My Angel fish has SINKING Problem!!

[Sapphire]

I had this silver angel fish for maybe two years now.

He's very healthy all these years, but 2 days ago, he's sitting at the bottom of the tank, been there for 2 days now. !!

He tries very hard to swim up but eventually sink back to the bottom. some heavy breathing I can see him doing.

I hope he didn't swallow any of my pebble substrate. What is wrong with him? How to cure?

Regards,
Sapphire

[Sapphire]

BTW, I have just did a water change, but didn't seems to help.

[j2daff]

might be a swim bladder issue or "dropsy". I try not to recommend meds myself but I am sure other members might. I would recommend Googling both diseases and comparing the symptoms to your angel and noting the treatments. Also maybe google "my fish is sinking" of something of the sort in case I am way off.

The sooner you diagnose and treat the better chance you will have to save your fish. That said using the wrong med (misdiagnosing) may actually make thing worse.

It might be helpful for other members if you post your water parameters.

tank size and stocking level.
how frequently are our water changes and how much
filtration
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate readings
PH
GH
KH
Temp
variety of food you feed

Also note any changes you have note recently

These may give an idea of not only what the issue is but also what the cause is. I personally feel that you will need to medicate at the very leased but if there is a problem with your water parameters it should be fixed or it will just cause the same issue again.


Good Luck and hope the angel comes around.

[Sapphire]

might be a swim bladder issue or "dropsy". I try not to recommend meds myself but I am sure other members might. I would recommend Googling both diseases and comparing the symptoms to your angel and noting the treatments. Also maybe google "my fish is sinking" of something of the sort in case I am way off.

The sooner you diagnose and treat the better chance you will have to save your fish. That said using the wrong med (misdiagnosing) may actually make thing worse.

It might be helpful for other members if you post your water parameters.

tank size and stocking level.
how frequently are our water changes and how much
filtration
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate readings
PH
GH
KH
Temp
variety of food you feed

Also note any changes you have note recently

These may give an idea of not only what the issue is but also what the cause is. I personally feel that you will need to medicate at the very leased but if there is a problem with your water parameters it should be fixed or it will just cause the same issue again.


Good Luck and hope the angel comes around.

Hi there,

Here's my parameters

tank size and stocking level.
33G, I have 3 discus and 2 angels, 6 cories, and 11 glass cat

how frequently are our water changes and how much
once per week, 70%, I have been doing same W/C for the last 5 years

filtration
AquaClear 80

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate readings
Not sure

PH
7.3

GH
Not Sure

KH
Not Sure

Temp
29 Celcius

variety of food you feed
I feed them TetraColor Trop Granules, and brind shrimp, mysis shrimp, blood worms, (All frozen)

I did not do anything different , the only thing I did was instead of feeding them manually twice per day, I used a auto-feeder to feed them (twice per day).

That's all I can think of... hmmmm...

[Sapphire]

I just did a little research and found out ppl feed them cooked pea when this happens..

So what kind of pea exactly should I buy from grocery store? just any green peas?

Sapphire

[onefishtwofish]

you can use frozen ones and remove the skin

[Sapphire]

argh.. I bought a 2kg bag of frozen Green Giant green peas, I did as instructed, removed the skin after cooking the pea, but my angel not eating them at all. He has been resting on the bottom for more than a week now. I am very worried.

[j2daff]

it still sounds like a swim bladder issue to me. Google swim bladder infection or disease. There are a number if possible causes and they are not all treated in the same way. The pea method is a treatment for a few of the causes, most of which boil down to over feeding or constipation. Since it has been a week and the angel won't/can't eat at this point I would try to treat for the next most likely cause. In a week constipation or over feeding would have probably flushed its way through the angels system.

As for your tank perimeters, I think the temperature is a little high but although it could possibly have made the angel more susceptible I do not think it was the cause. I believe the recommended temp is 25 and have read that higher temps can shorten the life span of Angels.

Personally I would split the water changes to 2 35% changes per week rather than doing one large 70%. Reason being, I would personally be afraid of removing too much beneficial bacteria with a 70% change. This would cause your Ammonia/Nitrite to rise until the biological cycle could catch up. You are probably okay but I would worry. I know a lot of people who keep discus though do a lot more and typically larger water changes so this may be okay.

I would also recommend getting a Nitrite and test and one that does both gh an kh. These 2 test imo are all you really need and can help you see issues with your tank quicker. Any time I see one of my fish that does not seem right I check for Nitrites, yeah the issue could be ammonia but with high ammonia I would end up with high nitrite as well and imo it is more deadly. A lot of fish stores with test you water for you but a lot do not commonly do anything other that ammonia/nitrite and ph.

Although Angles, Discuss and corries like a low gh/kh but really low (zero) of both or either can negatively effect your fish in the long term. Grant (Island Pets) has a thread (or two) in there sponsor section with a lot of details on this. I have a lot of fish that prefer the soft acidic water and used to loose a few every now and then until I started to maintain my gh/kh both between 5-8. Since then I have not lost a single fish.

Before you rush to drop your temp or add anything drastic read up on the swim bladder disease. At this point I think the main thing is treatment, which unfortunately probably means at this meds at this point. Once the fish recovers you can make the tank changes (if you feel they are necessary) if you do them now it may just stress out the fish, which is already weak and may cause more damage.

[Sapphire]

HI J2daff,

Thanks for your informative suggestion. I got a frd who has the gh/kh tester, I gotta ask him for that asap. I will try doing the 35% W/C instead of 70% and see if that help, meanwhile, I will continue to feed him with the pea and hope he will eat some of those.

All my fishes has been healthy for the last 2 years. It could be overfeeding since I was trying to beef up my discus a bit. But for sure I will check out Grant's article on the swim bladder disease. I will keep you update with my progress.

Having my fingers crossed,
Sapphire

[Sapphire]

HI J2daff,

I have all my water readings now.

Here it is,

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0mg/L
Nitrate = 5mg/L
PH = 6 or 7 (My pH kit says 7, but my friends' pH Kit says 6, they are both Nutrafin, Hagen.. ????)
GH = 60
KH = less than 20mg/L
Temp = 28C

All my chemical level in my water seems to be okay. I just don't know what else I can do..