Angelfish and Mollies problems

Question
Hi Chris,

This is our first experience with an aquarium, and it's already brought my wife to tears... she's a softie for animals.  I really hope you can help.

1) I read through 4 years worth of your answers on Angelfish, but I'm still not sure about this one.  I bought 3 angelfish 7 days ago, and 2 of them are doing great (except that my neons are disappearing...)  The third one hasn't eaten even once yet.  For a few days he was swimming along the bottom and bumping into things; now he's sitting in the top corner.  I'm not sure if he's gasping for air.

2) At the same time, my other purchase was 3 dalmatian mollies.  The two females died within 2 days.  The male looks ok, but he's attacking my gourami's nonstop, so I put him in a floating basket.  I hear mollies don't like to be alone, but should I get more mollies since 2 died already?

1 month tank; 46 gal; 6 danios/6 guppies/3 dwarf gourami/3 angels/ 8 neons/ 4 algae eaters/ 2 upsidedown cats; canister filter; levels are all good on 5-in-one test strip; 10% twice a week.

Thanks for reading this!

Answer
Hi Mark;

Angels aren't as hardy as they used to be. Also, sometimes fish are already sick or have unseen problems when you buy them and the stress of going to a new home just pushes them over the edge. If they are larger angels and becoming sexually mature, the other two may have formed a pair bond and are bullying the sick one. Or, other fish are bullying him/her. It's hard to say. Provide plenty of hiding places in the form of tall plants so the weaker fish can get away from others.

The male molly probably should go back to the store. He may be responsible for the death of the females since he was aggressive with the gouramis too. They live to breed and will get aggressive sometimes. Some of those little fellas are just like that and will relentlessly pursue other fish until they get sick or die. The stress on the females of being moved to a new home and being harrassed by an oversexed male probably just did those little gals in. He may even have contributed to the illness of the angel too.

The main issue in your tank could be the after-effects of "New Tank Syndrome" and having too many fish in such a new tank. The toxin levels probably rose very high before they finally leveled out (if they have done so already). It's all related to the population of fish you have when you start the tank out. The whole process takes about 6 weeks from the time you add the first fish. Fish don't always die right away and can finally succumb days or weeks later from internal damage caused by the stress of toxins from New Tank Syndrome. Here is a link to my article about it;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

I know the test strips probably said things are okay, but the strips are the least accurate way to test. Get the liquid drops with vials or the tablets with vials type of kit. They are much more accurate. If there is any trace of ammonia or nitrite (not nitrAte, it's different) you will want to make a 25% water change. Sometimes once a day water changes are needed just to keep the fish alive until it gets through a biological imbalance. New Tank Syndrome, filter cleaning, adding new fish, etc, can all disrupt the biological balance. Make a 25% water change right away and do another one tomorrow. You may still lose some fish but the water changes will help relieve things until it stabilizes.

I hope things get better soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins