lsenthusiast

as of 3 weeks ago i had 3 year old angels, 3 angels about 3 months old and 5 cory cats. and now i am down to one angel (older) and 4 cats. i have tested for pH (6.6) amonnia (0 since shortly after the last angel addition), nitrates and nitrites (both at 0). i keep the tank at 78 degrees. i belive all my parameters are fine, and i use bottled water for water changes, 10% every week.

i can not figure out why all my fish have died. am i not doing somthing right or what?

COBettaCouple

welcome to FishLore.. we're pretty new to angels ourselves but I'm not sure how they do with bottled water. That's one possibility. Another could be the water hardness - do you know what your water hardness is?

Some illness could be the culprit though and your water might be fine - did the ones that you lost show any symptoms? any unusual behavior, loss of appetite, color changes, food changes, etc? How long ago did you get them and were they all from the same place?

0morrokh

What type of bottled water are you using? Have you added any new fish to the tank within the last few months? Have there been any chemicals used near the tank (think cleaning supplies)? Have you added or changed anything in the tank recently? Also do you know if you can get a report from your city about your water? Sometimes cities will add an extra high dose of chemicals to the water every once in a while for whatever reason.



EDIT: never mind the q's about your tap water, must have been late when I typed this

lsenthusiast

ok so i use poland springs water, i buy it as a 6 gallon case at bj's wholesale. i dont use city water at all because i can smell the chemicals is it. i figure if i dont drink it my fish shouldnt live in it.
the only chemicals i put anywhere near my tank are fish safe. i clean the outside with API safe and clear, i also use their stress coat and zyme.
i have been experimenting with new foods like brine shrimp and tubiflex worms. these suplement blood worms and tetramin crisps. i feed the corys hiruki sinking wafers, and an ocasional algae wafer.
the acctual tank set up is a 55 gal tank i bought off a local fish store while they were upgrading their tanks. i use a fluval 405 canister filter, a tetra 60 air pump and an AGA 100watt heater.
the 3month old angels were the last living thing i had added to the tank. although i did add 3 more fake plants and a new bubble wand about 2 months ago.

before each fish died they all started hanging around the same spot against the back wall. it is a very sheltered spot near the bubble wall. the only bulge i have ever noticed with my angel is a swelling in their belly after they eat which is normal.
as for the hardnees of my water i am unsrue of that, i have nothing to test it with.

capekate

What is your water temp at? It would seem that a 100w heater would not heat a 55g well enough for angel fish that prefer water temps from 75*-82*. But IMO, in the case of my Angels, I leave the water temp at 80*. Im wondering what temp your water is at? And if that can be a cause for the problems your having with your Angelfish?

~ kate

COBettaCouple

kate knows her angels, so i think she's onto something and I'd be curious what the water temp on the tank is.. on both ends. A tank that size would be best off with a thermometer on each end of the tank as well as a heater on each end, or an inline heater since you have a canister filter.

Do you have a liquid testing kit, like the API master freshwater kit? It would be good to check what the current ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are.

lsenthusiast

well today i went out and got a visi-therm stealth 250watt heater. i had been thinking the heater might be an issue for my tank whether it was the cause or not.
as for the temp both my old and new heater are in the rear right hand corner and my themometer is in the front left, it has been reading about 78 degrees. but i have seen it dip to about 75, and spike to 80.
also the intake tube for my filter is in the rear left corner, and the output is beyond the heater in the rear right of the tank.

as for amonia, nitrate and nitrite, they are all at 0. i test 2-3 a week.

jsalemi

Do you use test strips? Or a liquid test kit? It's a bit concerning that you have no nitrates -- if your tank is cycled properly (unless it's really heavily planted), you should have some nitrates in there, even if it's only 5ppm or so. It sounds like your tank may not have properly cycled, or the cycle crashed.