Need emergency advice on my angels

[floridaman]

I just recently did a substrate change from normal gravel to eco complete and added a new canister filter .. all of my angels stay at the top of the tank when the lights are on and one of my oldest is darting back forth in the same spot.. I left a good amount of my old gravel in the bottom and put the eco complete over it. And my canister filter has the new filter pads but I used bio media I had been using before.. and left a hang on back filter that had been there also .. there great for a week and now all of sudden this is happening as of yesturday after noon.. when I feed them they act normal while eating but go right back to what they were doing.

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[dalto]

You need to test your water for ammonia and nitrites. You are probably going through a mini-cycle.

Leaving older gravel under the new substrate isn't going to do much because there is probably not very much water flow through the old gravel. Putting the bio-media in the new canister should help as long as you transferred it quickly.

First thing is to test your water and do water changes if needed.

If it isn't that than you can check temperature. It also could just be confusion due to the changes you made in the tank. Did you move decorations around?

 

[floridaman]

I replanted everything .. and yea moved my driftwood around .. I put my heater next to the intake to my canister filter.. my tank sense then stays between 80 and 82 on average

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[dalto]

It could just be stress from all the changes but I would definitely check your water just in case.

 

[gilpi]

Yeah, it sounds like just a lot of stress. Sometimes when they hover at the top can also mean the water is a bit too warm? I know you mentioned 80 to 82f which is fine, is that a thermometer reading or the heater setting? Sometimes heater settings are not accurate. From my experience, if the water feels warm to the touch, it's already too warm.
Check water conditions and give it time, it's all you can do.
Good luck!


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[floridaman]

I have a digital thermometer .. my heater is set to 84 and I moved it on the opposite side of my tank .. my air conditioning hits that side of the tank .. so I moved it next to the intake tube of my canister filter so it will circulate ... One thing me and my fish store figured out was my ph was buffed dramatically from the eco complete.. its normally around 6.0 to 6.4 it went up to 7.6 after I added the eco complete .. from what we read its something rare that happens with that substrate

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[gilpi]

So your water is normally about 6.0 to 6.4 ph? That's low.

 

[floridaman]

Yea I know.. I don't buffers or debuffs and my fish have done great for months until I added the eco complete and it went out of control.. what I have left in there now are doing a lot better and I have 2 koi angels and one marble veil in a hospital tank

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