Angel fish disease

Question
QUESTION: I recently got six angels two have already died and one has just stoped eating. They stop eating and seem to act like they are coughing or trying to spit something out of there mouth one day they are fine and eating well the next morning they are acting this way and die fairly quickly. There body is showing no sign of disease they still look well fed and no spots or growths that I can see. They are in a tank with bristlenose cat fish and rosey barbs and the other fish are fine. I started treating with pimafix but that has done nothing.

ANSWER: Hi Michelle,
Rosy Barbs are known to be fin nippers, and Angel Fish are not suitable fish to mix in with Rosy Barbs.  My guess would be that your Angel Fish were stressed by these Barbs, and maybe the other fish in your tank.  Stressed fish stop eating, and if the problem is not fixed, will die.  I would like to know the size of your tank, as one Angel Fish needs ten gallons of water all to himself, so 6 would need a sixty gallon tank or more if sharing with other fish.  Lack of space, barbs, and water conditions would be the reason.
Check your water for ammonia.  You can buy this small test kit at the Pet Store, and it should be number one in your fish cabinet.  If you have ammonia in your water, this too, can be a reason why your angel fish died.  Never add six fish to a tank all at once.  The ammonia builds up quickly, and the result is death.  If you have ammonia in your tank, do water changes with a good water conditioner until it is down to zero, or safe.   it would also be a good idea to check your nitrates.  Three test kits are important to have when keeping fish..(Ammonia, Nitrates, and PH test kit)
Hope this helps
Lynda


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The tests come back fine. The rosy barbs are just babies about the size of neons. the tank is a 52 gallon tank and the angels are only small at the moment when they get bigger I have a 26 gallon tank to put two in hopefully a pair. I moved the angel to another tank and put a treatment of promethyasul which is a broad spectrum anti bacterial, fungal and parasitic it has the active ingredients of Mafenide hydrochloride 24.2mg/ml
Aminacrine hydrochloride 3.3mg/ml
Malachite green 0.4mg/ml
and this morning there were cottony treads coming off the angel and in the original tank there are clear whitish worms in the bottom of the tank.
Thankyou

Answer
Hi Michelle,
We should never treat fish when we do not know what is wrong.  Angel fish sometimes stop eating for reasons unknown, and then start to eat again.  I don't understand why you moved your Angel Fish, when yesterday there was nothing wrong, except the fact that he did not eat and spit out his food.  Since they are small, I now think that the breeder did not put the Angel fish on dry food before he sold them to the pet store.  This is terrible, because it leaves the task to the buyer which is not an easy one.  Mixing dry food with frozen food should do the trick, and water changes should help.
I don't know if the cottony thread coming off the angel fish is caused my the medication, or if the little fish has fungus.  If he didn't show any signs of fungus before you put in the medication, I would remove the medication, make a 50% water change, put the carbon back in, bring the temperature of to 82 degrees.  ( bring the temperature up very slowly...1 degree each day.) Do small water changes every day using stress coat, and he should pull through.
Most worms seen in tanks are due to overfeeding, decaying plants, and food left at the bottom of the tank.  They may also be brought in with live food.  The way to get rid of them is to do 10% water changes everyday until you don't see them anymore.  Another way to get rid of them is to buy a 3 spotted or blue gourami. They eat these worms, and would get rid of them in no time.  Most all aquariums have these worms, but they only become visable to the eye, when they have had time to reproduce.  Do your 25% water changes every week, always from the bottom, and you should have no more problems once you get rid of them.  They are harmless to fish.
Hope this helps.
Lynda