Dying angelfish for no apparent reason

[amyb_70]

On Monday I started my week with 7 angel fish in my aquarium. 3 med size, 2 long veil same size (quarter size), an 2 smaller 1 dime size one size of a nickel. I bought the larger at 1 store and the long veils and small ones at another store. It's now wed evening I have 3 angels left one of which is dying ( the long veil) I had water tested on tues ( I think) and all the waters perimiters tested perfect. So what can be wrong? I have not seen any fighting, one thing I noticed was my ghost shrimp would nip at fins, and I have removed them. Only other fish is 4 Cory cat, 4 Oto, a bumblebee goby, albino pleco. Somewhere there's a dwarf pleco but I haven't seen that in a month. 1 that died was from 1 store, then the other 3 plus the one shown is from another store. I was advised it most likely was not a store or myself matter, especially with the 2 very small ones. But the long veils I don't understand and thought maybe a photo would help.
Thank you!


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[emilygupps]

How big is the tank how long has it been running? When you say perfect, what were the actual numbers?

That angel fish is definitely sick, can't say I know exactly what's wrong but when I first had my tank I added tons of fish too soon and I killed lots of angels, they looked just like yours.


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[amyb_70]

Well since i posted this that Angel has died. so i now have 2 left. I have had this aquarium up and running since April... i know i should know the numbers but i dont... the ammonia was at the bottom of the chart on yellow, the PH was in normal range, the N & N were both in a safe low zone (i think light blue). hardness was actually a touch soft. i know this answer is probably more frustrating than anything because i dont know the numbers.. I just got back from having the water tested again and the same. all in the ranges that is great... The angels were not all added at 1 time. i had 2 the larger ones, and the 2 long veils already in the tank. I lost 1 large one so i replaced that and got 2 more of the larger. then i got 2 smaller. so the add was 2 med/larger and the 2 long veil, when 1 died i added 2 more larger, and almost 2 weeks later added the smaller ones. i hope this helps and makes sense... so in total the add was over a month long process 2 at a time

 

[amyb_70]

UPDATE & now wondering if i made a HUGE mistake..... All the fish i had died w/ the exception of 1 Angel fish, I gave it a couple days and thought how well she adjusted last time her friend died and how she was getting along great with the new angel. So I thought I would do the same thing, i have seen people say if your going to add or make changes, move things around so the entire aquarium is different to the Angel and give all the fish a place to hide out. Well this brilliant idea of mine has backfired, the Original Angel has become not so Angelic, she is head butting the new fish. I feel bad. I feel for the new ones to be in this situation and the original because i was trying to help and do good for the existing fish i had..... I know i saw a video on one of these threads before but i can not recall which post. it showed the difference between a mating bump and fighting..

 

[Fresh2o]

I have not kept angels in a long while, but I'm thinking that your original plan of 7 in a 29g may not have worked due to over crowding. Limited space may increase aggression and territorial squabbles as you have seen firsthand.
Though you cannot bring back your fish (well you could buy more but you've figured out that it is not a good idea given the circumstances), you can purchase a quality liquid based FW test kit. This way you perform the testing any time you want and you are not relying on someone else to do this (who most likely will be the same person selling you more fish).


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[amyb_70]

i will have to ask if this store is willing to take some back... it is possible

 

[Fresh2o]

i will have to ask if this store is willing to take some back... it is possible

If you mention compatibility issues resulting in bullying and death, then I would think they would.


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[amyb_70]

i think i will need to call and check on that... I have noticed here the polices of the fish that i have gotten from the chain stores such as pet smart, have much better policies on defective, returns, deaths.... that seems odd to me that the private owned places would want to work harder at making sure the customer was happy and get that person to come back... allot of people like buying from small family owned bushiness...
NOTE: now the origianal angel is not bothering any other fish allowing them to swim close is he/she marking their territory, like the ALFA???

 

[amyb_70]

They seemed to be getting along well last night and so far today. I do have a 20 gal that I could use if the angels get to big, I figured for now I'd get the recommended amount of 6 and see how they do, keep the ones who pair up nice, I'm hoping is be able to keep 4. But if I lose these like the last ones I call it quits.


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