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angle fish bent round and dead!

23 12:01:22

Question
hi, I hope you can help me answer a question,i have a 48 gallon tank, its 10weeks old and has had fish in from the 4th week. (guppies and neons, guppies all died) on saturday we bought a cleaner fish, a something plec! cant remember name. today, Tuesday, one of the angle fish didn't come up to feed, i noticed his top fin was a bit bent over, by the evening he was dead. we have 4 neons, now, 3 angles and a something plec cleaner fish.
ammonia levels are 0, no2 are 0 and no3 are 0/20, pH 6.5. we have had the angles for 3 weeks. i hope you can help:)

Answer
Hi Beccy,
If you put all of these fish in your tank at the same time, this could be the reason why your fish died.  You must always start off a tank with two or one hardy fish, depending on the size of the tank, and wait a little while longer, then add a few more, and so on.  Your water is okay now, so I would think that in the beginning you added too many fish, which caused their death.  This is a mistake that many of us make when we start an aquarium.  We are so anxious to but some fish in the tank. It takes time for good bacteria to build up in a tank.
Watch the ones you have now carefully, and if you see any ragged tail or fins, then you have a disease called fin, and tail rot.  It is a catching disease, and the whole tank should be treated.  However, I do not think that this is the problem.  I think that you overstocked your aquarium by putting too many fish in at the same time.  Do not add anymore fish, keep doing water changes every week, and checking it, and you should be okay.
Hope this helps
Lynda