New Angel

[mancin]

I received some Angels yesterday through the mail. One of them immediately didn't look well. It was upside down in the bag, but I thought I'd try and float it anyway. It was madly thrashing around in the bag. I felt so bad for the poor thing. I acclimated all 5 of them for about an hour before releasing them into the tank. Within a couple hours, the sickly one began darting around like crazy and laying on the bottom of the tank. Immediately, the Congo Tetras in the tank began nipping at him. I literally saw one of them rip off part of the fin!! I thought they were NOT supposed to nip.

I grabbed the small breeder tank and set it inside of the tank to get the fish away from the nipping. Now I'm wondering if I should transfer it over to the Quarantine/Hospital tank and try and revive him, but I'm worried about further stressing the fish. Or is it too late?

Tank Stats (newly cycled):

pH: 7.5
Temp: 79-80F
Ammonia: 0
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 10

Other fish in the tank:

4 other Angels (still skittish, but seem to be doing fine otherwise)
7 Congo Tetras
5 Marbled Hatchetfish

His belly appears to be sunken in, which I think is supposed to be a sign of parasites? I wonder if he looks sunken is as fish aren't typically fed for a couple days before being shipped. I haven't tried to feed them as I read that shipped fish shouldn't be fed any food for 48 hours, and no frozen food for a week.

I thought perhaps maybe he got pH shock, but if that were true wouldn't the other fish also be affected? I'm wondering if he just didn't ship well and thus his health has deteriorated.

What should I do?

 

[Tolak]

Not eating for a couple of days would not lead to the sunken belly, that's usually a sign of not eating a week or more, or as you mentioned parasites, perhaps both.

Separate tank, plenty of aeration, bring the temperature up to about 85F. Wait one day before feeding, try just a little flake. Keep the lights dimmed, add some tall decorations for a sense of security. If the fish isn't at least nibbling in a day, it's generally time for anti-protizoal meds.

There are two schools of thought on feeding shipped fish, much as with anything with fish, differing experiences & opinions. The first is as you stated, this without a doubt applies to larger fish, which are often given a light sedative to lower metabolism. This makes for less pollution of the shipping water, but affects the rate of digestion as well. These fish need that 2 day fast and light feeding. Larger fish can generally go without food longer than smaller and often younger fish. This also lets their natural defenses concentrate on acclimating and fighting off the stress of shipping.


The other school is that of getting them to eat once they don't looked distressed or stressed. Some fish are difficult to get to feed once they haven't eaten, otos are known to be famous for this. This thought is that a healthy diet started as soon as possible helps the natural defenses to fight the stress of shipping.

Unless the seller stated not to feed for 48 hours and to lightly feed flake for a week this is not needed for healthy fish.

 

[mancin]

Tolak, thanks for the quick reply. If he starts doing spirals again, will he end up hurting himself? I suppose there's not as much of a risk if he's in a tank by himself, but I would worry about him getting stuck on the filter.

I'll go get the aeration going and move him over.

 

[Tolak]

Unless the tank is way overfiltered or of a size to need that huge of a filter the fish shouldn't get stuck. Many people confuse a fish that died & got stuck to the filter with a fish that got stuck to the filter & died.

If you feel the fish is that weak that it couldn't get away from the filter intake you either need a sponge filter or a piece of sponge over the intake. If the intake will pin an ill fish the output will buffet it around, neither one being good.

A tank by itself, with only room light & a few decos to hide among will have a calming effect, and the fish will be less likely to zip around abnormally, perhaps hurting itself in the process.

 

[mancin]

Sounds good. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks again. He's in the Hospital tank now and seems much more calm than he was in the other tank. He isn't zipping around like he was before. He is resting at the bottom, but seems to be maintaining his balance. I'm keeping hope!!

 

[mancin]

Just a quick update. Tank temp is up and the aeration is going. I checked on the fish this morning and he was swimming around a bit and wasn't struggling with balance at all! I was happy to see that. I'll check on him again during my lunch hour and if he's still seeming to improve I'll offer a little bit of flake tonight. I was reading around and saw that some recommended adding aquarium salt to the tank for sick fish? Any thoughts on this?

 

[mancin]

Well, it's not taking any flake. Still swimming some, but a bit sideways now. Any particular med that I should be using? (I'm in the US) I have some Prazi Pro here. Would that work?

 

[Tolak]

Aquarium salt isn't going to help, Metronidazole will. Seachem sells it packaged in a tube with a measuring spoon, real convenient setup. They may call it Metroplex now, it's the same thing.

Medicate at 40mg/gallon, daily water change & remed. Get that temperature up to 90F, make sure that the angel is the only fish in there, and there is plenty of aeration. Don't feed for 3 days, after that sprinkle a little metro on some frozen brine shrimp, feed this once daily. It may take a few more days before the fish starts to even mouth & spit out the food, once this happens you are on your way.

Continue for 10-14 days.

 

[mancin]

Thanks again! Fingers crossed.

 

[rl4400]

I received some Angels yesterday through the mail. One of them immediately didn't look well. It was upside down in the bag, but I thought I'd try and float it anyway. It was madly thrashing around in the bag. I felt so bad for the poor thing. I acclimated all 5 of them for about an hour before releasing them into the tank. Within a couple hours, the sickly one began darting around like crazy and laying on the bottom of the tank. Immediately, the Congo Tetras in the tank began nipping at him. I literally saw one of them rip off part of the fin!! I thought they were NOT supposed to nip.

I grabbed the small breeder tank and set it inside of the tank to get the fish away from the nipping. Now I'm wondering if I should transfer it over to the Quarantine/Hospital tank and try and revive him, but I'm worried about further stressing the fish. Or is it too late?

Tank Stats (newly cycled):

pH: 7.5
Temp: 79-80F
Ammonia: 0
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 10

Other fish in the tank:

4 other Angels (still skittish, but seem to be doing fine otherwise)
7 Congo Tetras
5 Marbled Hatchetfish

His belly appears to be sunken in, which I think is supposed to be a sign of parasites? I wonder if he looks sunken is as fish aren't typically fed for a couple days before being shipped. I haven't tried to feed them as I read that shipped fish shouldn't be fed any food for 48 hours, and no frozen food for a week.

I thought perhaps maybe he got pH shock, but if that were true wouldn't the other fish also be affected? I'm wondering if he just didn't ship well and thus his health has deteriorated.

What should I do?

Wow. Well I had a fantail who was sluggish and was at the top then the next day he was swimming around the tank like mad and doing backflips. the next morning he was dead. I called his crazyness the previous day the death dance. But perhaps your fish has swim bladder disease. That can make your fish float to the top and not have control over its balance.

 

[mancin]

Well, the fish is still alive, so that's good news right? I've been keeping on top of water changes and re-dosing the med. The fish does seem to be doing better, but is still a bit quirky. I'm hoping in a couple days when I try the brine shrimp that he'll eat some of it.

 

[mancin]

Well the good news is he's eating now. Bad news is one of the ventral fins appears to be just about gone. There is about an inch left. I looked at pics when I first put him in the main tank and he had both fins. I'm not sure if it was nipped off (I know the Congos did get a piece of another fin, so it wouldn't surprise me if they got this one too). I half wonder if that's why he's having balancing issues?

 

[mancin]

Don't feed for 3 days, after that sprinkle a little metro on some frozen brine shrimp, feed this once daily. It may take a few more days before the fish starts to even mouth & spit out the food, once this happens you are on your way.

Continue for 10-14 days.

Just to clarify - should I be feeding the brine shrimp once daily for the remainder of treatment? Not sure if that will be too much protein, or if I should be trying to get some flake in there too now that he's eating. He does look much better. The belly is not sunken in like it was before. He still looks thin, but there's an improvement.

One more question. When he is finished with treatment and seems to be in good enough shape to go back into the main tank, any special way I should transfer him? The temp is much warmer in this tank than it is in the main tank, otherwise water stats (pH and whatnot) should be pretty much the same. Should I float him for a bit to be safe?

Thanks again Tolak!!! I think (actually I KNOW) you've helped me save him.

 

[Tolak]

Feed the medicated brine shrimp for the full 10-14 days. Adult brine shrimp has a high percentage of roughage to the protein content, this helps the digestive tract to function properly.


A couple of days before you are ready to transfer bring the temperature down bit by bit. 4-6F per 24 hours should be no problem at all. If the water stats are the same or nearly so moving him right over should be no big deal. Keep an eye out for any aggression from the angels already in the tank, if they get too pushy there are ways of dealing with this. Remove the existing fish, a bucket for a couple of hours is fine. Rearrange the tank decorations, angels key territory off of objects in the tank. Let the now well angel settle in, and put the fish from the bucket into the tank.

Glad it's working out for you & your fish!