Lemonpeel Angelfish Fish lying on side

[Marija Reiff]

Hello. Thanks for all of your help with my last post. The angelfish did start eating a week ago, and everything has been fine since then. Today, though, I awoke and my dwarf lemonpeel was lying on the live rock on her side. It's been this way all morning. I just checked the water parameters, and the nitrates and nitrites are at 0, though ammonia is at .25 (which I know is high, though I'm surprised since I did a 25% water change three days ago. And yes, the tank has cycled). Is this the problem? The other fish--two clownfish and a royal gamma--seem fine. Any ideas for what I can do to help her? Are there any emergency steps to take to save my fish's life?

Thanks.

 

[mauler]

Another water change would be a start. Dwarf angels are more sensitive to poor water quality than your other fish that might be why he's the first to show signs. Also I just think your tank isn't ready for fish how long has it been set up

 

[Marija Reiff]

The tank has been up for six weeks. When I started it, though, I added Dr. Tim's live nitrifying bacteria. I also did not add all of the fish right away. I added the dwarf angel two weeks ago and the royal gamma one week ago. I'm doing a water change right now. Is there any chance this fish can be saved? From what I've heard, once a fish is lying on its side, it pretty much means it's dead. True?

 

[mauler]

Did you wait for the ammonia in the tank to hit zero before you added fish? If you did then you need to find out why your still getting ammonia spikes. Did anything recently die?
As far as you angel goes he sadly probably won't make it through the day but if you have some prime try added some of that it's supposed to detoxify ammonia.

 

[jay0705]

6 weeks is way to early for an angel. Especially a lemon. If you have ammonia its either over feeding or the tank wasn't cycled

 

[Marija Reiff]

I did make sure the ammonia was zero before I added fish. No, nothing has died. I think I've been overfeeding them. Both the angel and the gamma refused to eat for the first several days they were in the aquarium, and the food that I was giving them was ignored and fell to the bottom. Thanks for your help.

 

[bang guy]

That sounds likely. It can take weeks for a system to adjust to a new fish, especially an active fish.

Do you have any Bristleworms to help clean up excess food?

 

[Marija Reiff]

I have live rock in the aquarium, and I have seen some roaming about at night. How many there are, though, I don't know.

 

[1guydude]

How big of a tank is this? Sorry I didn't read your last thread. Imo it's the food and build up from your new fish load. Either your skimmer/filtration/wcs can't or aren't keeping up or your cycling. Hths
D