my fish is dying?

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osmelpv

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
3
Today I noticed my Angel fish is in the floor of the aquarium but still alive, is not moving at all, any idea what can I do?BEADA4BD-6A43-4D6F-A2C9-41555EDBB5ED.jpg
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?
What other fish are in the tank?
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

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Basic First Aid For Fish

Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
 
I’m so sorry to hear about your fish and am not optimistic about the outcome, but one never knows. They can rally. How long have you had this fish?

I would follow Colin T’s advice; he’s as experienced as they get; there’s others here who are highly knowledgeable as well.

Keep me posted, ok? Fingers crossed for you and Angel.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the answers, I do not know how to test the water, the fish still alive but he or she is hidden, I will try to answer the questions:

hat are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)? 11 x 30 x 20
How long has the tank been set up for? Last total water change like few Months ago.
How long have you had the fish for? This fish is pretty old has probably 2 years
What other fish are in the tank? I don’t know the names but you will see them in the photo
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks? Only the same food they use to take.

What sort of filter is on the tank? Sunsun, I will upload a picture.
How often and how do you clean the filter? In the last water change like few month ago

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change? Few month ago I changed all water because previously the green thing was to much on the glass. Then I change all the decorations for new ones.
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change? I bought the gravel in petsmart was new in my last water change.
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank? I didn’t, no idea how to do it, that is why I suppose fill the aquarium with a filtered water was the best, I went to a place where people buy filtered water and I got all the gallons for my aquarium, probably is not good idea but I know my water in home is pretty bad.

I have few thinks I could use but I have not idea, I will upload that photo as well.
 

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Testing the water is not difficult, especially if you watch YouTube vids on how to use the API Freshwater kit. It is widely available, but costs less at Amazon.


i do 50-60% water changes weekly. more if needed. i think you should be doing daily changes of at 50-75%
 
I'm assuming the tank dimensions are in inches (11 inches wide x 30 inches long x 20 inches high)?

If you don't have a gravel cleaner, I would suggest you get one so you can clean the substrate and do a water change at the same time. That way you don't have to do a complete water change and clean the tank once every few months. Instead you do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean once a week and that helps keep the tank clean.

The following link has a picture of a basic model gravel cleaner. It's located about 1/3 of the way down the page. If you can't get a gravel cleaner, you can make one from a plastic drink bottle and garden hose. See below for directions.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

Home made gravel cleaner
Get a 1, 1.5 or 2 litre plastic drink bottle (like a Coca Cola bottle).
Remove the cap and plastic ring from the top and throw these 2 bits in the recycling.
Cut the bottom off the bottle and throw the bottom bit in the recycling.
Get a length of garden hose (or clear plastic hose) and stick one end in the top of the bottle. The other end of the hose can go into a bucket or if you use the whole garden hose, run it out the door onto the lawn.
And that's it, one home made gravel cleaner.

Put the plastic bottle in the aquarium and fill it with water.
Have the end of the hose in a bucket or outside.
Start the syphon by sucking on the end of the hose or check YouTube for how to use a gravel cleaner.
When the water is draining out, push the bottle into the substrate (bottom of bottle goes into substrate) and lift it up. The gravel will circulate inside the bottle and drop down, while the gunk gets drained out with some water.
Repeat the process and clean different areas of the gravel.
When you have drained half the tank, stop gravel cleaning and refill the aquarium with dechlorinated water.

If you don't have any buckets specifically for the fish tank, go buy a couple of 10-20 litre buckets and use a permanent marker to write "FISH ONLY" on them. Use those buckets specifically for the fish tank and nothing else.

When you do water changes, you fill up a couple of buckets with tap water, add some dechlorinator, and aerate the mixture for at least 5 (preferably 30) minutes before you use that water in the aquarium. This gives the dechlorinator time to neutralise any chlorine/ chloramine in the water and make it safe for the fish. You can make up the water and let it aerate while you do the gravel cleaning. You can contact your water supply company to find out if you have chlorine or chloramine in the water. You normally use a higher dose of dechlorinator for chloramine.

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The fish in the tank are a Silver shark, sometimes called a Bala shark. That is the big silver fish with black edging to the fins. They do best in groups of 6 or more and grow to about 10-12 inches long. It is going to get too big for your tank.

The small orange, yellow, black & blue fish looks like a male guppy. It is probably full grown.

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You have algae problems (green stuff on the ornaments and glass) because you don't have many live aquatic plants in the aquarium. Algae is a simple type of plant that will grow anywhere there is light and water. If there are aquatic plants to use the light and nutrients in the water, then algae won't do as well. However, if there are no aquatic plants, then algae will grow.

To control the algae, either add some more live aquatic plants or reduce the light. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a nice floating plant that usually does well in aquariums. It will spread across the surface and reduce the algal growth. If you get too much, you can plant it in the substrate where it turns into a lovely light green shrub shaped plant.

Other good plants to try, include Ambulia and Hygrophila polysperma. They get planted in the substrate and usually do well.

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Established filters should be cleaned at least once a month. Wash the filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn.

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Seachem Stability is a liquid filter bacteria supplement. It is used to help speed up the filter cycling process. I normally recommend adding a double dose every day for a week, then pour the remaining contents into the tank. Try to add the supplement near the filter intake so it gets drawn into the filter where we want it. Because your tank has been set up for a while, you probably don't need to use this stuff. If you want to use up the remaining contents of the bottle, do a water change and gravel clean, clean the filter, then the following day add the rest of the bottle to the tank. Otherwise just keep it in the fridge until you have an ammonia problem or want to set up another tank.

Seachem Amguard is used to bind ammonia and convert it into a less harmful substance. You don't need this unless you have an ammonia reading in the water. If you do get an ammonia reading, the best way to fix it is to do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are back to 0ppm. Reducing feeding can also help. But if you have an established biological filter, you should never see an ammonia reading. You can probably put this in the fridge too.

Seachem Neutral regulator is used to stabilise the pH at 7.0, binds to free ammonia (same as the Seachem Amguard), and dechlorinates tap water, neutralising chlorine/ chloramine. Adding chemicals that adjust the pH and do all these other things is not really the best.

API pH up is usually sodium bicarbonate and is used to raise the pH. Unless you are keeping fish that live in neutral (pH 7.0) or alkaline water (pH above 7.0), and your water supply has a really low pH (below 6.0), there is no need to add this. It could also react with the Seachem Neutral Regulator.

Seachem Pristine is another type of bacteria that helps break down fish food and fish waste. It isn't needed and the bacteria develop on their own.

API Stress Coat neutralises chlorine/ chloramine and helps encourage a fish's mucous coating. It also appears to bind with heavy metals and cause them to drop out of suspension so they don't affect the fish as badly.

Most of this stuff you don't need. Unless you have heavy metals and lots of toxic stuff in the tap water, all you really need is a dechlorinator to neutralise chlorine or chloramine. If you have chloramine in the water, then you also need the dechlorinator to bind with ammonia and stop it from affecting the fish. The API Stress Coat and Seachem neutral Regulator both do this.

You should contact your water supply company (via telephone or website) and get a list of what is in your water supply. Post it here so we can check it for contaminants and other harmful substances. But you could probably just use the API Stress Coat and not need any of the other stuff.

These types of additives should be kept in a cool dry dark place so the ingredients don't break down. I used to keep mine in a plastic icecream bucket on the bottom shelf in the fridge. Just make sure children and animals can't get to them because some contain subtances that can poison you if you ingest it or get it in your eyes.
 
Water Test done

Thanks for the new info, I applied stress coat like you suggested, also Stability for the bio filter. I did the water test and all seems to be ok with the high PH, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My angel fish still alive but I believe is not eating.
 

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I would continue doing daily water changes and gravel cleans for a week and see how the fish does. If it doesn't eat at all during that week, then euthanise it.
 
Thanks for the new info, I applied stress coat like you suggested, also Stability for the bio filter. I did the water test and all seems to be ok with the high PH, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My angel fish still alive but I believe is not eating.
There is another possibility although not a common occurrence. There is a pathogen called Blood Flagellates that causes a condition where the fish appears to be sleeping at all times. ( It's actually called sleeping disease.) It can come from live foods as well as flukes and leeches so the fish can be infected at their point of origin before you receive them. It doesn't effect the fish until the quantity of the Flagellates overrun the blood. The only real way to know for sure is to take a blood sample under a microscope.
I've had it a few times over the years and mostly on my real specialty varieties. The treatment for this is to use Flagyl ( Metronidazole) but to be honest, once the fish gets to that sleeping stage, I've had 0 success with a recovery. It really needs to be medicated much earlier when symptoms first appear.
I would suggest that if the water changes do not change the fish's condition, you euthanize before the fish dies naturally as the normal response for the other fish in the tank is to eat the dead fish which would pass on the flagellates to those fish and you don't want that to happen.

Hope this helps. (y)
 
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