fish hovering around surface -- trouble ahead???

[mikemou]

Hi,
In the past few days all 5 of my angel fish hovered around the surface almost all day long during the day, doing nothing. I once checked at night and they're all in the middle/bottom. Other fishes were business as usual.

So, I did a 25% water change, tested amonia and nitrite(sp) and found no trace of neither, checked the temperature and it's around 76 and the heater's working.

They're feeding ok, one Koi wasn't as ethusiastic as the other. But other times they just hung around in a corner, breathing. which is unlike their normal/old behaviour. I added 3 fishes (about 4 inches) of bio-load last weekend, so the load now is probably on the heavy side. However the hovering around only came few days later.

Oh BTW, 1 gourami died a week ago after spending one week in the tank.

I'm worried. Any ideas? Thanks!

Below is my setup: 55 gal long with Penguin 330.
6 zebra danions;
5 lemon tetras;
3 Bos???? rainbow fish;
3 neon tetras;
3 adult Koi angels;
2 juv. black angles.
2 CAE;
1 orange(?) dwarf gourami;
1 guppy.

 

[TomK2]

The angelfish sites recomment a temp of 80 to 82 for angels. I keep mine at 78 to 79. You might want to bump the temp up a few degrees.

They do bear close watching. Often the first sign of illness is listlessness. then comes rapid breathing, then poor feeding, then.......

I just lost all four of my juvenile black angels after introducing other angels into the tank. One was being chased by the new additions a bit, so I thought it was harrassed. The other three were never seen harrased, but one by one got listless, then rapid breathing, then poor feeeding, then found dead. they died in order of size, smallest to largest over a two to three week period. Angel fish sites say it is perilous to add new angels to a tank because of agression issues and disease issues, and some posts have implied that angel immune systems are rather suseptible to new pathogens introduced by new fish, and the water temperature. The fish that have the bacteria are fine, but the ones that are used to living with other bugs are not. I don't know how much credence to put in this explanation, but you can at least take away that Angels are tough fish that are sometimes delicate to keep.

 

[mikemou]

well one of my beloved koi angel died last night. actually i mercy-killed him/her.
i fear the other two kois and blacks are in danger.

 

[CiRXSi]

You tested your nitrite, but did you test your nitrate? You shouldn't be over 40.