Take a look at my water results...

Red around the gills is usually indicative of gill burns--commonly from ammonia or nitrite levels that are too high. It sounds like your tank is recycling, and all the fish are being exposed to these toxins. Angels are sometimes more sensitive to water quality than many other fish, especially if other water parameters are stressing them, so are the first to suffer.

I would do water changes daily--keep them small, but monitor ammonia and nitrites and do larger changes if either of these start climbing. Adding some floating plants, like anachris, would help out as well.

Originally posted by OrionGirl
Adding some floating plants, like anachris, would help out as well.

Click to expand...

What does the plant do? [the pseudo-newbie asks]

Plants help in at least a couple of ways. First of all, many plants will themselves be innoculated with the benefical bacteria that form the biofilter. Second, and maybe more importantly, plants have needs to take in nitrogen, and ammonia is an excellent source of nitrogen. (So are nitrites and nitrates, but I believe ammonia is taken up by plants more easily.) Some folks who keep heavily planted tanks actually have to add nitrogen for healthy plant growth.

Having a planted tank greatly eases the cycling process, although there are other issues involved in maintaining a healthy planted tank. Those may take us off track too much, and in any event, there are many others much more knowledgeable about keeping a planted aquarium than I.


Jim