Angels lying on sides/sitting on bottom of tank

[FishBen]

For a while now I've noticed my angels lying on the bottom of the tank, almost bending slightly.. Was wondering if anyone could maybe tell me why they do this/if it's bad, etc. (was like they were sleeping, but happens all through the day, and they do get plenty of "night time" for sleeping!)

And also a lot of the time they will sit at the bottom of the tank, but upright.

Just asking because I've never seen angels do this in any aquariums I've seen

[Skip™]

All of them? Sounds very lethargic of them.

Have you tested the water parameters?

[FishBen]

All of them? Sounds very lethargic of them.

Have you tested the water parameters?

Most of them, usually not all at once.

Water parameters are good.

[ryanjury]

Are they still eating and otherwise healthy?

[Adrienne]

To be honest I don't know anything about angels but is the current too strong for them? Some fish lie on their sides when the current tires them out.

[FishBen]

Are they still eating and otherwise healthy?

I guess so, still ragged from when the swords (now gone) picked on them. I thought they would have healed their fins by now (been like >2 months).

To be honest I don't know anything about angels but is the current too strong for them? Some fish lie on their sides when the current tires them out.

Current isn't anything near strong

[Adrienne]

How big is your tank ie width, height, length and how big are your angels.

Just wondering if perhaps the tank is not deep enough for them so like discus fish do they are lying on their sides

[ryanjury]

Size of the tank could be important maybe the fish aren't healing because they are beating each other up.. Angels are most certainly not angels in behaviour..

Are the edges to their damaged fins white or just not growing back?

[FishBen]

Tank is 90L

Picture - http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7246/003ozv.jpg

Angels Resting (not lying on sides) -

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8116/002fb.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7274/0031n.jpg

Clearest pic I could get of "stumpy" our worst off angel -

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/1335/004sll.jpg

Caution: Large pics!

Some of them are "whiteish" around where their fins aren't growing back, but it's subtle and not a very strong white (keep in mind angels are white ).

Haven't seen the angels bite at each other at all, the only time they were eaten is when we had swords in the same tank as them.

[REEVESTA]

they look like they are hiding to me? do any other fish look like they are chasing them?

[Skip™]

I have noticed a lot of red around the gills, or is that just the normal colouring? ...it's hard to tell from your photos?

[phoenix44]

some of them look like they don't have the correct number / size of fins which would affect the way they swim.

[REEVESTA]

I have noticed a lot of red around the gills, or is that just the normal colouring? ...it's hard to tell from your photos?

they are probably blushing angels :lol: http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/angel ... elfish.htm

[Skip™]

they are probably blushing angels :lol: http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/angel ... elfish.htm

I was contemplating that, but was not sure since it had the yellow head too. My ones just have the yellow on the head.

[FishBen]

I have noticed a lot of red around the gills, or is that just the normal colouring? ...it's hard to tell from your photos?

Normal colouring

They aren't chased by any fish.

some of them are missing some fins, but they manage to swim normally a lot of the time with no problem (apart from looking wacky).

[REEVESTA]

Try adding rock salt to the tank it helps with the healing

[Adrienne]

Have they been like this since the 'swords' issue? Did you ever see the swords nipping at them?

[FishBen]

Have they been like this since the 'swords' issue? Did you ever see the swords nipping at them?

Yes on both

Try adding rock salt to the tank it helps with the healing

How much should I add per litre?

[Adrienne]

I'm wondering if some sort of infection has set in. Certainly salt should help.

[FishBen]

Well there hasn't been any visible changes to the angels, the look the same as they did after they were nibbled on, they just didn't grow fins back. That's why I didn't think there was any infection. I wasn't able to see any behaviour changes because I had only had them a day or two before they were nibbled, I guess their "resting" now could be counted as strange behaviour though

[FishBen]

Managed to get a photo of angel lying on the ground.

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/7466/img0420gh.jpg

[kiwibrick]

Those look pretty young, how long have you had them and how big were they when you got them?

Have they always done the sitting on the bottom thing?

Their behavior looks similar to when I had 70 or 80 fry, a percentage of the fry didn't develop properly and would spend the majority of their time swimming along scrapping the gravel, and they would also sleep/rest on their sides on the gravel at night, needless to say those ones got culled.

[mickey_1975]

I have the same issue with one of my angels. It has to be some kind of disease I think. I am not sure what tho. I have just shifted them to a new tank so maybe its lack of good bacteria in the water or something.

[FishBen]

Read up on fin rot treatment and added salt to water. Hopefully it will help them, though I think any damage is already done. Was quite hard to see the white telltale signs of fin rot on them because well.. they are white fish, lol.

Those look pretty young, how long have you had them and how big were they when you got them?

Have they always done the sitting on the bottom thing?

When we got them they were fairly small, maybe an inch or a bit larger long/high?

Had them for 2-3 months (I think), I can't remember if they always did it, just remember them being harassed by swords a bunch.

Their behavior looks similar to when I had 70 or 80 fry, a percentage of the fry didn't develop properly and would spend the majority of their time swimming along scrapping the gravel, and they would also sleep/rest on their sides on the gravel at night, needless to say those ones got culled.

Well we got them from a breeder who had bred a TON of them, so it could be a possibility

Don't want do anything like culling them, just want to help their living conditions if possible/needed.

I have the same issue with one of my angels. It has to be some kind of disease I think. I am not sure what tho. I have just shifted them to a new tank so maybe its lack of good bacteria in the water or something.

The ones I have are in a well established 90L community tank, so I don't think it's a lack of good bacteria .

Edit, just found this;

Last night at feeding time one of my angel fish was floating around in the current. This morning it is still laying on its side. What is wrong with it?

The symptoms you described are classic for a swim bladder infection. When the bacteria is actively multiplying, the angel fish bloats, typically "floating" as you described it. At some point the swim bladder is destroyed by the bacteria and the fish can no longer maintain an upright position and become "bellysliders", unable to stay in mid water without great effort. This angel fish disease almost always results in a fish that has permanent swimming difficulty. Prevention is the key with this problem. It's usually the result of overfeeding or feeding food that has started to spoil.

I did see them struggling to stay mid-tank, I thought it was just because of missing parts of fins though

[Adrienne]

Finally had time to read the later posts. When I think about it, my fighter fry sometimes do exactly what you have been describing too. Not all of them, normally the ones who pig out on bbs. They become belly sliders and lie down. I cull them.