Recently my fish have been dying in my 55 gal planted tank. At the
same time, one of my full grown angels has pretty much quit eating.
That and other angels seemed to have the stringy/white colored poop
that I understood was indicative of parasites.

Originally, I treated for external parisites, due to something
attached to the angel. Treated with Jungle Anchors Away
(diflubenzuron). When I determined what the things attached to the
angel were, and after they disappeared without improvement in the
angel, I treated with Paragon II (Metronidazole, Furazolidone). No
improvements.

Recently I have noticed 1 rosy barb gone, about 6-8 3-inch SAEs (I
have had for several months) and two of three juveline golden angels
that I had raised from the spawn of my gold angel pair.

I have had in the tank: two adult angels, 6 small angels, 2 rosy
barbs, 12 SAEs, 4-5 otos, 2 catfish, 1 clown loach, two other loaches.

Only fish change in last few months was to add 3 gold angels I had
raised from my spawning pair.

Only plant change in last few months were 3 plants (2 of the crypts)
that I bought in Houston at the conclusion of the AGA conference.

My otocinculus seem to be fine.

Seem to have about 2 SAEs left.

Haven't seen the loaches recently, but that is not unusual.

The tank has been quite stable for months. Got the SAEs in early
Summer. Lost one nice angel a few months back. Never sure what
happened.

Today I tested the water. pH 6.6 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0

I have injected Co2 and about 3 watts per gallon light. LIghts on
automatic about 11 hours a day.

My tank is heavily planted. I huge amazon sword takes up about 1/2 of
the 55 gal. @ smaller swords. Also have E. tenellis (not growning
well - just stagnant). Some small sag. that is doing well. Several
(6-8) crypts also doing GREAT. Wisteria, sunset hygro and bacopa that
grow "while you are looking at them". Also a red rubin sword and
several plants. I have to trim the hygro and bacopa weekly to allow
space for the fish to swim.

Tried trimming the large leaves of my large sword, as the leaves fold
over on the surface. 12-15 inches long and 3-4 inches wide. Today I
tried to trim out the same leaves.

I put several Seachem Flourish tabs in the gravel near the plants.

Recently I resumed dosing weekly with Seachem Flourish, per label.

Today I vacuumed the gravel (where I could get to it due to the
plants) and changed about 40% of the water. I switched to Amquel to
avoid other dechlorinators that remove trace heavy metals that the
plants need.

Suggestions?

Bob

I really think you should post this question also in alt.aquaria
Bob........

Have you given the fish any live food, like daphnia? tubifex?

Forgot to note that I have an Eheim Pro 2026 on the tank.

Bob

I have tried frozen shrimp, bloodworms. Don't have access to any live
food except bbs.

Bob

(Bob Alston) wrote in message . com...
Recently my fish have been dying in my 55 gal planted tank. At the
same time, one of my full grown angels has pretty much quit eating.
That and other angels seemed to have the stringy/white colored poop
that I understood was indicative of parasites.

Try dosing every 3 days with traces and KNO3.
NO3 at zero is not good for plants. The K+ will help the plants as
well.
At 3w/gal, you habve a good amount of light, the plants will be
sucking up the nutrients.

If the plants are happy, the fish are always happy.
Plants give off loads of O2 then.

Beyond that, feeding your fish is the only other thing.
Fish in a healthy tank well fed never get diseases.
I have not used medicatioins for 15 years. Haven't needed to.
I drag things in from local rivers, lakes etc and do minimal rinsing
and in the tank it goes so it's not that the fish are not being
exposed.

Many live foods will cause problems. These are expensive also.
I use live food only to coddle fish in the beginning, then I'll only
use Brine and later nothing but frozen and dry, not just one.
Well fed and a good environment will prevent fish from ever getting
disease.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Tom - Thanks for the input. Good advice on the plants.

Any suggestions on the fish I have that IS apparently sick?????

Bob

Well I think I finally figured it out. Bacterial. Cause was an
overly dirty canister filter. My real tip off was when I removed the
top to fish out a dead angel. It stunk - not like a normal aquarium
but rotten type smell.
I fairly recently (6 months) switched from penguin power filters to an
Eheim Pro II 2026 canister. No cleaning in about 6 months. Water
flow seemed still strong. UPon opening up and cleaning the canister,
it was very dirty. Dirt on the "clean water side" (e.g. top)of the
filter. So I cleaned out the filter, careful not to disturb the
noodles and other filter media. Just rinsed in tank water. I did a
thorough cleaning of the top , originally white filter media, using
tap water. Also added back one of my penguin filters with a new
filter media w/ charcoal. That was all yesterday. Today the large
angel is eating. Yahoo!!

I was really stumped by this. But the cause was so obvious.
Exacerbated by using a new kind of filter. I mean I have kept fish
for 40 years and still this stumped me.

Thanks to all who responsed with suggestions.

Bob