Fish Problems Again

[nicmack]

I noticed last night that my male fighter was not eating and was swiming at the bottom of the tank it wasen't in good shape and it had died overnight :< I also noticed that only yesterday its tail had been severley nipped it was quite ragged looking I do have 4 male guppies in there which have not been bothered by or appear to of been causing bother to the fighter however I am suspicious of my angel fish as they seemed to of grown quite quickly and seem aggressive, is it perhaps tie to look to finding the angels new homes??

one of my platties died as well ..... but had been looking happy nd healthy prioro to all this. The nitrite/nitrate and ammonia PH levels all appear to be fine..

[ocean4freedom]

Sorry to hear about your fish.

As for the fins, I'd place the blame firmly with the angelfish. What many people miss when they see these stunning fish is that these are Cichlids and thus really need to be in a cichlid only tank or with fish that are bigger and/or as aggressive. Those nice long fighter fins must have been too temping. :roll: I'd advise to find either the angels or the guppies a new home...

My fighter lost most of his fins about a year ago from a fish getting past the tank divider :evil: But he's all well again and his fins are back.

I'd always separate wounded fish from the rest of the tank the moment you notice it and put some wound meds in their tank - I'm a big fan of Melafix, but it is rather pricey.

Good luck and the forum is always open for random questions, even if you may think they are silly!

[nicmack]

thanks for that, the funny thing is that I have been checking on the fighter constantly and all of a sudden it looked quite ratty then it appeared really sad..and this morning it died.... would the nipping possibly by the angels caused it too much stress ? i am going to rehouse the angels.....

[ocean4freedom]

Could quite easily be. Stress from being chased around added to the stress of being wounded and possibly having an infection? All adds up to the fish going to the "great big tank in the Amazon"

Its always sad to lose a fish, even if they die from "old age"

But if the angels go then there will be more space for other little critters

[wagonman]

i have just had the same problem today with my female fighter, i caught the fighter trying to bury itself in the rocks and the mollie was nipping at its tail.

[ocean4freedom]

As this is a beginner forum, I'll pretend you don't know a huge amount about this

Definitely be sure not to have gravel that is too big for the size fish you have. If you have some really big fish then obviously the size of gravel is irrelevant, but if you have smaller fish or fry then you need to have smaller gravel to ensure that, firstly they don't get stuck between the gravel and secondly that you don't create pockets where food and fish waste can accumulate and decomnpose - causes major havoc with your water parameters! :evil:

Just as an aside, never switch off an undergravel filter as the bacteria that thrive there will all die and it will basically create the same thing as above.

I had a tank with beautiful river pebbles in it when I first got into fish-keeping. Over the course of a few weeks I lost about 6 small platties until I realise that they were getting stuck between the rocks and dying there.