Angelfshgrl

Okay, I am brand new to this forum and am not an experience aquarist. Also, I have searched the posts and threads and could not find anything that encompasses all the symptoms my angelfish has. I have an 85 gallon tank, with 4 goldfish, 3 catfish, and 4 angelfish and the following readings:

Temp. 80 F
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

We set this tank up a couple of days before Christmas. I know it is not good to have goldfish with the other fish, but my daughters won them at a carnival and they grew way too big for our 6 gal tank. This particular angelfish (named Princess) was placed in the tank a couple of days after we set it up. About a week ago we added 1 angelfish and 2 catfish. That is when Princess began hanging out and staring at the power filter return. We thought she was just fascinated by it but after a couple of days, we found her on her side on the floor of the tank. We moved her to the hospital tank (10 gal) and she has been there for 3 days. She seems to have more rapid gill movement then the other angelfish and can't swim (though she tries to). Also, she is not eating. From what I could gather from searching the internet and forums, it sounded as though it might have been a gill disease so we started treating her with Maracyn II. However, last night she had white stringy poop coming from her which leads me to believe she has internal parasites. But I am not sure and think it is possible it might be a swim bladder problem. I tried frozen pees, thawed and peeled but she would not eat them. I don't know what to do, please help.

Jonah

Hi and Welcome

Sorry to hear about your sick fish. I am no Angel expert but one will be along soon. The white stringy poo does sound like it could be parasites.

I believe that there is a product available in the US called Jungle Buddies (or similar) that can be used to treat internal parasites.

However if it is an internal parastite then it is likely that one of the new additions to your tank has brought them in so you will need to minitor all the fish in your main tank for symptoms as well.

And I agree that despite the goldies being cold water fish housing them in your 85gal tank is a better temporary solution than a 10gal while you find a bigger tank for them. 40gals for the 3 is what you will need.

agabr123

welcome to fishlore

it definitely sounds like internal parasites to me as well, jungle does make a product for parasites and i believe...mardel does as well, but i'll see if i can double check on that

here are some other links that should help you diagnose more definitively
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_dis...disorders.html
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_dis...m_bladder.html
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_dis...disorders.html

AlyeskaGirl

Hello and Welcome to FishLore!

The reason your Angel was hanging out by the filter was lack of oxygen possibly; do you have an airstone or two in tank? She is stressed out and when that happens an open door for disease. Poor baby.

What are you using to test? Strips or liquid? You have zero for NitrAtes. Is your tank planted?

Angelfshgrl

Thank you Jonah. I will try Parasite Clear by Jungle Buddies. I will also monitor my main tank.

Angelfshgrl

I bookmarked all of these, thank you.

Angelfshgrl

I have an air tube that runs along the back to provide oxygen. As for testing the chemicals, I use the liquid (with the test tubes). I do not have any live plants, I use the fake plants.

AlyeskaGirl

The reason I am asking is that you shouldn't have zero nitrAtes in a non-planted tank. That means your tank isn't cycled. Have you had any high readings on ammonia and performed water changes to get it down to zero? Done any filter maint recently? I just want to make sure your tank is OK is all.

Angelfshgrl

I did a 50% water change on Sunday and changed the filters. About a month ago the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were extremely high so I did water changes and bought special biological media to put in our filter to reduce all three. Since then they have all been 0. However, the hospital tank has nitrates that are slightly higher than 0 (between 0 and 0.5).

Dozey

Do you know the manufacture/product of the "special biological media" that you are using?

Angelfshgrl

Fluval BioMax is the biological media (it's by Hagen). She keeps trying to swim but can't get off the floor of the tank

AlyeskaGirl

Sounds like Swim Bladder problem. You may loose her soon.

agabr123

when you say you changed the filters, do you mean that you changed all of the filter media? if so then you're probably not cycled, you generally don't want to replace all of your filter media at once. it's okay to replace it once it's falling apart, but when you do that you need to leave the NEW filter media and the OLD filter media both still in the filter for at least a month so that enough bacteria establishes on the new media to keep your cycle from crashing.

Angelfshgrl

My husband handles all of this and he said that he replaced 2 of the 4 filter medias. So, I assume we should let the filters cycle for a month this way before we replace the other 2, right?

AlyeskaGirl

yes, that is a good idea.

What I do is rinse out my media, in my case is a sponge and the biomodules if needed in bucket of tank water to get the gunk off and put back.

AlyeskaGirl

Now I know why your have zero on all your readings. Your are using Stress Zyme? Stress Zyme eats up the ammonia and not allowing the real beneficial bacteria to grow. With SZ you will have to continue to add it to the life of your tank and when and if you stop using it your tank will crash.

Tetra Safe Start is the only one on the market that cycles a tank.

Angelfshgrl

So what should I do? Should I switch to Tetra Safe Start and stop using SZ?

Angelfshgrl

Well, I am sad to say that my angelfish died. I am just glad she is not suffering anymore.

AlyeskaGirl

Aw, I am sorry for your loss.

agabr123

i'm sorry you lost her

Angelfshgrl

Thank you for helping me.

AlyeskaGirl

Your welcome!