Popeye

It happened.

Just when I think everything is perfect - the fish are all healthy, the water quality is perfect, and the tanks have become easily maintained, I spot a problem.

This is one of my largest blue marble angels. It is easy to see from this angle that one eye is enlarged and bulging. This is known as Popeye. There are a couple of things that can cause it: injury to the eye or unclean conditions. Since the conditions have been ideal, it's more likely that the eye was injured. It is a peaceful tank, so it might have occurred if the fish swam into one of the decorations. In a less peaceful tank, I might have considered that he injured it while fighting.

So... what to do?

Step 1: Assess Everyone Else

The first step is to determine whether this problem is with one fish or several. If it was occurring with several, I would perform a 50% water change and add medicines to the entire tank.

Step 2: Isolate the Ill Fish

I determined very quickly that the problem is occurring with just this one fish. Its mate, by the way, had not left his side. He was not eating and was hanging out in one corner of the tank, and there like a good friend was his mate, side-by-side with him.

Though I didn't want to stress him or his mate any further, I decided I had to isolate him in order to provide him with the best treatment. Fortunately, the baby angels left last Friday for the local pet shop. I had just moved Lindsay Buckingfish and Stevie Fishnick back to the infant tank, which they prefer because it is higher than the honeymoon suite. So I now had the honeymoon suite empty and available.

I performed a water change to make certain the conditions were ideal, and then I moved the ill angel into that 20-gallon tank.

By moving him into a smaller tank, I remove the possibility that he will infect others, and I also am able to administer smaller doses of medicine.

Step 3: Water Medicines

After I moved the angel,  I added medicine to the water.

The medicine I selected is Binox, shown here. Binox is great for any bacterial infection. Popeye will often lead to secondary infections, so this will reduce that possibility. The directions call for removing any charcoal filters and adding 1 teaspoon per 25 gallons. It turns the water somewhat yellow but that also tells me that the medicine is still circulating in the tank.

Step 4: Feed Medicine

Shown in the same photograph is an Anti-Bacterial medicine that is administered as food. This is another reason why isolating the fish is a good idea. Though healthy fish will not be harmed if they ate this food, it could cause any bacteria to be resistant to the medicine as they build up a tolerance to it. Therefore, it is best used only when necessary.

The angelfish is currently not eating. Fish can go for days without food so at this point, I am not concerned. I will continue to feed it small amounts at least twice a day. As he begins to eat again, I will feed it more until I know he is well on his way to getting back to normal.

Step 5: Patience

All I can do at this point is monitor the situation. If he shows no sign of improvement in four days, I can perform a 25% water change and add more Binox to the tank. Within four days, his eye should have become reduced in size.

How long he remains in the tank will depend entirely on his condition. As long as he shows symptoms, I will keep him isolated. When he is back to normal, eating again and his eye is back to its normal size, I prefer to move him back to the community tank where his mate is.

I had a situation a few years ago in which Mick Fleetfish's mate became ill, and I set up an aquarium right next to his. As I administered medicine to his mate (she had dropsy) I noticed Mick remained as close to the glass as possible, where he could keep an eye on her. Angels mate for life, often live to be ten years old, and will sometimes mourn themselves to death after the death of a mate. (The water in the isolation tank is a different color due to the medicine that was added.)

Stay tuned and let's all hope this beautiful ten-inch blue marble responds well to the medicine!

Clutch Number 10

Lindsay Buckingfish and Stevie Fishnick have laid a 10th clutch of eggs. You might recall that they laid a clutch just a couple of weeks ago. However, none of those eggs survived. Sometimes I think the parents look at their offspring like a batch of cookies.

"Oh, we can do better than that," the mother says.

"I agree," says the papa. "Let's eat these and start over."

They have used the same amazon leaf for this latest batch. You can spot them easily because they are stark white.

Stevie Fishnick is a platinum angel with a gold crown.

If this clutch is like their others, about half of the fish will be black marbles like their papa, and half will be gold marbles - a golden or white background with black marbling.

Emmie Lou

Emmie Lou is between three and four months old now, and doing great. Like a typical female angelfish, she is small for her age. She spends more time alone, and now that she's discovered that food is plentiful, she no longer eats like it's her last meal.

Because she is a female, she has been more readily accepted into the community tank.

Had she been a male, she would have faced territorial issues from the other two males in the tank, who are constantly vying for a particular female's attention.

You might recall that Emmie Lou was born at my house (the 8th clutch of Lindsay Buckingfish and Stevie Fishnick), below. She is considered a blond marble - a cross between a black marble and a platinum angel. Crosses between black marbles and golden angels are also considered blond marbles.

Spotting the Female Angelfish

Adult female angelfish tend to be smaller than their male counterparts. Their bodies are not as thick but more svelte.

They can often spend more time alone and when it's feeding time, they don't usually push their way to the top as the males do. There are usually more males than females that survive out of a clutch. This could be because the females are not as assertive, even at a young age, so they don't grow as quickly or as strong as their male counterparts.

The angel above was originally named "Alfred". I noticed this one was hanging back, away from the others, and did not eat with the rest of them. I began feeding this one individually but realized when it became an adult that it is a female. She has been renamed Alfreda. She still spends a great deal of her time alone, staring outside the tank. She is almost two years old. Angels can live to be ten years old.

You can have any number of females in a tank, but when you have only 1 or 2 females and several more males, there can often be a display and posturing between the males as they compete for the female's attention (and eggs).

Females tend to become aggressive only when they are protecting their eggs or their young.

Spotting the Male Angelfish

It is nearly impossible to determine whether an angelfish is male or female when they are young. However, as they age, the males develop thicker bodies, tend to be larger than the females, and they often - but not always - have a hump on their heads.

If you are in a pet shop and you see adult angelfish, you can rest assured the females will not have a hump. The males will tend to be more assertive in a tank, and they can become quite aggressive if they are mating or defending their eggs or young.