, i'd test the water daily. if nitrates > 25; nitrites > .1; ammonia > .1, I'd do 50% water change.

Butterfly

Any kind of fast growing plant will work best, hornwort, anacharis and just about anything that floats.
Carol