# worried about my koi angelfish



## Randy (Jan 8, 2010)

I have a koi angelfish that is still pretty young (not counting fins, its body's approx. the size of a quarter) and is a very friendly little guy. It eats well and looks good, but just about every morning when I turn the tank light on, it starts turning flips, spiraling up and down, and swimming very erratically. This only lasts a very short time, then it's ok and acts perfectly normal the rest of the day. This only happens when the light first comes on of a morning, never any other time of day. I can't figure what's going on, but I'm getting concerned. Any ideas as to what's going on? Thanks.


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## molliefan09 (Sep 21, 2009)

my first though would be that the sudden change in lighting is freaking him out. try turning on a room light first, wait about 5-10 minutes then turn the tank lights on. this should help. i know with any one of my aquariums if i walk into the room with out lights on and just turn on the tank lights my fish go nuts, so i now ALWAYS turn a room light on first for fear of scaring my fish to death, litrally


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## Randy (Jan 8, 2010)

Ok, I'll try that. Thanks. I was afraid he was having seizures or something (if fish can have seizures, that is). Hopefully, it is just the suuden light change freaking him out. I'll update tomorrow morning and let you know how it does.


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## molliefan09 (Sep 21, 2009)

glad i could help


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## Randy (Jan 8, 2010)

Ok, before I turned the tank light on this morning I lifted the window shade in my room and left if for a few minutes. Once again, he couldn't stay upright. Part of the time his nose was straight up and his tail straight down, other times, he was on his side trying to swim. Looked just like a fish that was dying. It lasted longer today, seems to get worse and worse everyday. It's been probably an hour now and he's fine, hanging out at the top of the tank waiting to be fed. Can't figure it out.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

I had something like this happen to me one time but I realized it was shock from sudden light. Fish can go into some sort of shock with a sudden bright light. I usually turn on all the lights in the room gradually, then, turn on the fish lights if it is dark at all. I thought I killed my fish one time doing that. I turned the lights on and several fish kind of went limp and got sucked to the filter, I was freakin out. I turned the lights back off and gradually started to turn on more and more light in the room. Everything was fine after that. 
I hope that's all it is.
I have a Koi angel as well BTW.


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## Randy (Jan 8, 2010)

Ok, maybe the window was still a little much for him. I have a small desk lamp in the room, I'll try that first in the morning, then the overhead light, then the tank light. maybe that will help him. Thanks.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

You got it. Let us know if that works.



Randy said:


> Ok, maybe the window was still a little much for him. I have a small desk lamp in the room, I'll try that first in the morning, then the overhead light, then the tank light. maybe that will help him. Thanks.


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## Randy (Jan 8, 2010)

Well, this morning I turned on the dimmest light in the room and graduallly worked my way up to the tank light. No matter how subtle the change, or how long I waited, he still freaked out some. However, it wasn't as severe or violent as when I turn the tank light on first. No doubt now that it is light sensitivity.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

Interesting!


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## Randy (Jan 8, 2010)

Ok, I think I've found a pretty good solution to my fish's problem. Most mornings I get up before daylight, so I open the window shade and let the room gradually light up as the sun rises, then turn the tank light on. That seems to make a huge difference in his reaction. Thanks to all of you for helping pinpoint my problem


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

Cool!


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## mrdemin (Oct 4, 2009)

While none of my fish ever freaked out, I do leave the shades open overnight and the room lights up slowly with sunrise, the lights come on around 10am, so the room is as bright as its going to get without turning on the room light. OK fine maybe I do leave one light on when I leave in the morning  it doesnt do very much though.
I didn't always do this though, and they never seemed to freak out except maybe one jolt at times from one or two.


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## mikea079 (Jan 7, 2010)

yeah you know that blind feeling you get when the lights been off and suddenly they get turned on and you can't see.i agree with Molliefan, about turning the main room light on first(out in the wild they don't have a light switch).but what i also do is turn one light in my strip on first and about 15-20mins the other one.


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