Angelfish juveniles dying -others fine

jodymaze

Ok- now that i have figured out how to start a new thread.....
I have a batch of 2 month old Marble Angelfish . They have been doing so great, but every few days one will just lay down and die, within a short period of time. The others all look so great -even the dead one looks fine-I have treated for parasites,and been very dedicated to water quality. Is there a internal bacterial infection possibility. I have only been keeping tropical fish for 1 year so i may be uninformed about diseases. My background is Koi keeping for the last 10 years.

Byron

I see you recently joined, and if I haven't done so already, allow me to welcome you to TFK.

To provide any useful advice, we will need some more information. Starting with the tank size, number of angels in the tank, any other fish in this tank? What is your water change schedule (how often and how much of the tank each time)? What substances are going in the tank, such as water conditioner (which one)? Are there live plants, or any decor? And water parameters and conditions: pH, hardness, temperature; ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? How much and what foods are you feeding?

This will help us, though be prepared for more questions. Diagnosing a problem is not always easy when we can't see the setup ourselves and observe fish behaviours.

Byron.

jodymaze

Our PH is 8 the Ammonia is 0ppm the Nitrite is 0ppm it is a 10 gallon tank. We do a 5 to 10% water change every day we add 6 drops of white Vinegar per gallon of new water being added to acidify the PH we are on well water have no chlorine we add the recommended amount of water conditioner to get rid of the heavy medals. We have a whisper 30 power filter with a carbon cartridge have added some Japanese filter mat to the filter. The water temp is 79f there are about 30 dime size angle fish and 1 2" albino gold brushy nose plecostomus. We are feeding them frozen blood worms and tetra flake food.

Byron

Thanks for that. I see a couple of things. First is the vinegar, I have never come across this before, so i don't know exactly what it may be doing but it does not sound good. Developing fish are highly sensitive, and vinegar is 9to a fish) a very strong acid. Maintaining them in water the same as that in which they hatched would be better, assuming vinegar was not there too.

That tank is certainly crowded, and daily water changes will help with this. I would change 30-40% of the water daily. Use a good water conditioner. And stop the vinegar.

Byron.

jodymaze

Byron,
Thank you for responding and trying to help me figure out what is causing my fish to die.
I did a 40% water change today without adding any White Vinegar,the reason I have been adding the Vinegar is to lower the PH level, because I read that Angel fish like a PH of 7 to 7.5. If I test the water and I have no levels of Ammonia or Nitrate what will doing a 30% to 40% water change compared to a 10% water change accomplish. I will post again in the next few days and let you know if any changes for the better.

Inga

You have zero Nitrate in an established tank??

jodymaze

The test kit indicates that. I thought that was good ??? Sounding like there is a big learning curve for me .

jodymaze

I think nitrate and nitrite have me confused...i may have typed the wrong word ..i will look at my test kit tonite when i get home and repost.( no fish died yesterday)

Byron

Ammonia and nitrite (with the "i") should be zero once the tank is cycled, and remain zero. Nitrate (with the "a") may vary depending upon several factors, but the lower the better. Most of us recommend below 20ppm. Plants should achieve this. And partial water changes weekly.

Responding to your earlier question on water changes. If the aquarium is biologically balanced (fish load, plants, water volume, not overfeeding, etc), a weekly change of 30-40% of the tank volume is advisable. Fewer fish and more plants allow one to change less water, but it does no harm to stay at 30-40%. I do 50-60% weekly in all my tanks, they are heavily planted but I have a lot of fish in them too. I never have nitrate above 5ppm (due to the plants).

Water changes remove stuff that no filter can. Live plants handle some of this, but this is only adequate without water changes if the fish load is moderate and plant load is very heavy. Provided the parameters are identical or very close, there is no harm in water changes. The more fish in the tank, the more these are needed. With fry, you want to ensure they develop properly, and that means either much larger tanks or more frequent water changes. Discus breeders raise 40 fry in a 20g tank, but they change 90% of the water 2, 3 or more times each day. Otherwise the fish would be stunted. Fresh water is essential to the proper development of fry.

jodymaze

Just got home looked at the test kit card. I wrote the wrong word it is Nitrite not Nitrate. I have a 30 gallon tank that I am going to move the fish into, and add some plants. I will continue doing the water changes as you suggested. Thanks again for your input. Will post update in a few days.