Is my fish sick?

[AngelfishRock]

I think my angel is sick.
She hasnt been eating her food and if she has, she has been spitting it back out. Also, she always stays toward the back of the tank and rarely comes up front. Occasionally she will swim along the bottom of the rocks or let herself just float. Earlier she was having spasms and swimming around fast as if she was scared. Yesterday she had darkness in her eyes. I changed the water last night and she started swimming around more and doing backwards summersaults .. i dont know if that means she is happy or if something is wrong. Alot of the disease symptoms I have researched say something about pale/slimy feces. I dont think for the most part it has been pale. Its been mostly red but it looks like it is contained in a while shell or something. I cant really describe it. Oh and one other thing I have noticed is darkening in color. But I dont really know if she actually got darker or i just never realized it before because I dont think I took that great of notice to her color in the first place.
If you could help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Oh and one last thing- she likes to stay near the heater in my tank, does that mean I should turn up the temperature?

 

[Lotus]

It sounds like it isn't acting normally.

What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? What is the temperature at?

Are there any othe symptoms? Do you see anything unusual on its fins or body? Pale or dark colors are usually a sign of stress or sickness. She may be hanging around the heater because it is a little shaded there. Are there any plants (real or fake) for her to shelter under? Most angels like a little shade to make them feel comfortable.

Most fish feces will be the same color as what they have been eating. If it is very stringy, it could indicate an internal parasite.

 

[AngelfishRock]

Lotus-

Well I have two fake plants but they arent very good for hiding. There is this fake little rock structure I got that has 3 big holes in it so she'll swim in there and hide for a few minutes but later come out. The heater is just a narrow tube that runs down into the tank and it doesnt provide much shade so I dont know why that would be a place to hide.
The tank levels are:
Ph------6.7
Ammonium-----.25
Nitrite-----0

Unfortunately I dont have a NitRATE tester. I bought a test kit and it didnt come with a Nitrate tester. I plan to get one as soon as the store is open again. (closed for easter ) The temperature is at about 82-84 degrees

The feces is stringing..This sounds sort of gross but its the only way I describe it but you know those sausage links you can buy at the grocery store? Where they are all linked together? Thats what her feces looks like but then it looks like it is enclosed in a clear substance or something.
last night I saw her eat a flake but just now when I fed her she is just watching the flakes kinda float to the bottom and even backing away from them. Is it the food maybe?
She has developed some green around her eyes. Is that normal?

I feel bad I dont know what to do!! =(
Thank you for your help so far.

 

[AngelfishRock]

New Discovery:

If I turn the lights off, she will eat. I fed her the first time (which i just told you about in my last reply) and she just kinda stared at the flakes. But I decided to try something and so I shut off the lights and put maybe 4 or 5 flakes in the tank and she ate them. Does she maybe not like the light in the tank?

 

[Lotus]

Well, the high temperatures and ammonia are probably making it stressed. High light will just add to the stress.

You should turn the temp down to around 78.

Why is the ammonia getting a reading? Is this a new, uncycled tank?

You might want to add floating plants for a while, to help destress her, and maybe have the lights on for fewer hours in the day (maybe 6 or 8).

What do you mean by green around her eyes? Do you mean her scales have green irridescence? Or is there some kind of growth on them?

 

[AngelfishRock]

i have the tank temp at a high temperature only because i was told at the store that I bought my angelfish at that they like high temperatures like in the 80s.
My tank is new and the lady at one of the fish shops here that I bought the tank at told me to run the tank for 24-48 hours before adding fish. So I ran it for almost 48 hours before getting my fish.
I was told to leave the lights on for at least 12 hours a day so normally I have been leaving them on for 12 hours. But for the last day or so I havent because I figured that if she was under stress with them on, I shouldnt have them on. Do the lights help her?
Also, when you said get floating plants did you mean real or fake or either?
Im not really sure how to describe her eyes. The green isnt really IN her eyes but outlines the outsides of her eyes. You can only really see it, though, if the lights are off. Also, with the lights off she seems to have a dark spot on her underbelly. Is this just the lighting or could it be something more?

Man if I would have known angelfish were this much work I dont know if I would have gotten one But I guess its worth the company

(Also- is there anyway to get the ammonium levels down?)

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Lotus]

OK, it seems the lady in the fish store has told you to cycle your tank with an angelfish. I don't think that an angel is the best fish for this, as they are a little too sensitive. However, you will have to start what the lady started. You will need to try to keep your nitrites and ammonia levels as low as possible through testing every day or two and doing water changes when necessary. Your angel may or may not make it, I am sorry to say.

There are a few additives that may help your fish to survive the "cycle." One is called Bio Spira, which is the best, if it's available. Another that will help is New Improved Cycle, which will help make it easier for your fish, but probably won't actually cycle your tank.

I would seriously consider having a word with the lady in the store to ask her why she thought an angel would be good to cycle with. I would definitely consider using another store, if she isn't really able to answer that to your satisfaction.

You can leave the lights on for 10 or 12 hours a day, but if your fish is stressed, you can have them on for fewer hours.

You can use fake floating plants, or if you have the kind of plants that you can take apart, take a few stems off and leave them to float to give your angel a little cover.

Basically, your angel is suffering the effects of the "cycle." I hope it makes it through

 

[AngelfishRock]

What is "the cycle" exactly? I wasnt really clear on what that is.

 

[Purple]

The cycle is a biological process that deals with fish waste. In a new tank it doesn't exist, and has to 'grown'. It all happens quite naturally, but the process can be stressfull for your fish, and in extremis, some stages can be fatal.

From the beggining then...........

Fish poop and uneaten food turns into Ammonia (fish also produce neat Ammonia from their gills), so the first thing you see is the Ammonia level in the tank rising. Ammonia is harmfull to your fish.

A bacteria will come along and colonise the tank and start to eat the Ammonia, it takes time to develop a colony big enough to cope with the ammount of Ammonia, so a carefull watch of Ammonia levels is neccesary during this time, which could go on for weeks. The bacteria that eat the Ammonia produce their own bi-product - Nitrite (NO2).

As the Ammonia level starts to drop cos it's being eaten up, the Nitrite levels will start to rise. Nitrite is harmfull to your fish. That's when the next type of bacteria start to colonise the tank, this time the type of bacteria is one that feeds on Nitrite. Again, it takes time to grow to a sufficient sized colony to deal with all that Nitrite, so a carefull watch for Nitrite levels becomes neccesary. As the bacteria get to work on the Nitrite, they produce yet another bi-product, this time it's Nitrate (NO3).

Fortunately, Nitrate (NO3) is not so harmfull to your fish, but the level must still be kept down, and this is done by changing old water for fresh - a water change of 30% a week normaly takes care of it.

So - fish poop makes Ammonia - Ammonia turns to Nitrite - Nitrite turns to Nitrate - Nitrate is removed by water changes.

In a tank that has cycled (where all the bacteria is present and up to speed), the Ammonia will read zero - the Nitrite will read Zero - the Nitrate will be building up and dealt with by the tank keeper changing water.

It takes time to cycle a tank no matter what the size of it. Six weeks is not untypical, and it can be a rough ride for the fish. Some fish can cope with it better than others, but Angels aren't the best choice.

There are a few things you can do to control the levels of Ammonia and NO2, such as changing water to dillute the build up, or adding chemicals that 'lock' the bad stuff into something else. You can also search for a product called 'biospira' that is basically bacteria in a bottle, this speeds the process up significantly, though the colony will still have to grow enough to cope with the load.

Obviously, the fewer fish you have in the tank during the cycle, the lower the levels of waste and attendant bi-products of that waste you will have to deal with, and so the cycle is more gentle. So - no more fish till the tank is sorted.

Your fish is stressed out cos it's being poisoned by the Ammonia/NO2 during the cycle, hence the symptoms you have been noticing. Test all levels frequently, and try to keep levels down. This will slow the cycle a bit, but it's better than dead fish. (Live plants can help a lot during this period as they absorb some of the chemicals and waste as they grow).

Look at the begginers section of this site, where you will find the first few threads are 'stickies', and they explain how to cycle your tank with no fish (not applicable for you now) and go into the cycle process in detail.

 

[AngelfishRock]

Good news:

I went to the pet store tonight and checked out some of the angelfish there. I saw that about every angel in their tanks had the green things around their eyes so I dont know if that is normal or what. I asked the lady working in the fish department and she said it is normal. So unless she lied or something.. Maybe my angel is ok?

Also I picked up a product to reduce the ammonia levels in my tank. I changed the water today but it didnt really help because I had just bought a new vacuum for my tank and it didnt work as well as I thought it would. It kind of shook things up more than sucking it out. But seeing as it was my first time using one of those things I figure I maybe didnt do something right and I could only take out 2 gallons so by the time I got it figured out my 2 gallons were hope. Hopefully next time I am able to clean up more. So my tank is a bit more cloudy than normal put my ammonia levels are down to 0 and that makes me happy =D

The rest of the levels in my tank are as follows:

Nitrate-----20
Nitrite-----0
Total Hardness----25
Total Alkalinity----80
PH------7.2

Other good news: my fish's feces seems to be back to normal. Its not as pale as it used to be. She also is swimming all around the tank and not in just one spot. That could be because I bought more plants for the tank for her to hide in.
In your reply you said that real plants would help but I have decided not to buy those as they seem to be just as much work as a fish.

Anyways..thank you for your help and if you have any more helpful things- please let me know =)=)