Bicolor Angel is self-mutilating!

Discussion in 'Diseases' started by ayjay, Sep 30, 2009.

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  1. ayjay

    ayjay Astrea Snail

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    Sep 30, 2009
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    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    i have a bicolor angel that i've had for only 3 weeks and i've noticed that his right fin is badly shreded and about half the length of the left one. i decided to watch him more closely and to my amazement he's intentionally going up to my emerald crab and putting it's right fin in the crab's face, forcing it to grab it. it'll hover beside the crab for about 10 seconds sometimes trying to get the crab to go for it... i think the crab is getting tired of it honestly. so either the bicolor has some strange self-mutilation fetish or it's got some disease. i couldn't see any signs of ich and it's not rubbing against the rocks or anything, and there aren't any strange spots on it either. seems to swim ok as well although it's apparent that it uses the left fin much more than the right one...

    has anybody ever heard of/seen this before?? (see pics... second pic you can see the emerald crab just to the right of the bicolor)[​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  3. marlinman

    marlinman Zoanthid

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    Fish can be weird and it's always pot luck when you get one. There's really not a lot you can do about this and what a shame but wait it out and the fin might grow back. Bicolor Angels are beautiful but I heard someone say that they had a problem with one so I shy'd away from them and got a Lemonpeel that's been just awesome. IMAO.
     
  4. ayjay

    ayjay Astrea Snail

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    ya i was debating whether to get the lemonpeel or the bicolor and i liked the looks and price of the bicolor a lot more :p we'll see if it gets any worse... if it does i'll have to see about either removing the crab or getting some meds for fin rot. how long does it typically take for a fin to fully heal? (ie. are we talking weeks or months?)
     
  5. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    Weeks. A cleaner shrimp might be a good idea.
     
  6. ayjay

    ayjay Astrea Snail

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    Location:
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    i have a tiger pistol... won't it try to eat the cleaner shrimp?
     
  7. ayjay

    ayjay Astrea Snail

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    Location:
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    so several days ago the his right eye started getting foggy :( so i bought some melafix and now i'm into the 3rd day of treatment. not running the protein skimmer at all but then again i don't have too large of a bioload in my tank and am not feeding as much as usual. going to keep trying the melafix and once the 7 days are over and if he's still not looking good i'll have to resort to fresh water dipping. just not sure how to do it... yet. some insight in how to setup the water would be much appreciated! :)
     
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  9. ayjay

    ayjay Astrea Snail

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    it died. did a freshwater dip with a little bit of methylene blue and he died about 24 hours later... lfs said it could have been caused by anything, even scratching it's eye or body on a rock and then it got infected. ah well, wanna try a lemon peel or a singapore angel next, see how that goes...