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I just came into work and found Tumbleweed laying on the bottom of the tank. He was perfectly fine yesterday, swimming around, eating etc. I netted him out and he seemed perfect except a tiny little cut.






All water tests come out fine, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 nitrate 30.
Other tankmates include another angel about the same size (3 1/2 - 4 inches), 12 cories, and an african brown knife.
The only thing I can think of is that he and the other angel had a squabble, which has happened before but the other angel got the short end of the stick last time and lost part of her lip.
Any ideas, I'm heartbroken about this guy.[/font][/font]

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Sorry doedogg .

Did you inspect the base of the pectoral fins for red dots or the belly for more red streaks, even faint? Were the eyes bloody in ways they aren't normally?

The eyes appear cloudy, but that could have happened post mortem, if she died soon after you went to work or hadn't noticed her dead this morning. Is it just the pic or are they cloudy. It does take some time for the post-mortem cloudiness to set in. At that point, fungus could also invade an open wound or the entire fish for that matter.

What is uncertain is if one or more of the fish began to feed off of this fish after it had died, creating that "cut". If she was only dead a few hours and had those cloudy eyes at the time of death, then I'd say she had some kind of infection going on, possibly rooted in that cut which almost looks like an ulcer. Internal infections can happen quickly from any opening on the surface and they are often deadly.

Look at the other fish in the tank carefully and study them for a while. Anyone breathing heavy? Bloodshot eyes or other signs of septicemia as listed above? How about ulcers?

I spend quite a bit of time looking over any dead body for signs or clues. I cut one or two open for clues, but that is messy. If you do cut one open and water comes pouring out, then you know dropsy was involved whether they pineconed or not. Sometimes it will be bloody from hemorrhagic septicemia. If I saw that, I'd be inclined to want to put my tank on some kind of broad spectrum antibiotic, especially if there were no outward signs on the fish because anaerobic bacteria can cause systemic infections.

same kind of thing happend to me...

two days before my angel fish died i treated the water cose the ph was to low... perhaps that could afect him

Di, I don't think he had been dead very long, he wasn't stiff yet, infact I thought he might move when I netted him. I gave his little body a good going over and couldnt' find anything other than that wound. No redness anywhere, the eyes weren't cloudy, (I think that was the angle of the camera), no fungusy looking stuff and he wasn't bloated.
I'm really thinking now that Zoe may have had something to do with the death. She had been nast to him in the past but I never thought she would be that nasty.
The guys at work are going to make him a little casket and I'm going to ask the stone mason working on one of our jobs for a little piece of stone for a headstone. Then if and when spring ever gets here I'll give him a burial out behind the office. :#(


Thanks for the ideas

Last edited by doedogg at 16-Mar-2005 09:01

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Aww - poor thing. So loved