New Angels

[cdnfishygirl]

Hi there! :) I am new to this site and I already love it. I am a new fish keeper and I started with a few (7) tetras and then one day I had a new baby.....that was a surprise :o . I then added a couple alge eaters which did fine. My son gave me for early Christmas 2 Bala sharks and 2 Angel fish. My concern is one of the angels appeared to have some spots on it so I looked that up and it is Ich (I think) the next day the other angel has the white stuff. I am in the process of getting the stuff to clear it up however with the holidays the stores have been closed. I am getting it today and treating but now I have another problem/concern the one Angel is swimming at the top of the tank and on its side. What does this mean? It can't be good. I have heard that some of these fish swim sidways when stressed. Any suggestions?? I don't want it to die.
Thanks
Ramona

[William]

Hi
Sorry to hear about that. Fish swimming sideways at the surface is always a bad sign and it might be too late to save it. When did you get the fish? It sounds like it could have been infected with ich in the store and than you should complain in the store.
I will assume that you have gotten Ich medicine and will be using that as you indicate in your post. A tip for the future is that small amounts of iodide free salt can be used to help slow ich down in an aquarium if you don't have ich medicine at home.

I think you should check your water quality to make sure that there isn't another cause for the angel swimming sideways which seems likely. Check pH, nitrite and nitrate levels in the aquarium. I would also recommend you to make a water exchange in the aquarium to improve the water quality.

Is there any chance any foreign substance may have been accidentally introduced to the aquarium?

I would also like to recommend you to download our free tropical fish e-book (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/ebook.html) and especially read the parts about fish diseases and water chemistry. Even if I would like to recommend you to read the entire book.

Please feel free to ask any question you might have.