Recent Angel Deaths have me confused

[Franwjr]

I am having trouble with my latest tank and can't figure out what is going on.
Recent angelfish deaths must have a reason but I'm not sure what killed them.

Here are some of the details of the tank:
30 gal hexagon tank that has miracle grow organic covered with gravel
Planted with some live plants that are not doing as well as they could be
Fishless cycle completed
Established for a month before introducing any fish
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15
Ph 8.2

I am concerened that I may be having ph flucuations that may be the problem
I have three other tanks and the ph ranges from 6.8-7.4 on the other tanks (but all of the others do not have the miracle grow organic substrate or live plants)

I'm kind of grasping at straws here, any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks

 

[clearancepuppy]

I am having trouble with my latest tank and can't figure out what is going on.
Recent angelfish deaths must have a reason but I'm not sure what killed them.

Here are some of the details of the tank:
30 gal hexagon tank that has miracle grow organic covered with gravel
Planted with some live plants that are not doing as well as they could be
Fishless cycle completed
Established for a month before introducing any fish
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15
Ph 8.2

I am concerened that I may be having ph flucuations that may be the problem
I have three other tanks and the ph ranges from 6.8-7.4 on the other tanks (but all of the others do not have the miracle grow organic substrate or live plants)

I'm kind of grasping at straws here, any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks

Not an expert or keeper of angels, but I found this article interesting, after I thought maybe the high pH had something to do with the situation:

Freshwater Angelfish Care

"Apart from angelfish liking clean, warm water to live in, the "pH" of water will
also be important in maintaining healthy and happy angelfish. pH can
be said to be the measure of acidity or alkalinity in water. It is done using a
special test kit, paper strips or a meter and is measured on a scale
where 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. Wild angelfish
come from the rivers of the Amazon, where the water is acidic.
With domestic angelfish, the pH of your tank water should be in the range of 6.5 (which means that the water is acidic) to that of neutral (7.0). Although Wild Angelfish will require more acidic water, the domestic angelfish has been bred to withstand a more neutral level of water. If your angelfish are exposed to a pH well outside of this range, then it may cause pH shock, and the fish may die."

 

[pcdebb]

the pH in my angelfish tank is around 8.0 right now and they are thriving. a fluctuation can take them out tho. what are they looking like when they die on you?

when i tried to keep it down i killed everything in the tank

 

[ejaramillo01]

Can you be more specific with the symptoms that the fish presented before they died?

 

[absolutangel04]

Can you please tell us about how the fish died? Also, how big were they? HOw long did you have them? Tankmates?
You said you are concerned about pH. Have you done anything to change the pH? From all my experience coupled with everything I have researched, pH stability is more important than any one given number. Practically all the readily available angels in stores are P. scalare which have been captive bred for generations, so I wouldn't worry about the pH in the Amazon, these guys are far removed from that.

 

[pcdebb]

WAIT.......

Explain your setup with the miracle grow organic. How long has this been in the tank? I ask because there can be a serious ammonia spike after the cycle from what I'm reading...

 

[Franwjr]

The angels were only in the tank for about a week and one day I came home from work and two of the four were dead, the others were showing signs of problems. They looked like they had a cottony film on them. I did a 50% water change hoping the others would be ok but they only made it till the next morning. Before changing the water I tested and found 0 ammonia or nitrites present.
Maybe they just weren't really strong from the lfs. Just really baffled as this isn't my first tank and they seemed to go from appearing healthy to belly up in less than 24 hours.

 

[Franwjr]

Can you please tell us about how the fish died? Also, how big were they? HOw long did you have them? Tankmates?
You said you are concerned about pH. Have you done anything to change the pH? From all my experience coupled with everything I have researched, pH stability is more important than any one given number. Practically all the readily available angels in stores are P. scalare which have been captive bred for generations, so I wouldn't worry about the pH in the Amazon, these guys are far removed from that.

To answer a few of your questions.
I had them for about one week.
They were the size of a quarter.
No other tank mates.
Not sure how they died.

 

[Franwjr]

WAIT.......

Explain your setup with the miracle grow organic. How long has this been in the tank? I ask because there can be a serious ammonia spike after the cycle from what I'm reading...

The miracle grow is about one inch deep on the bottom of the tank. It is topped with about 2 inches of gravel. The tank was fully cycled with the soil in the tank. Fishless cycled it took about three weeks to finish. I'm fairly certain there wasn't an ammonia spike.

 

[pcdebb]

Cottony film sounds similar to what happened to my fish, which was ph shock...

 

[Franwjr]

Cottony film sounds similar to what happened to my fish, which was ph shock...

Still not sure what would cause a drastic ph fluctuation. Any idea what caused yours?

 

[pcdebb]

Still not sure what would cause a drastic ph fluctuation. Any idea what caused yours?

Unfortunaly I caused mine