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Last week my wife and I were in one of the chain pet stores and bought 3 angels to go in my 125 gal. I took them home acclimated them by letting them float in the bag for about 30 minutes then adding some water from the tank into the bag and letting them float for about another 30 minutes. The next morning one was dead.The other 2 seemed to be fine showing no external signs of any problems and even seemed to be eating good. The next morning another one dead. The last surviving one lived for another 2 days before it died. I did notice that the night before the last one died that it seemed to be spending most all of its time at the top of the tank. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if my water may have been the problem.
Any help or ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Water Parameters Ph 7.5, ammonia and nitrites 0, nitrates usually stay around 5, and temp. 78. The tank also gets a 25% weekly water change. Others in the tank 7 bala sharks and 6 clown loaches.


Last edited by Cichlid Keeper at 16-May-2005 20:43

What shelter you have in the tank? Lots of plants/cover? Seems a swift passing for ther to be no signs of aggression from the other fish or illness apparent. ph shock? Who knows what the ph of the lfs...may not be that their ph is 'wrong' just that it is 'different'. Just a thought...there are lots of people with Angel experience so I am sure they will be more helpful.

I haven't personally kept angels so don't know how delicate
they are.


sorry for your loss...

Last edited by wish-ga at 16-May-2005 22:39

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Sounds like ph to me. You need to acclimate them by dripping tank water into their bag then the bucket you eventually put the in to finish. It can take a few hours to half a day.

The other possibility is sick fish from the store.

You could check your ph against the fish stores to be sure.

Mike

I also think that the ph might be the real problem. Go & check your ph with the stores & see if there is any difference.


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I would invest in a 10 gallon Quarantine tank before getting any new fish. Tank plus heater, air driven sponge filter (that you can keep seeded by runing it in a corner of your big tank when its not in use in the QT tank) and a sheet of glass for a lid will do it.

What you spend on this set up (which will last you a lifetime) you will recoup in spades over what you will eventually end up spending treating a 125 for illness, disease etc that you would otherwise import, potentially with every new purchase.

As for the dying angels, I would not be surprised if they had a protozoal or bacterial problem. It seems to be pretty common to see ill juvie angels in store tanks, esp those that run tanks on a linked system where water is shared between many tanks.

never much luck with angels from chain store. you are better off buying them from some mom and pop store. angels arent THAT delicate, they are pretty hardy. i never spent hours or half a day to acclimate them, but an hour is probably fine, unless the ph difference is high.

Well I finally was able to talk to a guy from the pet store today. He said that the ph in their tanks is usually around 7.2. He also explained that lots of times they have trouble keeping smaller juvi angels alive in their tanks and recommended that I wait until they get some larger and more healthier ones in before a purchase any more.