Partially Crippled Flame Angel

[chrixx]

I posted this in the Fish Diseases Forum as well, but thought maybe it should go here instead.

I have a beautiful Flame Angel that I purchased from a LFS about 6-8 months ago. All of a sudden (over night), the angel was having difficulty swimming. At first, I thought that the fish had an internal problem. I had a freshwater Keyhole that was like this. It survived, but always laid on the bottom. The swimming looked similar, but the angel never laid on the bottom. Then, I thought it was some sort of fin rot because the dorsal and tail fins looked strange. After a closer look, it seems like the fins are bent. I know this sounds strange. The fish is constantly swimming so it is impossible to get a detailed picture to show what I'm talking about. It has been about 4 days now and the angel is starting to swim around a little better. I don't know if the fish is getting better or just learning to cope with the problem. I was thinking that maybe during cleaning a rock hit him, but there are not signs of body bruising, cuts, etc. Is it possible that this is an after affect of poisoning during capture? Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with my Flame Angel?

[EdKruzel]

I'm not sure what the problem source is, however I do know that anything that may have occured during capture or shipping would have shown before 6-8mths.
What is the diet fed to this fish?

Ed

[jwm2k3]

Agreed with Ed. A cyanide poisoning case would have shown up way sooner.

Are you varying the fishes diet? (Did you see 'Super size me'?)

[chrixx]

I feed Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Select every mroning. In the evening he gets a rotation of Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 cube (green with garlic), Formula 1 cube (red), Brine Shrimp Plus, Formula 1 pellets and Formula 2 pellets. I should be a spokeperson for Ocean Nutrition.

Update: The angel is slowing recovering. I am starting to think that maybe my Purple Tang stung him. This angel does not back down to anything and may have gotten the bad end of a spine from my Purple. I only think this because he seemed to be partially crippled and is progressing every day. He is eating well even in his crippled state. If he keeps progressing like he has, he should be back to normal soon.

[EdKruzel]

Glad to hear the angel is doing better, however it wasn't the Purple Tang who caused the injury.

The knife like appendage on the tang's tail is non-toxic and used for slashing.

Even if the Tang only nicked the Angel there would be noticeable physical damage.

If you had a venomous fish such as a Foxface or Lion, and the Angel impaled itself against a spine; it would only show signs of the injury for about 2-3 days.

Ed

[chrixx]

Thanks for the info EdKruzel. I am still puzzled as to what caused this, but the angel keeps showing improvement. He is eating and starting to swim better, but is still struggling. Hopefully, he continues to improve to a 100% recovery.