Wild angels mysteriously dying :(

[Sarah88]

So I have had these angels since the beginning of august and they have been fine then I added a rescue Oscar but he was aggressive n killed one of them leaving me with four angels so I immediately got rid of him n then after that another of them died of what I presume was stress well this weekend another one died which I still thought was stress because of chasing from the baby o but now I have taken out the baby o on Sunday so that the stocking is back to original fish that were in there for months without problems n then this morning I wake up with another of the angels dead n my last angel has what looks like fin rot on his caudal fin so my question is how cud he suddenly develop fin rot or cud this be something else and has anyone else had this issue with their
wild angels after having them for months

 

[Cohazard]

Fin rot is an external, bacterial infection. They could suddenly develop it if the tank is not clean, or their immune system is dropped due to stress, which is what happened in your case.

Lesson learned, don't give up and get some more.

Treat the infected fish with any commercial antibacterial remedy for ornamental fish, and keep stress minimal.

HTH

 

[Sarah88]

Ok thanks and yeah I do 50% changes every week if not more than that so my water is always below 15ppm nitrates so it must have been the stress. Can I treat it with just clean water and salt? I like to avoid using the chemical meds whenever possible

 

[Cohazard]

I've never tried salt alone, since the medications have always worked fine for me.

But I have read of others using salt and warm temps to cure.

 

[Haecklers]

I wouldn't add salt, I read angelfish are sensitive to it. Mine got finrot and I used Maracyn Two. It cleared up and everybody is ok now, and that was after weeks of mysterious fish deaths in that tank. Your Oscar baby could have been carrying something your angelfish aren't immune to.

50% water changes seem risky to me - are you really careful to get the water the same temperature? Wild ones are more sensitive to sudden changes in water temperature and chemistry. Plus, if you are using city water, they could change the chemistry on you.

How about adding some plants instead so they eat up the nitrates? I've got duckweed floating on my tanks and after I add it the nitrates go from 10ppm to un-measurable, in like 2 days, without a water change. The followers of Diana Walstad say the plants with leaves outside the water are better at using up ammonia and nitrates than submerged ones.

 

[Sarah88]

it actually went away on its own, i think that once it got over the stress then it fought it on its own, after a day or two the white edging went away and now new fin is growing back, and thats quite possible that the baby O was carrying something that they weren't immune to since they are wild caught, that would kind of make sense that the largest one was the strongest and so the best capable of surviving, but i feel bad for him now that he is all alone but yeah i have done 50% waterchanges with them since i got them (after giving them a two week beginning period of rest without changes to allow them to get over stress of shipping) and they have been absolutely fine, i make the water going in a tad bit cooler than in the tank as the fish seem to rather enjoy this and it gives a more natural type cycle since they would be getting cold rain water (i also hold the end of the hose so that it simulates rain fall into the tank. but these problems didnt happen right after a waterchange and never had problems with them before so i seriously doubt that, that was the cause but yeah thanks everybody for your help now i just have to decide whether to let him remain by himself or try and find some new friends for him so that he isnt alone with the other cichlids, ill have to wait and see but i think i will probably have to either get him more friends or rehome him because he is definitely not as outgoing now as he was when he has the other angels to swim with

 

[Laticauda]

Well, it's quite possible the first angels succumbed to an outside pathogen. However, once you got down to less than 6 angelfish, it's possible that the other angelfish started bullying the smallest ones, stressing them to the death-point or being more vulnerable to the outside pathogen.

If you do get more, I recommend getting at least 5 more that are similar size (maybe a little bit bigger) than the one you have now. Angelfish are cichlids, and do bully. I have a big black angelfish that killed both of its angelfish tank mates. Lesson learned for me.

Also, please don't introduce new fish into a sensitive tank such as WC angelfish. Especially Oscars. I wouldn't house angelfish and oscars together anyway.

 

[Sarah88]

yeah i dont think it was bullying on the part of the angelfish, as there were 5 of them and they were all fairly large and still schooled together really well, and like i said i had them for months without any signs of problems at all, and yeah all the oscars i have had in the past were huge babies and left everything alone that was to big to be considered food but for some reason the two that i have tried are complete a-holes, but yeah i guess thats what i get for trying to mess with my stocking when things were going so smoothly the argentea wasnt messing with them or anything but i always have to try and change things up and then get messes like this

 

[Laticauda]

When you have angelfish, a school any less than 6 will have problems. Especially as they grow and get bigger and begin pairing off. Things change as they get older, behaviors, attitudes. Just because you had them for a while and they were okay doesn't mean that they will always be ok with eachother. Juvie behavior is completely different than sexually mature adult behavior.

 

[fishinfrenzy]

I have a predominant Angel tank... They Are quite frisky and at times the Dominant ones harass,but they are extremely resilient and very healthy. The Key I believe as with my other tanks is heavy filtration and periodic water changes.