# fish not eating?



## imafishy! (Dec 11, 2005)

I have a angelfish that used to eat like a pig! Now, I have two angelfishes that is not eatting anything! I'm planning on getting him seperated since I think the reason that he isn't eating is because of a stupid bully. When winter came, I forgot to plug in the heater!!!!!!!! (before in the summer, when the aquarium temp was in the 80's, I never used a heater. But now I got the heat going in there. The current temp. is about 77. What should I do??  

Thanks!


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## Plattykins (Apr 3, 2005)

What are the results of water testing (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates)? If the water is testing ok (and the temp is correct) try feeding some live or frozen brine shrimp to kick start their appetite. Maybe they just need a little variety, if there is no evidence of ailments.


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## imafishy! (Dec 11, 2005)

pH: 6.7
ammonia: 15
nitrites, nitrates: both at 0 (bad for my planted tank)

I tried to feed them bloodworms...All of them ate it expcet the two angelfish. I guess I'll just seperate them from the main tank since their being pushed around.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Ammonia should *not* be above 0! 15 is high.

Do a large water change and maybe you're overfeeding.

How long has the tank been setup?


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

ammonia suppresses appetite, wc should solve your problem...

higher temps improve appetite[esp in discus] for angels 26-27c is fine, discus needs 28C as best compromise between plants IMO, some commercial made b complexes will help improve appetite too.

if it is disease, reccomend you use some epsom+metronidazole. 15g epsom and 1 tablet metro /10gallon.

reccomend medication as last option.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Yup, that's your problem. You have no cycle going at all. That much ammonia is going to do a number on them in a hurry.

As the others suggested, do some big water changes, and try to add more plants, and established stuff from another tank (if you have an established one going).

Yes, how long has this tank been set up? If it's been a while, there's something else going on there.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I suspect the others are right about your ammonia levels. Even when everything is perfect angels will sometimes do this. They usually get over it and go back to normal.

Bet the WC's help tons though.

If your tank has been going for a while I don't see how you couldn't have a cycle going. A few plants and any bacteria at all should really clear any ammonia very quickly. Have you recently heavily medicated? Do you feed heavily or have tons of fish in the tank? Are your test kits reliable? Something about the parameters you reported seems 'fishy'.


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

Can we get some more info on the setup as well? How big is the tank? How many inhabitants and what kind? You mentioned that the angels were being bullied, by who or what? What kind of competition are they facing? Even if you get your water troubles straightened out tankmates can in the long run pose a problem for angels.


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## imafishy! (Dec 11, 2005)

Thanks for all your replys!!

Yeah, I suspected that the problem is with the ammonia. I'm not really sure if my test kits are right though. Here is the tank's setup...

It's a heavly planted 60 gallon aquarium. There's seven angelfish, and five small corydoras. The tank has been setup for about a year! (i think it's my test kits, I'll get the water checked again) I changed the filter about once a month. There is only about 1/5 of the tank that does not have plants. I also added a tablespoon of aquarium salt because I thought they were sick.

Here's what I'm going to do...
1) Do a 50% water change
2) Rase the water temp a little


Is that ok?


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

That's all that I would do. When I was breeding angels I read a ton in the older literature about them. Many people reported that they would frequently go on 'hunger strikes.' I'm sure there is some reason behind it, but almost always they get over it fine. If two of them started acting this way at the same time there is probably some correctable problem.

I lived through the 'hole in the head' epidemic that went through the entire stock in the late 80's / early 90's. I lost 90% of my fish in a few months. For a long time you couldn't find any angels.......... I guess my point is that sometimes they just get sick and you can't do much about it. Most of the time, though, they pull through and get back to normal.

When you get down to it, we don't understand fish pathology worth beans. We know a few things about a few diseases in a few species. Each type of fish gets its own problems. Many of the 'new' strains of angels aren't as hardy as they used to be. OTOH, we as a whole do a much better job of keeping them in acceptable conditions.

Let us know what happens.


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## imafishy! (Dec 11, 2005)

Thanks for the encouraging words! I wish my fish could talk to me.... Well I'll try to keep you guys posted.

Thanks


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