Angels not looking good after usual 30 % water change.

[Achill3s]

I have a 75 gallon tank that had 5 large angels and a couple other small fish. i did my usual 30% water change that i have been doing for years now and about a day later, all the angels developed a white coating and have been staying at the bottom of the tank. When i tested the water, the ammonia level was at about 1.0. Did another small water change about 2 days later and the ammonia is down completely. Testing for 3 days now and its staying steady at 0.0. Today I lost my oldest (3 years old) Koi. Was laying flat on the bottom of the tank. I added some stresscoat and a tablespoon of salt to the tank on the last small water change which seems to have helped a little but there are still either hanging at the bottom of the tank or right at the top with clamped fins. Breathing seems fine and I don't see any other symptoms. Any suggestions that could help would be great. All of these angels have been extremely happy for years. Not sure what happened. The tank is definitely cycled properly after the water change and all the other fish look great. 2 small green severums, 2 small yellow severums, 2 glofish, one royal pleco and one albino bristle-nose pleco.

The only major change that has happened to the tank was the addition of the severums and removal of 35 baby angelfish, but this all happened before the severums were added. So far has been a total of about a week and a half since the first symtoms occured. and the severums were added about 3 days ago. They are doing great.

I read a little online about someone who had the same symptoms and they discovered that it was white death and the whole tank was dead within 72 hours of the first death. Has anyone had experience with these symptoms and if so what happened or how did you resolve it?

 

[Achill3s]

I can't find my other test kits, but I know the Ph is probably about 8.2-8.4 as this is what comes out of the tap here in florida. I dont' see this as being an issue since this is the same water that I have used for thier entire lives and they have always been extremely happy.

 

[eklikewhoa]

Can you test your water source?

Sounds like what has been happening here in Texas, temps warming up so the city is putting mad chloramines into the water supply and that is what is stripping the slimecoat off the fish and suffocating them to death

 

[anarekist]

yup, i never do a water change after it rains, i know they dump a bunch of chemicals into the water when it does so i usually wait a few days after.

 

[Achill3s]

Pretty sure the water from the tap is good, did water change on my 20 long at the same time and no issues with that tank. Trying to find the rest of my tests but can't locate. Only test I have right now is for ammonia. Might have to go get get some new tests. When I do I will update with the rest of the parameters. Keeping my fingers crossed. 2 of them are starting to look better. At least they are eating.

 

[eklikewhoa]

the ammonia test is what you need, test your tap water with it.

 

[Achill3s]

2.0 ppm from the tap. I have been using Tetra Aquasafe plus to condition the water.

 

[eklikewhoa]

think you found your problem.

I have never used aquasafe but I have been using Amquel+plus for quite some time and swear by it. I do 100% water changes on all my tanks and when chloramines are high in the tank I double dose and never had a problem. Seachem Prime or Safe is a good alternative as well, I've used this on occasion.

You could also age your water prior to water changes

 

[Achill3s]

Have never had issues with Tetra, been using it for 5+years. I hear about alot of ppl saying that Tetra is bad but I have used all of thier products and never had issues.

Besides, testing the tank water shows good results and the other fish are all doing fine. I don't think that's the problem.

 

[eklikewhoa]

The initial shock of it is what caused it, how well your bio-filtration is would declare how long the problem was present before it was consumed.

I have nothing against tetra brand products but according to what information you have given and the conditions of death I would say the Aquasafe wasn't enough in this case. From the stocking list I would say the other fish in the tank are normally more hardy to poor water conditions than angels which is why you might have only had the deaths occur with them.

I could be wrong since I don't know what else is going on with your tanks.

What do you think is wrong or what went wrong if you feel the ammonia measured in the tap water is dismissible? btw, the ammonia test would show the presence of chloramines as well since it derives from ammonia.