My near dead angel is back

[Jim Morcombe]

A several months ago I put a rather agresive angel into my "hospital" tank
because it kept beating up the other Angels.

Amongst a series of incidents I squashed him with a sharp piece of slate and
took a great chunk out of his side.

The hole never seemed to heal and at one stage he was lying flat on the
bottom and I thought he was as good as dead. However, he survived.

He never showed any energy after the accident and the hole was very slow to
heal.

To keep him com pany I put a few baby Electric Yellows in with him and a
bristlenose. Initially there were a few amusing episodes between him and
one of the Yellows, but these stopped after a few weeks.

He would just sit in a corner and do nothing.

Eventually his wound seemed a bit better and I put him back with the other
Angels in a community aquaroum.

The next day he was chasing and terrorising the other Angels. Within a few
days, the wound in his side was healed without a trace.

Unbelievable.

Jim

[JazzyB!]

Nice to hear he came back stronger than Tyson. :)
"Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
...
> A several months ago I put a rather agresive angel into my "hospital" tank
> because it kept beating up the other Angels.
>
> Amongst a series of incidents I squashed him with a sharp piece of slate
and
> took a great chunk out of his side.
>
> The hole never seemed to heal and at one stage he was lying flat on the
> bottom and I thought he was as good as dead. However, he survived.
>
> He never showed any energy after the accident and the hole was very slow
to
> heal.
>
> To keep him com pany I put a few baby Electric Yellows in with him and a
> bristlenose. Initially there were a few amusing episodes between him and
> one of the Yellows, but these stopped after a few weeks.
>
> He would just sit in a corner and do nothing.
>
> Eventually his wound seemed a bit better and I put him back with the other
> Angels in a community aquaroum.
>
> The next day he was chasing and terrorising the other Angels. Within a
few
> days, the wound in his side was healed without a trace.
>
> Unbelievable.
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

[NetMax]

"Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
...
> A several months ago I put a rather agresive angel into my "hospital"
tank
> because it kept beating up the other Angels.
>
> Amongst a series of incidents I squashed him with a sharp piece of
slate and
> took a great chunk out of his side.
>
> The hole never seemed to heal and at one stage he was lying flat on the
> bottom and I thought he was as good as dead. However, he survived.
>
> He never showed any energy after the accident and the hole was very
slow to
> heal.
>
> To keep him com pany I put a few baby Electric Yellows in with him and
a
> bristlenose. Initially there were a few amusing episodes between him
and
> one of the Yellows, but these stopped after a few weeks.
>
> He would just sit in a corner and do nothing.
>
> Eventually his wound seemed a bit better and I put him back with the
other
> Angels in a community aquaroum.
>
> The next day he was chasing and terrorising the other Angels. Within a
few
> days, the wound in his side was healed without a trace.
>
> Unbelievable.
>
> Jim

Thanks for sharing the story Jim. To me it illustrates a few things.
Isolating alpha fish will not always reset the pecking order differently
when they are re-introduced. The probability of it NOT working increases
with i) intelligence of the fish (cichlids=high=better memory), ii)
familiarity of the environment (planted tanks always look like planted
tanks ;~), and how dynamic the pecking order is (Angels, Discus etc seem
to have a slightly less dynamic pecking order, perhaps because they are
larger and slower moving?, while highly aggressive fish like mbuna have a
much more dynamic pecking order, so changes in command are more likely to
occur, and be accepted).

The other interesting phenomena was the rate of wound repair in the
community tank. I've always felt that hospital tanks were poor
environments for recovery and only suitable for the duration of a
medicinal dosage. It's equivalent to putting someone in solitary
confinement until they get better ;~). Quarantine & hospital tanks can
be identically set-up, but recovery tanks should have shelter and some
chances of interaction with other fish. Besides the effect on the fish's
metabolism (and immune system), I wonder if there was anything in the
community tank's water which speeded recovery (chemical, hormonal,
inducing to slime production etc).

I've noticed similar effects. Most recently, a tank of leleupis reached
maturity and they all decided that it was all-out war in the tank.
Rather than separating them into iso/hospital tanks, I sprinkled them one
to a tank with other Africans (leleupis hold their own well with other
Africans and tend to ignore anything which is not bright yellow like
them). All but one recovered perfectly (the exception was too far gone),
and I have no doubt that if any had gone into the iso tanks, they would
have slowly wasted away.

My best recovery tanks are my plant tanks, highest up off the floor. Low
tanks are more stressful to fish (maybe like birds & cats, they feel more
secure looking down on us, but unlike birds, fish don't seem to have too
much of an opportunity to look down on anything ;~), and in nature,
fish-prey would be more exposed at the surface than in the deep, so go
figure).

NetMax

[Heather]

"NetMax" > wrote in message >... ((( SNIPPED )))

I am an animal empath and I would like to add to this....

> The other interesting phenomena was the rate of wound repair in the
> community tank. I've always felt that hospital tanks were poor
> environments for recovery and only suitable for the duration of a
> medicinal dosage. It's equivalent to putting someone in solitary
> confinement until they get better ;~). Quarantine & hospital tanks can
> be identically set-up, but recovery tanks should have shelter and some
> chances of interaction with other fish. Besides the effect on the fish's
> metabolism (and immune system), I wonder if there was anything in the
> community tank's water which speeded recovery (chemical, hormonal,
> inducing to slime production etc).


I agree, depending on the situation. But there is no doubt that the
stress of netting and transferring a fish into a barren and sterile
enviroment is a risk that should be carefully considered.

And that was a great story about the wound. It didn't quite heal
properly until the angel was back with other angels doing
'angel-like-things' and feeling like an angel again. I say this light
heartedly but fishes have souls too, which stimulate and are
stimulated by intense instincts, which then stimulate the body to
perform and in this case heal. This is a great example and I'm glad
it was brought up.

I'd like to take this opportunity for another quick story (one of many
I have) to further illustrate the point that fish are indeed little
souls because I can't remember it ever being talked about without
flames. This is of a breeding pair of true texas cichlids I had for
years. The pair had raised so many spawns whether I liked it or not I
was running out of space and pet stores who'd take them. Anyway the
male suddenly came down with a fungal infection, my guess is brought
on by old age and weakness, and I had to take him out for dips and
soaks and sometimes he'd spend half the day away from his tank.
Towards the end, he could only lay on his side, but I could not freeze
him (euth.) because upon my introducing him back to his tank after his
daily baths (which seemed to atleast postpone the obvious), he would
lay on the bottom of the tank and the female would come over and
literally hover directly over him, almost fanning him as if he were
her fry. And sometimes he would struggle to get upright, as if just
for her. It was truly amazing to see, she wouldn't leave him for
anything, and she'd defend him against the catfish. And when at last
his end came, she retreated to their old spawning cave and never came
out. She never ate again, despite my efforts, and passed away not too
long later.

Heather
Animal Empath and former Veterinary Technician

[Happy'Cam'per]

And if that does'nt cheer you up...... ;(
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

[Heather]

"Happy'Cam'per" > wrote in message >...
> And if that does'nt cheer you up...... ;(


HA! Well, a happy story is one of the first memories of having fish as
a kid was finding a male swordtail all covered in dustbunnies on the
floor and thinking him dead but plopping him back into my way too over
crowded 5 gallon and him springing back to life :) I learned then to
always plop them back in, just to make sure. Then once I hit 8 or 9,
I learned just to buy a freakin hood :)

[Happy'Cam'per]

LOL @ Heather...
Fish in tha hood...
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**



"Heather" > wrote in message
...
> "Happy'Cam'per" > wrote in message
>...
> > And if that does'nt cheer you up...... ;(
>
>
> HA! Well, a happy story is one of the first memories of having fish as
> a kid was finding a male swordtail all covered in dustbunnies on the
> floor and thinking him dead but plopping him back into my way too over
> crowded 5 gallon and him springing back to life :) I learned then to
> always plop them back in, just to make sure. Then once I hit 8 or 9,
> I learned just to buy a freakin hood :)