New owner with some questions

Hi there,

I've recently rescued 3 Platinum Angels (and a bunch of juvenile Kribensis) from a friend who was running out of space and had some other aggressive fish. I openly admit that I don't have much of an idea what I'm doing but am trying to learn as much as possible and am enjoying it so far. Currently the fish are in a borrowed tank which I admit is too small but this will be getting replaced (hopefully this weekend) by one at least twice the size. They are currently in a 60-65litre tank, with an external Fluval 404 filter (which has mature, cycled material inside) and is being kept at 27C. I'm afraid I can't tell you PH etc as the test kit is still in the post but I am doing 40% changes every couple of days at the moment to try to keep things under control.

The angels themselves (named Dave, Dave and Dave as I can't tell them apart yet) look a bit tattered as they were a bit bullied by their previous tankmates and my main concern is that they seem to have red patches at the bases of their pectoral fins. I've tried looking into this but have found a lot of conflicting information ranging from 'not a problem' to sever bacterial infections to Septacemia. I've attached photo's of the Dave's to see if this helps;





Hopefully this will give you an idea of what I mean about the fins. I think given that they are a bit crammed in at the moment, they seem happy enough, they seem to have the odd nip of each other but nothing which I'd say is actual fighting and the Kribs might very occasionally nip at the lower fins but they tend to keep themselves to themselves (although I'm aware of the problems they'll cause as they mature and am planning for additional tanks once they form breeding pairs).

Any help or advice that you could give would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Ian

Hi Ian,
welcome to the forum, whilst it's true that red bases to the fins can indicate septicemia, it can also result from damage, stress & poor water quality. One pale fish, such as platinums like yours, redness often shows where it wouldn't on a darker fish, getting them into their new quarters might well help the situation. Make sure that the Kribs don't keep nipping at them, and watch that in carrying out large water changes to keep the water quality good, that you don't upset the filter bacteria and make matters worse. Personally I don't like changing more than 20% at a time, although I know many recommend more substantial changes.
I wouldn't be worrying about treating them at this stage, but if things got a lot worse (and you were confident that it wasn't down to poor water quality), I'd use ESHA 2000, or myxazin, both are good broad spectrum antibacterial treatments.

nothing to add regarding health - just wanted to say how beautiful they are. I had a platinum myself and they are stunning. Good luck with them and I hope they settle in

Hi there,

Thank you for your help and comments, they are very attractive fish and even now in the tiny tank they are showing very attractive blue highlights on their fins which will hopefully become bolder as the settle in the larger tank and become less stressed. I watched them for a while last night and there is definitely one dominant one which seems to bully the others a little bit again hopefully this will settle down when they get more comfortable.

At the moment the Kribs tend to keep to themselves unless the angels get too close by I imagine I'll end up rehoming quite a few as they get older and start to pair up.

Thanks again and I'll keep you updated on their progress.