A Killer Among Us!

Boy do we have a mystery on our hands! What is happening to our angelfish?  We woke up the other morning then quickly noticed one of our large angelfish was swimming upside down. Now if you know anything about fish you know it's not "normal" for them to swim upside down. He seemed dazed, confused, yet he was breathing. We tapped on the glass. Yes, picture the two of us, eyes wide open as we both tapped on the glass to attempt to get the large angelfish to "snap" out of whatever weird state he was in. It wasn't long before we noticed the red tail shark kept going at that specific angelfish. It was like a boxing match...but inside a fish tank.

Late in the afternoon when it was clear tapping on the glass wasn't snapping the angelfish out of his upside down swimming maneuvers there I was with a net trying to get to him as he was in a back corner of the tank. That darn red tail shark kept diving at the net I had in hand. Before long I had both arms in the fish tank. Believe me, I was truly trying to avoid that. I'm not one for sticking my hands/arms in chemically treated fish water. I was successful in rescuing the angelfish and I situated him in the net, allowing him to hang out in the net as it dangled in the water. No fish could get to him. Once Brad arrived home we made the decision to remove the red tail shark because he just couldn't behave. He kept diving at the angelfish(we have 7 large angelfish total). I'm really surprised the 7 angelfish that are all much larger than the red tail shark didn't band together and go after the shark. It took both of us to catch the slippery red tail shark, he's a fast dude. He has been placed in the old fish tank, completely by himself. Solitary confinement! As for the angelfish that I rescued and let hang out in the net, sadly he didn't make it. He survived about a day in the net before succumbing to his issues. We are down to 6 angelfish.

After this whole incident all the angelfish are struggling. Its crazy! None of the other fish in the tank are struggling. Brad has been messing with the water and chemicals to hopefully save the angelfish. It is quite baffling that all the angelfish are doing so poorly while the rest of the fish are fine. Did the red tail shark pick on the angelfish that much to have caused injuries to all of them? That's what I'm thinking. Fish are very sensitive and can't be messed with too much or they will die in a hurry.

So what's happening in our household this weekend, you ask? Operation save the angelfish! Brad changed the water out last night but the fish are still struggling and one more died this morning. We're down to 5 large angelfish! 

However a bit of a cute moment did come about when Cody noticed Brad was teary up over the struggles to keep the fish alive. Cody in a concerned way moved over to Brad. Today, he's going to be known as "Comforting Code"!

Angel fish are Brad's favorites. They grow and live a long time. We've watched these angelfish slowly grow since getting married and setting up this household. So it might sound odd that Brad's emotional about it but he loves his angelfish. Keeping a nice aquarium going is a fave past time of his. It's frustrating to not know what to do to prevent all these large angelfish from dying.