Angelfish hiding and red base to fins

Anyone know what could be causing my angels to hide? They also have a red mark at the base of their pectoral fins.

 

It's only 3 of the 6 angels

 

Could we get a little more info? How long have you had them? Tank details including equipment and some water parameters? Tank mates? Recent water changes or changes to the tank?

Should help to move in the right direction with this problem.

 

Nitrates are at about 5ppm,Nitrites are 0, PH 6.8, I recently did a water change with rain water, after which I added water soluble plant ferts.

My tank is a 4 foot 220 litre tank. Filtration is a closed system sump with biorings, lava rock, Seachem denitrate stones and sponge, wunning at 780 litres per hour. Water temp is at 26.5 degrees Celsius.

I bought the angels 2 days ago. My Cories have been flicking themselves on the sand and leaves as well.

 

My first guess then that there is something that is acting as an irritant - either in the water itself or introduced with the angels, and taken hold after the stress of the move.

Are there any other symptoms on the angels or cories? Decreased appetite, laboured or rapid breathing, or colour changes?

 

Was the rain water treated in any way?
Although it is supposed to be pure water, there can be a lot of dissolved pollutants in our rain water.
I would recommend adding Seachem Prime / Safe even to rainwater.

 

Could be anything from Hemorrhagic Septicemia, stress or fighting between angels for dominance.

My bet is on water quality, what is the chlorine/chloremine and ammonia levels?

Do a daily water change of about 25% for the next couple of days.

Which plant ferts did you add?

 

Could the rainwater have caused a Ph swing?

No Cory no glory

 

I also believe it a water issue.. must admit my first thought, as @DoubleDutch said.. could the rain water have caused a PH swing/crash
Also agree that rain water, is tricky as, with all the pollution around us, it can be contaminated with anything and I would still use Prime
You didn't mention your ammonia readings?

 

I don't have an ammonia test kit. I'll have to stick to using treated tap water for water changes.

 

Whether you use tap water or rain water just add seachem prime or some other conditioner and that should work. Unless the water is extremely pulluted with something else that should work.

 

I do use a water conditioner

 

How was the rain water collected and from direct rain or an roof. Looks like some heavy metals came with the new water.

 

just some interesting info regarding the treatment of chloramines.

"Prime works by removing chlorine from the water and then binds with ammonia until it can be consumed by your biological filtration (chloramine minus chlorine = ammonia). The bond is not reversible and ammonia is still available for your bacteria to consume. Prime will not halt your cycling process."

but

Prime detoxifies ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. It detoxifies these nitrogenous compounds by binding them into a non-toxic form. They stay bound for about 24-48 hours and then are released back into their original form.

So if your tank is not properly cycled or you accidentally killed off all your good bacteria, it is best to do frequent water changes or to re-dose Prime every 24 hours to rebind the ammonia and avoid stressing your fish.

 

Awesome info. Now we know why the initial setup requires you to dose consistently for a week

 

Okay, thank you all for the awesome info. It will definitely help.

I went to the LFS I bought the Angels from and the Angels which were in the same bag from Joburg are struggling with the same problem. It seems I have to treat the entire tank now.

Moral of the story... Set up a quarantine tank for future occupants.

The shop owner seems to think it is a fungal infection and recommended this

 

Before you dose. Whats the tank temp like? It looks more like an inflammation due to the water. Push the temp up a bit and feed some good foods brine shrimp would be an good start.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/...ine-at-base-of-fins-septicemia-feared.349655/

 

Sorry if I am hijacking this thread, but I just wanted to know in this case what would be the difference in using Safe as opposed to Prime?

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

Safe is the powdered form of Prime. The only difference is that Prime has water and a stabilizer in it.