# Help my angel fish keep dying



## triple red (May 27, 2005)

how long did you have the fish before they died?


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

triple red said:


> how long did you have the fish before they died?


For both sets of small angel fish i've tried they haven't lasted more than a week.  Usually one goes a few days longer than the other. I just don't get it.


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## IceH2O (Sep 29, 2006)

Aren't Angels real finiky about water quality? Could the nitrates being 40 ppm be the problem?

Why not cut that in half and try the Angels again. 

There is no real reason to have nitrates that high. I keep mine at a steady 15 ppm. If you go 20 ppm just test every other day and see if the nitrates are being used quicker than they are being replaced and then add whats needed.


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## TINNGG (Mar 9, 2005)

MMmm.... First of all, regardless of where you're getting your angels, but ESPECIALLY if you're getting them from a pet store, quarantine.

Questions - do you by any chance notice reddish spots on their noses? I've seen a lot of angels sick with bacterial septacemia. It's hard to cure.

2) any swollen/bloated bellies? Sometimes it's bacterial, sometimes it's parasites.

3)angels usually are raised with huge daily w/c. They have to adapt to higher nitrates. Not saying they can't live with 'em, but you can't take angels from 0 nitrates to 40. I learned this from experience (daily w/c saved 3 of the 5)

Observation... 20 years ago, angels seemed to be hardier, less disease, less sensitivity. I know the plague wiped out a lot of stock but that doesn't explain all the difference.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

TINNGG said:


> MMmm.... First of all, regardless of where you're getting your angels, but ESPECIALLY if you're getting them from a pet store, quarantine.
> 
> Questions - do you by any chance notice reddish spots on their noses? I've seen a lot of angels sick with bacterial septacemia. It's hard to cure.
> 
> ...


Absolutely no visual signs of bacterial or other types of infection. 

I just double checked the GH and KH levels and updated in my first post. KH is 8 and GH is 11. Weird thing is my tap water is 6 KH and 8 GH. In my instructions it says the following:

0-3 degrees (ideal for discus, arowanas, neons, cardinals, live plants)
3-6 degrees (ideal for most tropical fish including angelfish, cichlids, tetras, botia, live plants
6-11 degrees (ideal for most tropical fish including swordtais, gupppies, mollies , goldfish
11-22 degrees (rift lake cichlids, goldfish, brackish water fish.

So i'm wondering if the KH and GH are too high for the angel fish. Maybe when I do my weekly water changes I should try using distilled water instead of my tap water. Or do 50/50 distilled/tap? Suggestions? I will also double check the Nitrates tomorrow and see what they are, but the 40 that I said earlier was from my last test which was awhile ago before I started doing 50% water changes each week with the EI method.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

Any of you guys know where I can buy distilled water cheaper than say walmart or the local store? I did a 50% water change today and refilled with distilled water from walmart and both my GH and KH dropped to 7.  I think after another 1 or 2 water changes, my GH and KH should be below 4, which is ideal for angel fish. 

BTW... I paid 65 cents per gallon for the Distilled water, but it adds up, esp if I have to do weekly water changes. How many of you guys doing the EI dosing actually do 50% water changes each week? Can I do it every other week or so?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

If you do 50% water changes every two weeks, and use the EI fertilizing method you can build up twice as much excess fertilizer in the water. You could do 25% water changes every week and accomplish the same thing. The 50% number is picked because it results in a maximum level of a fert in the water of 2X the weekly dosage.


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

I've read in a few publications that distilled water isn't the best choice for live plants, even if you're dosing. As with RO or DI water, a lot of the trace elements, electrolytes and basic minerals of the plants are not there. I tried distilled water for a while years ago and things just didn't go well. Nothing bad happened, but the tank just never was "right".

Tommy


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