Problem with Anglefish

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

We've just gotten started with our tank(3 weeks now), we added beneficial bacteria along with water conditioner, we purchased the aqua clear 3 step filter for a 70 gallon tank feeling it was better to go bigger, and we have several real plants as well as plastic and a rock with many holes for hiding as we decided to go with semi aggressive. We have a 50 gallon with a few fish, we are at the max for our tank size but everyone is doing great except our angel fish.  The first two we purchased would not eat, I would litterally dump food on  thier heads and they would ignore it, I actually saw one of them accidentally ingest some food then spit it back out.  We have tried every kind of food recommended to us, zuchini, cucumber, oranges both floating, burried on the bottom and with a veggie clip.  They also get a variety of bloodworms, mosquito larvae and brine shrimp (all frozen) twice a day with a small bit of tropical nuggets(Like flakes but in round form) and algae wafers for our pleco.  When we brought the bodies of the first two fish in we also brought a water sample and was told that we had an example of 'perfect' water, they tested nitrites, nitrates, amonia and ph.  We were given two replacements and we are now experiencing the same thing, none of the other fish bother the angels so I don't think they're stressed but these two fish are not eating either.  We introduced them to the tank using the 'drip' method over an hour's time but still nothing.  Can you give us any advice or more things to try to get these fish healthy?  We don't want to lose them again.

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Natoma,
Sorry to hear about the angels. So they even refuse the frozen worms and brine shrimp? That is very unusual. Since this tank hasn't been setup for very long, I'd still suspect a water quality issue. It never hurts to try to test your water again. It would be best if you could get your own liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (pH isn't very important) that way you can know your exact water test readings. Sometimes when the petstore claims that "the water's fine" or "perfect" it may not really be. For example, they might consider everything to be "perfect" because the ammonia and nitrite is in the 'safe-zone' when it really should be ZERO at all times, an ill-informed employee could also tell you that water's fine because they don't know any better. So that's why it's just best to have your own test kit.

Even so, your water -may- actually be healthy for your fish...But it's important to know exactly. There may be something wrong with the Angelfish themselves. There is a big problem around here (and I'm sure other places) of the Angelfish always being sickly and doing poorly in petstores. Angelfish don't ship well and often arrive at the petstore weak and stressed. The Angels you are getting may be from a bad "batch" or a bad stock. One thing I'd certainly try is to get Angels from a totally different petstore and see how they do.

As for your current two Angelfish, do they should any other obvious signs of illness? Do their bellies look sunk-in or do they have stringy/whitish poop? This could indicate internal parasites, which sometimes be a silent killer so-to-speak...

The best I can tell you in my experience, is make sure the water is very clean, keep watch on them for any other symptoms and if you notice anything else, feel free to write me.

I'm sorry I couldn't give a definite answer, it's just really hard when you can't see the fish and all...

Best wishes,
Karen~

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

QUESTION: Also forgot to mention I will go today to get test strips for myself and post the readings for you.  I'm not sure it could be the water though as neither set of fish ate anything from the get go.

Answer
Hi,
That's great!
I'd be very interested to hear the test results of your tank water so we can eliminate any possible water quality related problem. I know you said that's probably not the problem but it's very important to know.

Best of luck as always,
Karen~