Angel Fish - Change in Behavior

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


paconubbins
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:12 pm

Angel Fish - Change in Behavior

by paconubbins

I've had an angel fish for about a year now and recently she's been hiding a lot more and is possibly having trouble getting air. I had the great idea (note the sarcasm) to raise my water level above the return to makes things quieter. I have a bubble wall and a fair amount of circulation - I thought this would keep the dissolved oxygen high enough. When I changed this I also added a few artificial plants. Nothing changed for a few days but soon my angel fish seemed to be gasping. I may have been over sensitive because I was concerned I may cause a drop in dissolved oxygen (DO) by raising the tank water level above the return. Anyway, as soon as I noticed her rapid gill movement and a change in appetite I immediately returned the tank level to normal and am allowing the return water to splash back into the tank. Tina (the angel fish) has been eating but not quite as aggressively and she spends a lot more time hiding on the bottom. Sometimes she's at the surface, possibly gasping but nothing like before. Basically she just seems a little different. Could this be something completely unrelated to my changes? For what it's worth, I have six raspbora and a bristle nose pleco and they never changed behaviour. Since I put everything back to normal I've tested DO, Ammonia, pH and nitrites - all are very good. I have a 37 gallon tank if that's important to know. Any thoughts?


GiantDogg
 
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:24 pm

by GiantDogg

What about NitrAtes? What type of filtration?


paconubbins
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:12 pm

by paconubbins

Ehiem cannister filter. Rated for 60 gallons.
Not sure about Nitrates...since that's the middle step between Ammonia and Nitrite I figured it must be in check if the beginning and end points are OK.


jdak702
 
Posts: 382
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:26 am

by jdak702

Nitrites is the middle step. Nitrates are last and are what you need to watch for. Did you rinse the plastic? Is that the only chemical/foreign object you put in there at the time? Water change and carbon wouldn't hurt.


paconubbins
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:12 pm

by paconubbins

Ahh...OK. I snagged a Nitrate test kit so I'll do that today. I change 10-15% of the water every 10-14 days but I've done the standard change 3 times in the past week and a half trying to get things back to normal. I did rinse the plants when I added them and I also removed a plant that had been in there (it was looking pretty beat up). One of the new plants I added started getting "black patches/spots" within a few days. Some kind of algae I assume. I didn't like it much anyway and since it seemed to be growing excess algae I removed it. No other changes.

I replaced the blue filter pad last night when I did a water change. I thought of adding carbon but didn't want to do that just yet if I was going to have to put some kind of medication in the tank.

Angel Fish - Change in Behavior

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