Angel fish lying on it side on the bottom of tank

I have a Marble angel fish, the body is the size of the palm of my hand, this morning i put the tank light on to find the angel lying on its side at the bottom of the tank, as soon as i lifted the lid to feed the fish he swam to the top to eat the food. He has been swimming around ever since, being as dominant as he always is to the other fish, I have never seen him do this before. I immediatly did a water change just in case. Can anyone tell me if this is common with angel fish.

I haven't seen a healthy angelfish do that. How old is he? The maximum life expectancy of an angelfish is, I've read, about eight years. If you recently introduced new fish or plants into the aquarium, you may have introduced a disease or parasite. I hope it's something temporary; if he keeps acting hungry, that may be the case. The partial water change was probably one of the best things you could do. You might also raise the water temperature a couple of degrees to about 84. Some people raise the temperature even higher. Some people also use lots of commercial remedies, but it's so easy to over medicate that sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing. Angelfish do not respond well to rapid changes in their environment. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Thank you for your reply. I don't know how old he is we have had him for about 6 months but he is big, no new fish or plants within 2 months. I feed them twice a day, I alternate with blood worm one day and flake and wafers (wafers for the clown loaches)the next day. The temperature sits around 29c. Yesterday as soon as I saw him on the bottom I did a 40% water change and treated the water with a herbal treatment called
melafix. You probably will say 40% is to much but I have alway done this once a week for yrs. Today I have just switch the light on the tank and he is swimming around as normal, its beyond me. anyway I am going to take a water sample in to my local shop this morning to have a complete test, we will see what happens.
thanks again

I usually do smaller water changes, but to each his own. It all depends on the biological load your aquarium is handling.

Some people have had trouble feeding blood worms, because they MAY contain parasites. I feed frozen blood worms once in a while and have never had a problem with Hikari brands. Most aquarium fish seem to like brine shrimp, and it's sort of the old standard in the aquarium hobby, at least on this side of the pond. Most evenings, I feed frozen brine shrimp and make sure it is well thawed. Live food is another thing entirely; you have to be very careful of the source.

At any rate, I'm glad your angelfish is doing better. Maybe he just ate something that didn't agree with him.

Hi, Just an update on my Angel fish, it has now been 3 weeks since he was lying on the bottom of the tank, he has been ok ever since, he must of felt a little lazy that morning. Anyway thank you for your response.

Thanks for keeping us updated, and for participating in this forum. Maybe the angelfish accidentally ate a hunk of gravel or a pretty piece of plastic plant. Or maybe he stopped by the Fish Tank Bottom Water Cootie Bar and had too many duckweed dollops. At any rate, I'm glad he recovered from the apparent over indulgence, because those were some pretty bad symptoms.

John!

You're so freaking funny, I just love you!

Duckweed Dollops! I have had a rough day, and I'm sunburned and in a foul mood, and I just busted up laughing!

Glad you enjoyed my clumsy attempt to add a little humus to the situation.

My sister had one and it did the same thind. A guy at pets mart said they do that when they shed their to fin and it causes them to swim side ways till it heals back then it will swim like normal.

do know why angel fish do this?

Healthy angelfish do not molt or shed body parts. Only sick ones lose their fins unless a nocturnal pleco is eating them (they do that). Sick fish are usually the result of sick aquarium water, and that usually means ammonia and/or nitrite that occurs in tanks that have not completed their nitrogen cycle or have been fouled by over feeding.

It sounds like it's dying, angle fish don't shed only crustatians snakes and bugs do that. try poking it to see if you can get him moving, I've found that by waking fish up when their half dead sometimes helps them perk up and they're ussually fine after that... unless they're too far gone.

Angelfish can be delicate and not easy to cure once they get sick. First, check water quality, then gradually raise the temperature to 82. Other species may not be comfortable in the warm water, but it's ideal for angelfish.