Death of a Beautiful Angel

The fishes' swim bladder is filled with gas that the fish produces to maintain zero buoyancy, so it doesn't sink or float.

When fish lose control of basic physiological functions such as balance, it's a terminal symptom.

How are the other three angels?

When a long-term problem finally surfaces and a creature dies, the final symptoms are called "terminal" because they herald the approaching end. A fish doesn't die of "swim bladder" any more than it dies of brain or of liver. Essentially, something's got to give. Could have been central nervous system infection, for instance.

But the symptom is a "terminal" symptom.

It's hard to learn to detect the very first subtle hints that something's not right. But that's when treatment is possible.

Are these the fish that were flashing?

Often swim bladder problems are the final stage in an internal viral problem, such as dropsy. It could have been bacterial even. It sounds like your angel may have been fully grown and the problem could have occurred due to complications of it's old age.

reply to Angel death

So sorry about the death of your favorite. I'm real new at this...started out all wrong and did things all backward, as usual...inherited a pond in the yard last year when I bought my house...this year put in some "feeder" goldfish. They throve, etc, etc, I read every book I cd get my hands on, now I have two Koi in the pond and two big tanks in the house (all goldfish, all "feeders", cost 12 cents to 25 cents...thought I wouldn't get attached to them if they didn't cost much money...wrong). So, last summer I had a Shubunkin in the pond that was swimming all catty-wumpus, after a hose had leaked untreated water into the pond. I rushed out and got all kinds of meds, thought it was a swim bladder problem, not realizing that "swim bladder" is not a disease but an actual organ, like your heart or gall bladder. Got a bunch of rock salt also. By the time I got home, the one that had been swimming funny was fine. Over the next 24 hrs I lost about 12 small fish. (I never used any of the meds, except for a bit of salt...I think the untreated water must have killed the little ones, and probably also made the Shubunkin swim funny, but he's still fine, as far as I know...they are resting out the winter, now). What a heartbreaker! So...your Angel probably had an undiagnosed illness that culminated in its death...and as long as the others remain OK, there's probably no need to do anything. If, however, the others begin to exhibit symptoms, I wd suggest you seek advice from your best local source on fish health. There are questions that a doc or a fish professional can ask that may help you save your fish...by the way, I'm a Registered Nurse with an insatiable curiosity about (almost) everything and a need to know (or think I know) everything (as my family will tell you). So please forgive me for the length. Good luck.

Starting a separate, new thread, Lila Boffins has recently posted:

I lost another angel tonight. Same thing.
On the suggestion of someone, I did a water change tonight (before death). I was just taking some of the water out. Then I decided to just surface the gravel. So much moldy crap came up. I started to syphon the gravel. Molded bodies!

My husband had put over a dozen feeder guppies in the tank at once for a 'treat' for the angels...

So, do you think, this maybe what had caused the deaths of my angels?

Well yes we do think so. Guppies in a shallow grave. Since I was scratching my head over this, may I draw two useful conclusions?

1. It isn't always easy for a Newbie to give all the relevant details. Someone might have a vague sense that feeding live guppies to angelfish risked parasites and other problems, and the temptation could be to sweep it under the gravel, er rug, as not relevant to the particular problem at hand.

Also, it isn't always possible for posters at AC to ask all the right questions, though sometimes people do get an impression that we're putting them through the third degree here.

2. Gravel vacuuming stirs as much decaying whatever into the gravel as it removes. How can anyone still doubt that? This situation was just an extreme example. With the detritus stirred into the substrate, it needs to be re-vacuumed the following week or month. It's a bad practice and unnecessarily disturbs the substrate communities of microbes.

(This assertion leads to a discussion that's not appropriate for the Newbie forum: too technical....)

No no no. Not consciously. Not deceit. Not evil. Just natural. Ask a doctor about the describing of symptoms, how the most telling symptom is sometimes held back, unconsciously, and labeled "irrelevant."

Fish die. Stuff happens. We always "feel" our responsibility extends farther than our powers. Guilt is a phantom.

What about the difficulty on the other side? Helping from a distance is full of mishaps too. Ask the actual right question and the original poster can get highly affronted.

I wish people would take to heart my other, more applicable, thought, not to stir up the substrate. But they won't.