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Hi,
I need Help!!!!!!
Tonight when i went to feed my fish, I had a dead platy on the bottom and my Angel Fish whom I have had for 2 years was alive, but dying on the bottom too.
I checked my ph and ammonia levels and all is fine.
I don't know what has happened to them. All the other fish are in excellent health.
Over the past few days, my angel has been hanging around the heater, which is off, due to summertime here in Australia.
The tank is at a constant temperature of 27 degrees celcius, and is checked every night that temp is correct.
So a change in temp is not the cause. I thought she was going to lay eggs again, because she usually behaves like this 24hr before she is due to lay.

The only weird thing that i have noticed the past month is that the rooted plants in my tank have started to die off, but regrowth is coming through. Is this normal with aquarium plants. Could this be a cause, or could my baby angel just be dying of old age.
How old do fish actually live??? I had a goldfish that was 6 years old b4 she kicked the bucket.

Does anyone have a clue or know what is happening???

Thankyou,
Angela .....

Hi Angela, welcome to FP.

Could you tell us a little more about the tank?
What size is it?
Other tank inhabitants?
How long has tank been set up?
Could you get a reading done for nitrate?
How often are water changes done and how much water?
Is there anything odd about the appearance of the dying fish?

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Tank size is 2ft x 2ft... volume of water is either 60litres or 60 gallons... what sounds right to you?
No nitrate test, never done one, someone told me if ammonia is not present, then nitrite levels should be right??
Other fish in tank include, 5 wagtail platy (been in tank for 2 months), 3 Pearl Gourami (12 months in tank) and my dying angel.
The last water change was in January.
I have to admit, i don't change water when i am suppose to, probably do a 1/4 change every 3 months, but always making sure ph and ammonia levels are right. The fish have always been in good health, so i have had no need to. They seem happy. I'm cautious on changing water frequently, because i use to do it and i lost over $300 worth of fish from doing it this way once. Don't know what happened? But i lost the lot, 24hours after i did a water change.

No visible signs of skin or mouth disease. The platy was not looking sick, it was just dead on bottom. Last few days angel has been hanging around heater acting weird, but as i said b4, i though she was going to lay again.
Water temp is fine.
thanx.

Maybe the fish was just old. Do you know how old it was when you got it? My fish die ater about 2 years. Welcome to Fishprofiles! I am new too. Only one week! ~Emily~

If you never stand up you will always fall, if you always fall you will never stand.

No nitrate test, never done one, someone told me if ammonia is not present, then nitrite levels should be right

Nitrite and Nitrate are different. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle. (ammonia>nitrIte>nitrAte)The only way to reduce nitrate levels is through water changes. If you are doing water changes every 3 months then I would expect that the nitrate levels are high.
Illness due to nitrate exposure can appear to come out of nowhere but usually slowly builds up. Grab a sample of water and take it to the lfs to get checked if you dont have the testkit. Report back with results

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

did it show any sign of droppsy or no ? maby it just died old age. maby it was something else. did you exsamine the fish after it was dead or no? the angel fish was probibly getting old but i wouldent know anything about angelfish but my freidn fishyhelper would know some thing about them.
She has one or had one.

I'm cautious on changing water frequently, because i use to do it and i lost over $300 worth of fish from doing it this way once. Don't know what happened? But i lost the lot, 24hours after i did a water change.

Do you use a water conditioner to neutralize the chlorine and possible chloramines? If not that could explain that fish loss. Changing water shouldn't cause fish to die.

Sometimes even if you do use water conditioners, if you havent matched the temps of the new water to that of the tank, the thermic shock can kill the fish, and if you pour the water in rapidly, and your substrate isnt the cleanest you can cause a release of toxins and patches of detritus, thusly causing ammonia spikes.

You do need a test kit too, all tanks are individual, different stocking, different decoration, different feeding regimes. You cant just do the water changes and hope for no problems, if you guess the change amounts and frequency, you could end up miscalculating,overlooking nitrate buildup , and never know if your filter is up to the task. Mystery deaths are only a mystery when youre not monitoring things properly, and if youre not in touch with your water quality theres a whole load of the mystery increased right there.