[Angelicious]

Hi everyone. I just want to first thank everyone who will comment with advice on what I should do to save my angelfish. I love them dearly and I would hate for any of them to die.

Aquarium: 135 Gallon Planted Tank

Species:
5 Koi Angelfish,
6 Blue Ghost Angelfish
1 Pinoy Blue Angelfish
5 Zebra Angelfish
4 Ghost Angelfish
South American Bumblebee Catfish. German Blue Rams, Neon tetras, Mollies and Platies and Cories

They all have been living happily for about 2 weeks now in their new 135G tank.
Four days ago, I introduce 2 healthy-looking South American Bumblebee Catfish into the aquarium without proper quarantine which i think is the source of the disease that is now carried its way to my angelfish. I am still beating myself for not quarantining them beforehand. Most of the Big Angelfish looks perfectly fine, its just the smaller angelfish thats are showing the symptoms.

Symptons:
- Clamped fins
- Shaking head erractically
- Ventral Fin Twitching
- Weird Swimming pattern
- 2 angelfishes have a whitish/greyish film all over the body.
- One angelfish and some mollies stayed in one spot near the top of the water while some angelfish stayed near the ground in one spot.
- Their skins also seem to be sticky because debris and tiny air bubble would seem to stick to their skins easily.

The Rams, Cories, Neon Tetras and the Bigger angelfishes looks perfectly fine. EVERYONE are eager to eat when I come close to the tank.

Is some sort of external, parasitic, protozoan disease?

Please help me figure out what is wrong with them and let me know the best medicine I can buy at like Petsmart to start treating them. I know I have plant in the aquarium. Its okay if the medicine kills the plants.


Steps I have taken: I have did a 50% water change just now waiting for your advice on how to treat them.

Please save my fish!! YOUR ADVICE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

 

[32Bit_Fish]

It would be very helpful to post pics of the sick fish.

 

[Grah the great]

Now would be a good time to make up lost quarantining time, if possible...that will make any medicating/salting/etc easier and cheaper if it is needed.

 

[Imaginary1226]

So...correct me if I am wrong but....you set up this tank and added all those fish at the same time 2 weeks ago, minus the catfish? Also you have parrot cichlids in there which you didnt mention. I dont think they are compatible in your tank, they are hybrids can be unpredictable and kill things. Have you tested the levels in your tank? Ammonia, nitrite, and ammonia. I dont think your tank is cycled, If there slim coat is shedding there is something in the water bothering them. Use a liquid test to check those things. In the meantime lots of large water changes are in your future.

 

[Bushkill]

After reading this I had much the same thoughts as Imaginary1226. Do you have any current water parameters, and a timeline of when all these fish were added? I'll just tag along on the caution that the parrots will be trouble if not now in the not too distant future.

 

[mistergreen]

I would guess columnaris. If a few die with the next 48 hours, it is confirmed.

 

[jmf3460]

ok i know your tank is big, but you are extremely extremely over stocked. you can worry about that later. for now i would do at least 2 water changes a day of 50% or more. i would bump your temp up to at least 81 degrees or so and i would add a broad spectrum medication like quick cure or something very broad. keep an air stone running on full blast.

medicating i would do in half treatments, like 50% in morning then water change mid day, 50% more medication water change in evening.

 

[stratg5]

Is the tank overstocked? I'm not really familiar with large tanks over 75 gal. but it seems like there are a lot of fish in there

 

[jmf3460]

the tank is severely overstocked

 

[32Bit_Fish]

Angel fish could get really big. People recommend 10g of water per angelfish. So you have 21 angelfish in a 135g tank.

How big are these angelfish?

 

[Bushkill]

- Shaking head erractically
- 2 angelfishes have a whitish/greyish film all over the body.

The above make me think this is Velvet.

It's really tough to tell from the picture, but in a 135G tank, those would appear to be adults. So if all 20+ are Silver dollars and with all the other fish in there, I would agree the stocking line has been crossed. But I'm more concerned about the timeline within they were all added. Put that many fish into a tank too fast, no matter how big the tank is, and the stress level is really high. So that they'll be coming down with bacterial infections easily, as well as other issues in short order.

 

[brittie1]

Yeah that is a lot of fish for that tank. Was the tank entirely cycled? Even if it was, that was a lot to add all at once and probably overwhelmed the system. Have you done a water test on ammonia, nitrites, nitrates?

 

[gbhil]

Once you have any disease issues sorted out (I'm no help, not ever really had to deal with anything more serious than Ich — knock on wood) you'll need to sort those Angels.

Eventually, you're going to have two of the bigger ones pair off. They will take over a large portion of that tank, and beat the daylights out of any other fish that don't get out of the way fast enough. They'll do this for a few days, lay eggs that will likely die unless you remove them, take a break for a few days, then do it all over again. This is what mature, healthy Angels do in a large aquarium. The only way to prevent it is not have a mix of sexes. They look peaceful, but they can do some serious damage to other fish (and plants).

I would cut things down to 5 Angels, and hope you don't end up with two pairs for the sake of your other fish. The good news is that a bonded pair of big angels is a magnificent sight — especially in a large tank where they have room to roam while not tending eggs.

 

[Imaginary1226]

With angelfish the general rule is to get a group of younger ones, at least 6 to spread aggression. You wait for them to mature and pair off, then remove the others. It gives you a higher chance of getting a pair and if a pair if formed suddenly there are more angels in the tank to be aggressive towards. They are much worse in smaller numbers.

 

[Bushkill]

Angelfish are cichlids and as such are subject to a LOT of individualism. Everything from passive, timid specimens to outright tank bullies.

I keep anywhere from 15 to 20 in a planted 180G in the den along with about a dozen or so cories. These guys range in size from palm size to quarters. I add to the bunch and subtract when I need to move fish from the grow out tanks that I don't necessarily want to breed and don't necessarily want to sell either. Pairs form all the time. The tank's been running that way for about 3 years now. In 99% of the cases, there's never more than a simple push off from the pair's designated area. Water changes are usually a trigger to spawning. I've had exactly one male in all that time that was just hell-bent on tearing up exactly one other male that I can only assume was the biggest perceived threat. And it happened within a couple days. I got the poor guy out just in time and he found a nice Blue Smokey mate in another tank and they are now awesome parent-raisers. Eggs laid in the 180G are usually devoured within a few days of being laid, and the process will take place again within 10 - 14 days. Nobody gets hurt, and the others seem to respect that space to a large degree, until the parents finally give up.

So yeah, there's gonna be lots of pushing and shoving, but it's not an absolute that damage will be done especially if the tank is sized and situated properly and you pay some attention to individual specimens. Is 21 adults (they all appear to be) in a 130G too many? Even I'll have to admit a line's been crossed.