Help angel fish acting 911

[angeltank]

yea im going to let it settle the rest of the night but what should i do about the ph and i didnt check it before due to it being time for a pwc anyway...

ill check it in the morning

[Joker741]

After reading around online, I found this:

Again I would like to comment on the fact that you do not need to lower ph. It is a pain in the arse and expensive. You will end up hating it. The fish are not going to be any happier if the ph is 7.2 or 7.8 or 8.2! Therefore if you do not have a goal like breeding, do not bother.

The most important factor in keeping fish is constant water parameters Keeping a steady ph is very, very important!

I growout discus in my tap water that has a ph of 7.6! My planted community tank with cardinals, discus, rams without C02 injection is also at 7.6 (with c02 around 7.2). Therefore, there is no reason to that you must change the ph.

If however you will not be convinced otherwise, RO filter mixed with tap water is the best way to lower ph. There are other methods like using peat that work. Do not use chemicals to adjust ph. Too much room for error causing stress and disease. Also, we do not know how these chemicals effect the fish!

Test the water in the morning and report back.

[krazeeboy]

ok i gotta ask this even though its the most simplest things. is your tank cycled?

[angeltank]

yes

[Squareheads]

Maybe they need more space?

[angeltank]

heres the update
ph 7.0
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm

so thats all good but i took all my plants out and now have to get new ones....somehow but my one angel is swimming at a slite angle any idea what could cause that?>

[happygirl65]

Inspect the fins, do they look ragged? How big/old are the angels and how long have you had them? It is not normal for an angelfish to get stuck in plants even if they are plastic ones. It probably had something wrong with it.

It will also help to tell us :

What size tank?
How long has it been set up?
What other fish are in there?
What filter are you using?
Do you have a heater?
Have you seen any aggression between inhabitants?
How often do you do a water change and how much?
When was the last time you did a water change?
What is your water source? (City or well)
Did you use a declorinator (if city supply water)
If the fish is new did you quarantine it?

I see that you tested all parameters at 0....the nitrate should be higher if the tank is cycled, how old is your test kit?

With some more info we can probalby help you nail down the problem.

[Zagz]

Threads merged.

[happygirl65]

Thank you Zagz, that helps a lot.

To the original poster,
It looks to me like you are not using a dechlorinator product when you change the water (something like "Prime")
If you are on a regular city water supply they add chlorine so without a de-chlorinator product you risk killing your biological bacteria every time you change your water and it's not good for your fish either.
That explains the ammonia after the tank having been set up for a few months already. You basically have started over with your cycle.

So, If Iam correct what you can do to fix the problem right now, is to get some Prime and test your parameters daily. And anytime your ammonia and nitrite is over .5 do a 50% water change. You will probably be doing daily water changes for a while until your biofilter catches back up.

If you have been using a dechlorinator then I would say the ammonia spike was due to adding too many fish and experiencing a mini cycle, either way the process is the same. Daily water changes (WITH prime) and waiting and watching for the biofilter to catch up before adding more fish.

Best of luck to you. Let us know how it goes.