Angel Fish

M

mrmcmasty

Mark
Feb 8, 2005
116
0
0
50
VA
My angel fish is swimming upside down. He was added last friday and has been eating and acting relatively normal until today. This morning when I turned the lights on the fish was upside down... he righted himself and swam off but then I noticed him upside down a few minutes later... it was sort of like he was swimming loop d loops... when I fed them he went after a couple of pieces and then went back to his circus act.

Any ideas? Is he sick?
 
Last edited:
May be a swim bladder problem? I copied this info from another forum:

Swim Bladder Disease

Mostly seen in fancy goldfish it is not so much a disease as a genetic abnormality caused by mans fascination for odd shaped fish.
The end result is that they get wind trapped in their stomachs which they cannot get rid of.
An old cure was Epsom salts.
The other problem is their swim bladder is in the wrong position and the fish is constantly fighting the effects.
Swim bladder disease on the other hand can affect all fish.
Raising the temperature and adding salt at 5 gm per gallon seem to help.
Click to expand...
 
In my experience, Angelfish have a tendency to start doing that sometimes shortly after being added to a tank. <1 month. Every one I've had that started doing that died.

But I doubt that is always the end result. And it has not happened to me that often. So maybe yours will be ok.

Good luck. :)
 
OK so my angel is still alive... he is upside down a lot more now... and sometimes on his side... sometimes he swims around just fine... he is still eating and his fins are not clamped... he does not look bloated... I have done some reading... and the swim bladder seems to be the issue... but what can I do...salt? I added some... 5g per gallon right?

He was added to my tank last friday or was it thursday? I dont remember...hes been in there about a week.

I checked my water tonight... parameters are holding steady... and have done so since I finished my fishless cycle. I am feeding the fish a couple of flakes 3 times a day and I add sinking shrimp pellets at night (3 or 4 of em)

amo 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
temp 78
ph 7.4

I did a 30% water change tonight... no particular reason... it was just something I have control of... I have been reading about angels and other fish disease...

side note... I have some kind of cottony, stringy looky stuff that is attatched to the side of my tank... I have no idea what it is... no its definately not HYDRA... its smaller and does not stand up on one post they are attatched at their base and they sort of swat in the tank current... I guess maybe they could be "baby" hydra... I do have hydra attatched to my petrified rock deco... ok Im ramblin... Im just upset that another one of my fish is doing poory!
 
Are you sure your tank is cycled? Is your nitrate test out of date? You should have nitrates if your tank is cycled. You might want to bump the temp. up also to maybe 82 degrees.
 
mrmcmasty does have Nitrates. They're at 10ppm.
 
I've been following your experience with fishless cycling and adding fish with interest, since I'm going through the same process right now, but am still cycling.

What brand of test kit are you using? Is it possible you're getting inaccurate results on the nitrates?

The reason I ask is that I thought I was seeing a drop in nitrites, and low nitrates during my testing (AP kit), but it was inaccurate (I suspected so since my cycle was moving along quickly, and nitrates weren't going up!) In reality, my levels were actually off-the-chart and my tests were lightening up and stopping at ~0.5 nitrites and ~6 nitrates...the tests couldn't give readings and were kind of "neutralizing" rather than stopping at the 160 nitrate mark. I've since done testing with 1 part tank water to 4 parts tap water, and then multiplying by 5...not completely accurate, but it did show a normal test reaction and indicated that, indeed, my levels were off-the-chart...and that I'm still a far way off finishing my cycle and adding fish.:(
 
Mishi...

I have an AP test kit. At one point I thought my kit may be innacurate due to the fact that my nitrites stayed at "2" for 11 days...so I took my water to 3 different LFS's and had them test... they all had the same numbers
so I assummed my test kit was correct... I got frustrated and added biospira (this was after I had been cycling for 3 weeks) after adding bio spira I was cycled within 3 days... so I waited three more days feeding the tank amonia each day... after 24 hours my amonia = 0 and my nitrite = 0 my As for nitrate they did go up. They reached 160 or higher three seperate times during testing. Each time I did a water change to bring them down so I could test.

Since that time I have added fish. 3 zebra loaches 2 rams 2 angels (one is not doing so well) 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 oto cats and a clown pleco (I started with 11 cardinal tetras as well but they have died) Since I added the fish my amonia and nitrites have been consitently 0... my nitrates gradually rise to 10 over a 6/7 day period... after a water change they barely register and then a day or two later they are up to five and continue to rise until I do another water change... I have a planted tank, and I have been told that nitrates between 5-20 are safe for a planted a tank.

I will try the temp change.

Mishi... If you dont mind caughing up the $ for biospira I reccomend it. Iwould not add fish with it though... I would continue with your fishless cycle process of adding amonia to 3-5ppm once you see your numbers go to 0 you are cycled take a coule more days to make sure and then you are ready to go... jmo
 
mrmcmasty said:
Mishi... If you dont mind caughing up the $ for biospira I reccomend it. Iwould not add fish with it though... I would continue with your fishless cycle process of adding amonia to 3-5ppm once you see your numbers go to 0 you are cycled take a coule more days to make sure and then you are ready to go... jmo
Click to expand...

Oh, how I wish I could add BioSpira! I'm getting soooo impatient with cycling (11 weeks since starting with fish first!!!) Unfortunately, BioSpira is not available in Canada, and it doesn't look like they'll be allowed to sell it here anytime soon. :(

mishi8
 
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