I'm no expert but I know my angelfish require very pristine water conditions. I would increase the water changes to at least twice a week @ 30% or more, three times a week if you can.
Angelwitch On Apr 19, 12:58 pm, Ken <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi folks, I apologize in advance for the length, I just want to be as > thorough as possible. > > Approximately two weeks ago I ventured from keeping the normal "easy" > community fish, to something a little more challenging - ok, not so > challenging for some, but definitely new to me. I purchased two Koi > Angelfish from my LFS (one has a body mass the size of a quarter, one > is between a quarter and a half dollar). I was concerned that my pH > was a little high for Angels (7.8-8.0) but guy at the shop informed me > that all his Angels are bred by a local guy in the same municipal > water and I should be fine. > > The last two weeks have been going incredibly smooth. I was able to > coax them to come out of hiding the very next day and eat. Ever since > they've been pretty active to the point where they swim to the front > of the tank on your approach hoping you're going to feed them. If > they're satisfied that you're not opening the lid, they'll return to > patrolling around the tank looking for something to do or just hanging > out behind the silk plants. > > Then a recent change for the larger one. He has been acting a little > lethargic the last couple days. He now keeps to himself for the most > part behind his favorite rock, only to come out if you're feeding or > his tankmate swims by. Several new observations I've made: 1) I > catch him now just "staring" at the aerator bubbles; he parks himself > an inch or so away from the bubbles and just sits there. 2) When his > tankmate swims by he will normally swim up to him as if to say hi, now > he either ignores or tries to chase him. This is something he's never > done - they've been the best of friends. So much so, the other Angel > will rarely retreat from the charge and the charge itself is not what > you would call really aggressive (I dont think he's really even made > contact). 3) "Twitching". I noticed a few times today (for the first > time) that all the sudden he'll twitch - not a twitch fish do if a > child taps on a tank, a true twitch. Once I saw the back of his > dorsal just shake several times in a row. I noticed few times his > ventral fins twitched, and his whole body did it a couple times. 4) I > am not entirely sure what clamped fins would look like on an Angel, > but whereas the other Angel has very upright dorsals and downright > anal fins, the troubled Angel keeps his at more of a collapsed > position. The pectoral fins are not clamped at all and just flail > away as normal. 5) No signs of disease on his body, no ich or sores > or anything like that. 6) His eating habits have been weak. He does > not make the same frenzied effort his pal does (or he himself > previously did), but at least he is so far still eating. I feed them > mostly flakes and every few days or so I dab in a little freeze dried > shrimp brine or a few of my Betta's dried bloodworms. > > Water conditions are pretty good. I have an API liquid test kit and > Ammonia and Nitrites register zero. The tank is a 29g and they are > the only two occupants. The tank is a couple years old and was > previously inhabited but some very healthy community fish. I was only > doing about a 5g water change every weekend, but I will now step that > up and do it a couple times a week. Maybe it's much to do about > nothing, but it is definitely a behaviour difference so I wanted to > run it by some experts. > > Thank you for taking the time to read through this.
