angelfish care

Question
Hi Chris,

  I emailed you last week or so about our clubhouse's aquarium.  It has been cleaned up and is running well with some new fish in it.  Thank you so much for the advice and instructions.
 Our next question is about how we might go about possibly saving the Angelfish that was in the dirty tank and is still breathing, but lays on it's side on the bottom of the tank most of the time.  It's been like that for about 3 weeks now.
 Is there anything we can do?
Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi Craig;

I'm so glad to hear from you! Especially glad to know things are going well, aside from the poor angel of course. Did I ever get back to you about fish choices? I'm so sorry if I neglected that. I have three children graduating this year so I am very busy and my memory fails me. :-P

About the angel......Unfortunately his swim bladder has been damaged. Probably from chronically high nitrates in the old dirty tank. Some fish recover and some don't. It really is a waiting game. You may have to isolate him to his own smaller tank so the others don't pick on him. Keep his water very clean so he has a better chance to recover.

The swim bladder is an organ that is inside the body below the spine. When a fish wants to go up in the water the swim bladder fills with blood gasses. When the fish wants to sink, the blood gasses dissipate. When the swim bladder fails it can no longer hold blood gasses to help the fish go up. Sometimes it's the opposite and the fish floats on top and can't go down. It's usually caused by infection and the inflammation blocks the gasses from flowing. If the fish floats alive and belly up, it isn't the swim bladder but is gas in the belly from indigestion. There are many variables to buoyancy problems and those are just three.

Anyway, I hope everything else will continue to go well and keep up the good work you guys!

At Your Service;
Christine Robbins