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Marine angel fish Potter's Angel 3/11/05 Still a relative newbie to things aquatic and need help ASAP w/ a Potter's Angel purchased 4 days ago from reputable LFS. <hmmm... a difficult angel overall... does poorly in new/young community tanks... and is dearly in need of a proper 4 week QT period before putting into displays to train them to feed strong> My first tank...Have a 46 gallon tank w/ two small percula clowns and a sixline wrasse all who have done beautifully since introduction 6 months ago and continue to thrive. <careful with that wrasse... very territorial> Have about 35 pounds of nicely encrusted live rock. 2 scarlet hermits and various snails. A modest hang on tank skimmer running that seems to be doing the job w/ my modest bio load. I now know that the Potter's was the wrong choice for a relative beginner such as myself... but I guess I didn't do enough pre purchase research. <it is very difficult indeed. It is unlikely to survive one year if even six months for you. Do take note if this is so (or not) either way. Perhaps a hard lesson.> I seem to have a curse trying to add fish #4. Royal Gramma died within a week of introduction about 4 months ago. <lack of QT again and a very poor choice mixing Atlantic fishes with Pacific. Asking for an Ich outbreak <G>> Gave it about 6 weeks, added a Firefish and found him half eaten one morning only days after introduction. <the wrasse likely harassed/killed it at night. Bad mix> (Also lost an Emerald crab about 3 weeks ago.) Waited about 6 weeks, since losing the Firefish and added this Potter's-about 3 inches long. (Water parameters all check out fine including calcium and alkalinity) <please read, understand and apply the use of quarantine tanks> First few days went fine until this morning when I noticed he was not swimming out of the corner and his bright yellow fin on his side is half ripped off! <*cough*... *wrasse*... *cough*> He is obviously struggling to swim and from my limited knowledge, I think his outlook looks grim. Can it be the little wrasse as the culprit? <does a bear bring a Reader's Digest into the woods?> I didn't observe any aggressive behavior but if it was disease, wouldn't I see it on the other fin or tail as well? What to do?! <QT, QT, QT please> Can he be saved? <pull the fish into a spacious isolation tank, add vitamins with B12 (Vita-Chem or the like).. also get some Beta Glucan from GNC, and perhaps vitamin E for food/water> Do I try to catch him? Bring him back to LFS? <surely will kill it> Once a fin is torn as badly as this is, can it heal? <easily... with vitamin E and with HUFA/lipid rich foods (Selcon)> Am I seriously cursed? <bad husbandry... you can learn :)> Should I not be adding any more fish besides these 3 little guys? Help Please. MUCH Thanks... <get thee to QT :) Anthony> We recently lost one fish to pop eye We have a 150 gal aquarium and that has been set up for at least 10 years. We recently lost one fish to pop eye (Rock Beauty) and now another new addition (Blue Face Angel) has it. In both cases they were new additions to the tank and severely harassed by a couple triggers, an imperator, and Bicolored angel. It seemed to us that possible stress caused their conditions. Eventually both learned to fend for themselves and for the most were left alone by the others. Unfortunately in both cases their infected eye popped out! The Rock Beauty's eye got extremely puffy, we medicated with "Cure All Remedy", the swelling seemed to be going down, then his eye fell out. The Rock Beauty died even though it seemed to be doing well and eating. Now the Blue Face's eye has popped out, even though the swelling was never as severe as that of the Rock Beauty's. He is eating and seems to be doing OK. Have you ever heard of this? Can you tell us how we can prevent it from happening? I don't suppose their eye ever grows back - does it? >> Not just stress caused these losses. These two Angelfishes are towards the end of the scale in terms of suitability for aquarium use. There are a few general causes of exophthalmia (pop-eye), and a few routes of trying to "cure" their symptoms/causes. Please see the article on the topic at wetwebmedia.com that you can search for using the term. It's best to treat a fish/fishes for this complaint in a separate quarantine/hospital tank. For bacterial causes via ingestible (if the animals eating) or injectable broad-spectrum, gram negative antibiotics... No, the eyes of fishes do not grow back. Bob Fenner Angel Fights I have two angels both about 4" in length. The newest angel is a scribble and the oldest a three year old fights constantly with the scribble. The other angel is a Cortez( or so I'm told, brown with dark yellow stripes). Most people can't identify this species. Any suggestions how to stop the two from fighting? >> Hmmm, at four inches, brown (maybe more blackish) with dark yellow stripes... does sound like a Cortez (Pomacanthus zonipectus) to me. You don't give much information, like the size of the system, other tankmates... but you may be able to declare a truce in the tank by adding more decor items (plastic plants, live or base rock, faux or real coral skeletons, shells...) such that the two Angels don't often "see" each other... otherwise another possibility is to add some "dither fish" like some of the feistier damselfishes... These will serve to "give the angels something else to chase after"... Bob Fenner Angel fish quarrels Hi Bob, I just introduced a
juvenile(2.5") French Angel into my 55 gallon fish/reef tank
with 60 pd.s of rock. There is also an Imperator(aprox.4"), Maroon
clown and a blue damsel. I just finished quarantining the
French Angel( two weeks). I turned off the lights and let him sit
in the hang on clear box for about 1/2 hour so the other fish
could check him out for a while. they didn't really pay
much attention to him.) Once I put him in that's when the
problems began with the Imperator. The Imperator chased the French
angel relentlessly for about an hour. Finally when he went into a
corner I put a rock above him so the Imperator cant really see him
right now so he stopped the pursuit. Later today I'm going to
switch around some of the rock, maybe that will help a bit. I
really love both these Angels and I want to keep them both. Do
you think the Imperator will eventually stop the harassment or
will it continue until he kills the other fish? Is there any else
that I might be able to do to help the situation? I checked with
numerous sources before buying the French Angel and they all said
that this combination of Angel fish should work out. thanks for
any help >> Yikesville... I wish (as in "if wishes
were fishes, we'd all have full tanks) that the size and species
and order of introduction could all be switched. IF the 2.5"
Imperator had been put in after the French (4")... all might be
well. As it is, there is very little chance of the two ever
"getting along". I would either move the Imperator, leaving
the French in the tank in question for a few weeks, then try placing
the Imperator back... Or separate the two permanently... It's not
for their regal colors alone that the Imperator Angel is named... Bob
Fenner
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