# Horrible, horrible accident :(



## raeven (May 12, 2011)

I have these two angelfish, still decently small in size (probably about the size of my palm, including the fins) in my 45g. I made the horrible, horrible mistake of putting them in my 55g tonight.

I already have one angelfish in the 55, and he was doing great. No issues or anything at all, even though I have three smaller bichirs in there with them, the biggest being maybe 6 inches. They're all pretty calm fish, with an occasional freak out as the bichirs rip towards the water. Nothing has ever gotten hurt in that tank before. I even have a small leopard gourami in there who's probably just a tad bigger than half my thump.

So again, no issues. Not until tonight. Switching my angelfish around, I thought this would give my two smaller ones a chance to grow up a bit. Apparently, my senegal bichir thought I was giving her a snack.

I watched for a little while, with no issues at all, then went back maybe an hour later to see how everyone was doing, and my friggen senegal was literally THRASHING about one of my angels. I freaked out and had to scare my bichir off, and right away I moved the angelfish back into my 45.

The one angel is perfectly fine, possibly a bit shaken up from watching his friend getting beaten like that. The other...I'm not so sure  The tail is really badly ripped, almost down to the flesh, and there is a big mark on the body which looks to be where the bichir might have bit it. From what I can tell, it looks more like scale damage than anything. It seems to be swimming fine, despite the massive rip. Then again, this is the first time it's ever happened to me, so I'm not entirely sure. I'll be honest, I'm just about as shaken up as my poor fish, I almost want to cry 

So I have the one angelfish in a quarentine box now. I've turned the heat up a bit, and I think I'm going to add some salt. I just don't know what to do  I've used melafix before for a sick gourami, but that ended up killing off all my barbs, so I'm very skeptical on using it again, or any other medication for that matter.

If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. I am seriously hoping my poor fish will pull through somehow.


Another thing in mind is I'm not so sure I'm going to be okay with my senegal eyeing the rest of my fish. It's clear she (or he) knows that it can hunt quite efficiently, and some of these other guys are merely snacks for her to chomp on. If I was to sell my bichir, how much would be a reasonable price? She's about six inches in length, if that makes a difference.


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

i would try salt. i would put it in with his buddy. i made the mistake of separating a pair of angels and they went down hill from that alone. imo. the salt wont hurt the healthy one . if they r a mated pair i believe they truly do suffer when separated just by stress alone. maybe when you r putting it back you can dab some iodine on the wound. the fins i wouldnt really worry about. my male angel used to let the babies eat his fins right to the bones if i let him and they grew back better than ever. mama wasn't tolerant of it at all.


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## raeven (May 12, 2011)

Thanks for the advice. I think I will definitely put them back together. I don't know if they're a pair yet (they might be too young right now), but they do spend some time swimming about together, as well as apart. I'll be sure to add some salt, although the iodine might have to wait till tomorrow. I don't think I have any in the house right now.

I hope the fins on this one happen to grow back like yours did, or at least to a functioning level.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Don't beat yourself up over it... how were you to know? At least you caught it in time to at least get them out of there. Hope everything turns out.


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## Athomedad (Oct 8, 2011)

I got some 'wound care' at King Ed for $6 & it worked really well at healing up an injured Geophagus. It is the same as iodine and you apply with a q-tip to the injured area while it is netted. 

Sorry to hear about your sick fish.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. sorry to hear about your miss fortune, but glad to hear you caught it before it was too late. i have a product similar to wound care called bio bandage with the same kinda treatment. not sure how good it is myself cause i haven't had to use it yet, but i herd it works. also my brother had a crayfish that almost had one of his angels for dinner, it had some cuts and lost most of it's back fin, but it did recover. the tail fully regrew and just had a few scars on it. so you should be ok. Hope that helps. Cheers


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

I had a Denisoni Barb who's Tailfin was bitten to the Nub,came back no problem even without Salt,just kept up My water changes as Normal.


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Daily water changes and a little salt in the water will fix the angel up no problem


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Sorry about your fish! I had my "Jerk" Dempsey kill my favorite green terror. It happens. Salt and daily w/c are the best fix, and low stress. I've used melafix with success, but salt will do just fine.


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## Chappy (Apr 21, 2010)

I've gotta agree with salt......it does wonders! Hope your fish is on the mend soon.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Very sorry to hear about the accident, but your fish are lucky that you rescued them when you did! I agree with others here that the injured fish will feel less stressed if he's in his old tank with his buddy. I hope that he recovers quickly.


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## raeven (May 12, 2011)

I turned up the heat a bit last night, and added a bit of salt to the tank. I wound up putting the two angels in my 20g breeder for now. All that's in there are a few frogs, guppy and platy fry. Hardly anything that would hurt it.

Got home from work, and he's still alive and eating normally. I've got high hopes that he might just pull through 

Thanks for all the advice!


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## mortava (Apr 24, 2010)

Glad you found him before the damage was irreparable - sounds like things are looking good for this little guy!


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