Angel With A Broken Back...

[cuticom]

About three weeks ago Mum found one of her angels unable to swim properly, she spent most of her time resting on her side at the bottom or propped up in the plastic plants. "Beetle" is an adult veiltail angel. She looked like she'd severely hurt her spine somehow, though there was no physical abnormality, no bend or break though she does curve ever so slightly to one side now, she just can't swim properly and spends a lot of time on her side. She still feeds well but did have trouble getting to the surface of the 75cm tall tank, so I've moved her to a tank specially set up for her with low flow, only 30cm high and a bare bottom so no chance of injuring herself further. We'd been hoping she'd be able to heal in the main tank, as there's no real way of getting her back in the tank once she's removed, the angel school does not accept newcomers well.

Is there any chance this injury will heal? At the moment she's in a tank I'd set up to breed apple snails, though in her current condition there's no way she'll be trying to eat the babies.

But with good food (bloodworms etc), clean water in a calm environment with no harassment for other fish is there a chance she could heal? bearing in mind it's been three weeks with no change?

Or is there anything else I can do for her?

Anyone ahve any experiences with this type of thing? Beetle's a real pet and one of Mum's favourite fish and we don't want to lose her...

 

[WILDER]

She sounds in a bad way.
Bent spinces can be old age, fish tb to internal parasites.
Does she look bloated or skinny.
What does her anus look like is it enlarged or red and inflamed.
What does it look like when she goes to the toilet.
Any worms prutruding from the anus.

 

[cuticom]

Definitely not old age, she's only a year old...
Not bloated, nor is she skinny, she looks like a healthy angel...
Anus is fine, no difference between hers and the other angels
No worms
Poop is normal, colour changes depending on what she eats but its compact and all one consistency and colour...

It looks like a physical injury, and we think if it's a broken spine she could ahve done it if she got lodged in one of the caves and panicked... We've been through all possible normal problems, from vitamin deficiency's to tuberculosis, none of it fits and she's been like this for three weeks....

 

[WILDER]

Not looking good i'm afraid can't mend a bent spine.
If she looks like she suffering I would end her misery, so sorry.

 

[cuticom]

She doesn't look like she's suffering exactly, she's eating fine and moving around, just not as active as she was, she doesn't struggle against it at all, just works with it.

Okay well I'll just leave her in the apple snail tank and hope she's able to improve a bit, and just see how she goes.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.