losing my angels

[famman]

2 of my angelfish are breathing rapidly on the bottom near the intake and heater tubes. They''ll swim around if you shoo them but are reluctant to move. I added 6 ruby barbs and that's when this started to happen. I gave them a fully cycled gravel bed of ehfisubstrate from an established canister filter and never detected any ammonia or nitrite.

please, any ideas?


55gal pH7.4 gh8 kh5 78F

thanks
:)

[Bantam]

it does sound like a water quality thing but if you've tested then i guess not.
did you quarantine the barbs? and how big is your tank?

regards

[famman]

55 gal
the barbs came from my 20gal, I've had them for months.
I struggled with the pH, had a water filter failure that raised my pH without me knowing it and had to resort to chemicals to lower it. pH fluctuated from 7.2 to 7.8 for a day or 2 before I got it to stabalize at 7.4. Then we added the angels from quarantine. Waited a week and added barbs. We added the barbs 3 at a time. the angels started to act funny when we added the second set of 3.
I checked and checked and checked and never saw any ammo or nitrite.
there's a large piece of sand-blasted grapevine wood, a few plastic ornaments and a rainbow-slate piece.

Is there any treatment if this were nitrite poisening?

any help appreciated.
thanks again
:)

[Bantam]

there isn't really a cure for nitrite poisoning as such. what would normally happen is that the nitrite would weaken the fish to an extent whereby they become susceptible to a secondary disease.
is there any chance there may be a problem with your test kit?
however given that your tests are negative and presumably the barbs are ok, it suggests that the water quality isn't the issue.

have the barbs been harrasing the angels at all? it does seem very strange. it could of course be a coincidence that it started when the barbs were added. can you remove the barbs and give the angel tank a dose of a general cure all or move the angels to a hospital tank?

regards

[famman]

No the barbs are not harassing the angels, if anything it started out the other way around.
Angels don't get neon tetra disease or something wierd like that do they? They were in a tank with a few neons and a 2 danios for a while.
thanks
:)

[Bantam]

i wouldn't have thought angels can get ntd, mainly because tetras are angels natural prey as far as i know. i might be wrong though! i think all you can do is give them a general tonic and hope for the best unless you get anymore specific symptoms

good luck

[famman]

Sorry to report my angels all died.
No other creature in the tank passed away since the original neon tetra died except the angels. Otos, danios, ruby barbs, 1 neon tetra all survived.
Has anyone heard of 'angel aids'?
Apparantly it is a virus of some kind that will kill angels in the manner mine died.
:(

[JH]

I don't know any specifics, but a few years ago I bought some angels and every one of them died within a short period of time. All of my angels were showing the same symptoms as yours. I tested the water and even took water samples in to several different pet stores my water always tested fine.

One of the pet store owners said that it was probably bad stock. He told me he had better luck with fish he gets from florida rather than anywhere else. I can't remember exactly, but I am prety sure that there is a disease that angels can get. Right off I can't remember what it is called. I understand it was very common a few years back probably still is.

I am by far no expert so maybe someone else knows what I am trying to say and can help you out more. Good Luck. Don't give up totally on the Angels. I eventually found some good angels and now I have one that is almost 5 years old.