Freshwater Angel Fish dying?

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CatG

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Apr 25, 2012
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I recently had an issue with my freshwater angel fish having a few small spots of fungus on her tail and red streaks up by her dorsal fin. So I treated the tank with antibiotics and malachite green to prevent any secondary infections, etc. I've never had an issue with my angel fish getting any sort of disease before and I've had her for about two years. My other fish is a Pleco that looks and is acting normal. After treating with the antibiotics I've had a hard time trying to re-establish the bio filter in the aquarium, and my angel fish started to get a weird sort of dented spot on her head, right above her eyes, which is something new and it freaked me out. I removed her from that tank and put her in a smaller hospital tank. I started to to treat her with antibiotics again yesterday because I thought that maybe it was some type of rot. I came home from work today to find her swimming wildly on her side at the bottom of the tank and the temperature had spiked to above 85. I unplugged the heater and removed it immediately only to find that it was COMPLETELY covered in eggs. Until tonight I had no idea what sex she even was. I guess the heat sped up her metabolism so much that she spawned. I'm not sure what the heck happened with the heater, but it usually keeps the water at 78-80 at the highest. 0.o The hospital tank is only 2gal and has a fluval nano filter. The main tank is a 20gal aquarium with a Fluval C2 filter (rated for use in up to a 30gal aquarium) and I use spring water, Fluval Cycle, Stress Coat, Dr. Wellfish's aquarium salt. I keep the PH at 7.0-7.1 because both my angel fish and Pleco seem to prefer acidic water. The main tank also has an under gravel filter. I'm hoping that my fish will be fine when the water cools down. I'm afraid to move her anywhere because I don't want to throw her into shock.
 

CatG

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Apr 25, 2012
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I should also mention that I feed my pleco Hikari Sinking Wafers, which he enjoys. I know that they contain krill, spirulina, and silkworm. He ignores algae wafers completely and I've tried multiple brands. He is a common pleco and is 11 inches long now. I thought that I was feeding him enough but I've been reading up on them and it seems that plecos sucking on other fish is fairly common if they're hungry, so I'll be upping how much I feed him. So now I'm kind of thinking that the red on my angel fish may not have been an infection at all. She seems to be swimming fine now that the heater is out of the hospital tank.
 

Vincenia

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I would rehome the Common Pleco since he will outgrow the 20g, and since he's now at 11" I would do that soon. I had one outgrow both a 29g and 37g, he was 17-19" when he was rehomed. They do NOT stop growing, even outgrowing a 55g.
 

CatG

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Apr 25, 2012
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I would rehome the Common Pleco since he will outgrow the 20g, and since he's now at 11" I would do that soon. I had one outgrow both a 29g and 37g, he was 17-19" when he was rehomed. They do NOT stop growing, even outgrowing a 55g.
I know that they can get up to 18 inches or so. I have a really long, flat, 20 gallon aquarium (I wanted something more "pond-like" for him), so I'm hoping that I can get another year or two out of it before having to get a bigger tank again. In doing more research on the angel fish situation, I also found out that it is possible she may have been being electrocuted by the malfunctioning heater. I never knew that was a possibility, so I guess it's good that I came home when I did. I threw out the heater, since it was malfunctioning anyway. But now I'm wondering what came first, the shock or the eggs?
 

Rbishop

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A pH of 7.0 to 7.1 isn't acidic.

I think you are wasting money on chemicals and additives for no reason and shouldn't be using spring water. What specific spring water are you using? Linky please.

And readings on that tank from a good liquid test kit......
 
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