Nutty Angelfish & Cloudy water

[capoeira]

Hello help! Please!

I have 5 silver dollars, a beta and an angelfish in a 60l tank with a decent filter. I added 6ml of melafix to the tank recently after suspecting fin rot on the upper fin of one of the silver dollars. I also added aquarium salt as a ph buffer since the ph was very low. Now the ph has gone up to 7 and most of the fish seem fine. EXCEPT my poor angelfish who seems to be swimming strange by moving back and forth in some weird spasm as well as darting round. Also when I added the second dose of melafix the next day the tank went very cloudy, is this normal?

Thank you
:bowing:

 

[benedictj]

The movement of the angel is kinnd of herky, jerky right? Sounds like stress related to a water quality issue. First, I don't think salt is a good idea with Angels. The environment they live in natrually is pretty much devoid of salt.

Also, what was the pH before the salt? If the pH suddenly skyrocketed, that too could cause the angel some stress. Did you use any products to alter the pH?

Also, What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? Cloudy water is typically a result of an over abundance of nutrients in the water. How many times a day do you feed? How heavily do you feed?

Finally, and here's the heartbreaker, none of the fish you have are suitable for a standard 60l except the betta. The silver dollars just get too large for it and will need more swim space (at least a 48" long tank. Sorry for the lack of metric). The angel will appreciate the extra height of the tank, but once it begins to mature and grow the tank will become too small for it. Also, I would imagine that once the angel hits sexual maturity, you're goinng to see some nasty stuff between the Betta and Angel.