Angelfish problem

Hi

I have a 140 litre (37 US Gallon) tank, with external eheim filtration,
which contains:

3 Angelfish (2 male, 1 female) - the larger male is about 3 inches from nose
to tale, whist the other 2 are probably 2 1/2 inches.
6 neon tetras
2 corydoras, around 1 1/2 inches long
2 loaches around 2 inches long
1 red-tip shark (which isn't really a shark!) around 2 1/2 inches long.

The tank has a sand bottom and is well planted.Water quality is good and I
do a 15% water change every 2 weeks. The tank has been established for
around 18 months with all the afore mentioned fish.

The larger male Angle has recently developed a list and when stationary
leans at about 45 degrees, sometimes more. When swimming he is normally
just about upright. He has no other symptoms or marks and appears to have a
healthy appetite. Any thoughts as to what might be causing his condition,
and how to treat it, would be much appreciated.

Regards

Neil Cummins

"Neil Cummins" wrote in
:

3 Angelfish (2 male, 1 female) - the larger male is about 3 inches
from nose to tale, whist the other 2 are probably 2 1/2 inches.

Have they been breeding? The only reliable way to sex angels is to observe
their genital papilla, which are only visible while they are spawning. The
male's spawning tube is narrow and pointed, the female's is wider and
rounded. Any other method if differentiating angelfish sex is just a
guess.

The larger male Angle has recently developed a list and when
stationary leans at about 45 degrees, sometimes more. When swimming

Don't worry about it. It is not a condition, it is normal and common
behaviour. You will see this behaviour much more frequently with wild
caught fish. The fish is listing over in order to get a better look at
something.

Neil Cummins wrote,
The larger male Angle has recently developed a list and when stationary
leans at about 45 degrees, sometimes more. When swimming he is normally
ust about upright. ............
Any thoughts as to what might be causing his condition,
and how to treat it, would be much appreciated.


I took a little trip for a week and a half - playing catch-up on a few
of the post...
Is your angelfish doing any better now that it's been a few days? If
not, first thing to look at is it's eyes. Could be physical damage,
corneal opacity (cloudy eye/s), or cataracts (white or grayish foggy
substance covering eye) - cataracts are caused by fungus. Aquatronics
makes a medication called Eye Fungex that works quite well on the
above... Eye flukes or brain flukes would also tend to make a fish lean
to one side, treated with Fluke-Tabs for two days...
Hole-in-the-head/hexamita disease - pin sized holes near nostrils, gill
plates or near eyes - mineral and/or vitamin "D" imbalance. Treated by
feeding red earth worms and metronidazole medication... Constipation -
Epsom Salts is a great purgative. Two teaspoons per 10 gal. will clear
intestinal tract of food obstructions...High nitrAtes...Bacterial
infection.

and I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks.

You should be doing at _least_ a 20% water change per week - needed not
only to keep nitrAtes down, but also to keep the DOC levels down. High
levels of eather could be the cause of the trouble............... Frank

"Frank" wrote in news:1142030111.793413.247490
@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

above... Eye flukes or brain flukes would also tend to make a fish lean
to one side, treated with Fluke-Tabs for two days...

I don't say this to sound glib, but have you kept many angelfish Frank? I
seriously doubt it is any sort of affliction as his fish are not showing
any signs of poor health.

Angelfish, most notably wild altums, do this kind of tilted body posturing
all the time, especially when they're being inquisitive. I suspect it is
because they are trying to get a better view of something without drawing
too much attention to themselves by moving around a lot. I imagine these
fish have a lot of 3D blind spots due to their large flattened shape.

Angelfish use a lot of slow moving body posturing to appear as narrow as
possible and to blend in to their surroundings, which in the wild consist
mostly of roots and brushwood. Listing over slightly to see something
above and to the side requires a lot less movement than reorienting the
whole body in the direction of the stimuli.

I've seen healthy, even breeding angels display this listing behaviour. It
seems the more calm and settled an angel is in its environment the less
likely you are to see their beautiful array of interesting body posturing.

Neil wrote,
He has no other symptoms or marks and appears to have a
healthy appetite..........

Hi Neil - figure out what's going on with your angelfish yet?
............ Frank