boxerdog1

For the past week my angelfish has been hanging out in a corner, by the heater, and only comes out to eat - although today he did not eat. I've had him for several months and he's always been very active. I've tried to put other angels with him, but he kills them, so I gave up on that idea. All the tank levels are appropriate and no one else in the tank seems ill. There are no obvious signs of illness - just listlessness. I did a 20% water change this morning, added appropriate aquarium salt and dechlorinator. The only thing I did find was that I had the temperature between 72 and 73 degrees and I read that it needs to be higher for angelfish, so I've set the heater a bit higher. Any help is appreciated.

cerianthus

Whenever I notice a changes in fish behavior (listlessness, not eating, etc), first thing i did was test the water, at least for pH, NH3, NO2. Since difficult to determine exact causes, testing will eliminate water condition problem if results are negative. If results are positive, then you will probably know what to do.
Raising temp was good idea and try stablizing at that temp(78-80F).

Hope its nothing serious and keep us posted w/ results/progress!

CHoffman

Hi,
You say your tank levels are appropriate..What are they exactly??..ammonia, nitrite and nitrate??..Doing a water change is always a good idea so that's good you did that. Stabalizing the temp will also help..Angelfish are notorius for going on Hunger strikes when something is wrong. Is he aggressive toward any of the other tankmates?

AlyeskaGirl

Hi! Hmmmm, maybe you raising the tempature will help since he was hangin out next to the heater. Angelfish like warmer water, like 78-82. I have 3 Angelfish and I keep the water at about 78-80. Good luck!

agabr123

have you introduced any new fish recently?

boxerdog1

Thanks for the replies!! My PH level is 7.2, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate were all 0. I did introduce new fish, but he was acting this way before the additions.

CHoffman

Is yoru tank heavily planted with live plants??..

NUMB3RS

You should raise the heat and ur angel will turn back to normal

Shawnie

angels do not do well with salt so Id do 50% water change until the salt is gone..some prime or stress coat+ will help alot as witout nitrates, for some reason you might be going throug a mini cycle unless your tank is heavily planted ...I hope he feels better soon!

CHoffman

Why I am asking is because you say you have 0 Nitrates. Unless your tank is heavily planted this means your tank isn't cycled. A cycled tank should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some nitrate..What test kit are you using to test your water

Shawnie

id worry more about the salt right now as his ammonia and nitrite is 0 and even though it might be in a mini cycle, the 0s are good for now but the salt isnt

boxerdog1

I do have live plants in the tank and when I do a partial water change I always take everything out, sift through the gravel, and suck out as much of the gunk that I can get with the vacuum. I did just recently start adding salt because I had read that it was good for the other fish I have and that there was nothing proven to say that it would harm the angel. I won't add it again because that could be the problem. Thx!

CHoffman

I agree...I had my screen up for awhile to post and had to do some stuff so I hadn't seen that you had posted untill after I put my message through.....But yes I agree.

Drew04

aquarium salt is not good for angels? I've been using salt for months and my angel is just fine. I'll certainly stop using it if angels don't like it.

Butterfly

Salt of any kind is not good for angels.
freshwater fish have a higher concentration of salts and minerals in their bodies than the water around them so through diffusion through their skin and gills they are constantly taking on water and excreting waste(urine and feces)
When salt is added to freshwater fish the salt concentration in the water is higher than in the fish. Fluid is being pulled out of the fish along with normal excretions the fish becomes dehydrated. It doesn't happen over night but will eventually affect the fish. these exchanges are called osmoregulation. Heres a very interesting article if you would like to read it.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~delbeek/delb11.html
Please keep us posted as to how your fish is doing. We really do care.
by the way Welcome to fishLore
Carol