Angelfish emergency!

[NiaCas]

One of my angelfish just started freaking out and then had obvious trouble swimming. I immediately moved her to a smaller tank nearby. It was already set up and heated - I had planned to move different fish to it in the morning. Anyway, now she's lying on the bottom of the small tank on her side. She's still breathing. The tank she's in now had all the same parameters as the tank she was just in, so aside from the obvious stress she's in, I don't think there's any shock. I turned the heater up, added some stress coat. Should I add salt? Is there anything else I can do? She was my first angel so I'm really attached to her I know it's been about 5 years, but I expected her to be ok for another 2 or so.

 

[NiaCas]

Sorry, just to be more clear, both tanks started out with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, about 3 nitrate in the tank she was in and 0 in the tanks she's in now, 7.2 ph, 78 temp. Just turned the heat up to 84 for her.

Oh and the new tank is cycled. I didn't have any extra used media, so I cycled it the long way. It's been about 6 weeks and is totally ready which is why I was going to move some fish to it in the morning. Guess everything happens for a reason...hope the tank helps though :/

Update: I was running around trying to do whatever I could for my girl including giving her a pile of moss which she seems to be ok laying on for the moment. She did a gentle lap around the tank and crashed back into the moss :/ Anyway, went ahead and checked the water parameters again. I had only checked them in the tank then angel was in about 4 hours ago! SOMEHOW, in that time, there was a ph crash :/ It went from a good 7.2 to between 6.2 and 6.4!!! I didn't even know that could happen in such a short amount of time! I'm guessing the ph crash must have caused Zebbie's spaz attack. I'm not sure what caused it and am still trying to figure it out. I use the same water in both tanks I'm dealing with right now and everything was great! I was psyched a few hours ago because that meant it's been a solid two weeks since rescaping my tank and adding fish back in with perfect water parameters.
I did make sure to also recheck the tank the angel is in now and everything's still perfect. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 7.2 ph and the temp is slowly climbing to 84. The fish is moving just a bit but it'll be a long night :/

 

[Ricky 1]

Sorry to hear about your Angel, it is difficult to say really as your parameters are all ok, unless it's been spooked by something, or something has got in to the water, I was carrying a large item past my tank the other day and one of mine went mad, I darkened the tank for a while and it was ok after, hope it's ok......

 

[NiaCas]

Well, she was laying on her side on her moss bed for a fairly long while, but as of right now she is upright in an upper corner of the tank She's resting just a bit against some water sprite, but mostly holding herself up She seems to be breathing ok now too. She was breathing very hard! I think the higher ph, the higher temp, the stress coat maybe and maybe the salt all helped. With a bit of luck I hope to see her swimming by the end of today ^_^
If it had just been the ph then I think she might have been ok. She would have been the first to show signs I think, but I would have been able to fix it fairly easily. I have a feeling another angel in the tank added to the fire -_- He picks on Zebbie all the time and I find her huddled in a tiny corner way too often. That angel's going to a new home on Saturday so my girl can live in peace again Emphasis on LIVE ^_^

 

[Ricky 1]

Very pleased for you and your girl, I have one getting bullied but he is starting to have ago back, so it's not too bad, that's cichlid behaviour I'm afraid..........

 

[evil Nick]

I bought two from a store and one didnt make it. Started doing the same thing that you describe. I read somewhere that Angel fish can get swim bladder issues very easily and this screws up their balance and buoyancy. Whether its 100% accurate I can not say but it made sense as my second one is doing great (knocking on wood).

maybe this vid might help?

Ive actually started feeding my fish the frozen peeled peas once in a blue just in case as well. Ive noticed if you break them up when dropping them in they will gobble them up (mine will) otherwise if you let them sink they seem to ignore them. They're always gone in the morning but it could be the snails and shrimp, I KNOW my shrimp love them.

 

[Ricky 1]

True nick, any fish can but it always seems to look worse with angels shape......

 

[NiaCas]

Very pleased for you and your girl, I have one getting bullied but he is starting to have ago back, so it's not too bad, that's cichlid behaviour I'm afraid..........

Thank you
The angelfish who is now the most aggressive fish in the tank (though ONLY to my favorite girl) originally started out at the bottom of the totem pole. He didn't even start lashing out at the angelfish who constantly picked on him. Instead he had to start taking it out on sweet Zebbie who's a total pacifist lol

 

[NiaCas]

I bought two from a store and one didnt make it. Started doing the same thing that you describe. I read somewhere that Angel fish can get swim bladder issues very easily and this screws up their balance and buoyancy. Whether its 100% accurate I can not say but it made sense as my second one is doing great (knocking on wood).

maybe this vid might help?

Ive actually started feeding my fish the frozen peeled peas once in a blue just in case as well. Ive noticed if you break them up when dropping them in they will gobble them up (mine will) otherwise if you let them sink they seem to ignore them. They're always gone in the morning but it could be the snails and shrimp, I KNOW my shrimp love them.

Thanks for the vid Unfortunately I've had swim bladder problems before. I always thought they were the worst! ...Until now :/ The angelfish I moved is doing ok, but I don't think it was a swim bladder problem because I'm having a big problem with the other fish in the tank she was in. Even found a male cockatoo cichlid dead All of the fish were breathing very hard and staying at the surface. Every single fish was breathing at the surface. I checked the water parameters 6 times with two different test kits. The ammonia and nitrite still read 0 and nitrate still read about 3. This ph crash is a killer...literally :/
I've started doing water changes though and the fish seem calmer, are swimming around the tank more and their breathing has eased a bit...so we'll see. Meanwhile, Zebbie the angelfish is watching from her recovery palace looking rather content right now lol.