Syno help...

I'd like some feedback on a plan of attack concerning a fish we just bought. We were at a store today and picked up a Synodontis Angelica which looks like he is on deaths door. Fins(caudal, dorsal and pelvic) are mostly missing, barbels are very short, and his belly is very sunken. We setup a new 10 gallon tank with aged water from another tank, installed an AC70 with foam and bio-rings for filtration, as well as added a heater to keep the tank @ ~77 degrees F. I dosed the tank with 1 TBSP salt and thought about adding an anti-fungal, but have held off on that line of treatment.

Anything I missed? We'd really like to get this guy back in a great condition. We dropped in a couple shrimp pellets, as well as a piece of Repashy Spawn & Grow which should help out his nourishment problems. We're keeping the tank dark to get him settled in and as stress-free as possible.

His fin damage was most likely caused by his tank mates at the store.

Thanks;

Heather & Dennis

Sounds like you're doing the right thing to start. If he's just undernourished and beat up, good food and clean water should be all he needs. I would do frequent water changes using dechlorinated tap water.

Does the filter have biomedia that is seeded from another tank or is it new? If new, I would borrow some from another healthy tank so the fish doesn't have the added stress of a tank cycling.

Is he eating the food?

My pictus catfish LOVES frozen blood worms. If you have those on hand they will help too.

Well, he's still alive, but I'm not sure if he's eating anything yet. It might just be my imagination, but it looks like his tummy is maybe a little more filled out than it was when we got him on Saturday.

His tank is a 10 gallon bare bottom with an AC70 for filtration, containing one sponge and the remainder of the basket is filled with bio-rings from one of our other tanks. That should prevent any cycling concerns at this point, but I'm still doing 50+% WC's just to be sure. I may add a carbon bag to help out with water purity.

Thanks for the recommendation on frozen blood worms. I'll give that a try. I've tried shrimp pellets, NLS, BBS, and some flake food. He seems to swim over the offered food and I can't tell if he is actually eating it. His color is starting to return to what I've seen picture of other Angelicus cat's, so hopefully that is a good sign.

I was a bit concerned about infection in the stubs of his chewed off fins. I thought about adding Meth Blue to ward off any potential problems, but may just add a couple ml's of H2O2.

Hopefully his appetite returns soon.

Colors returning are definitely a good thing. Carbon really doesn't help much from what I've been educated as to removing much other than odor. I removed carbon from my tanks and my fish are much more active. Given my personal experience I would leave it out.

My pictus prefers flake and frozen blood worms over anything else I have tried. Could thaw out some blood worms and spread them out across the floor of the tank so he doesn't have to swim too terribly much to get to them if he wants to eat them. Give it time and it sounds like he will return to normal. Stress coat may help him feel a little more comfortable and help with healing.

Here is a pic of our little guy still in the bag from the store. He looks so bad, but I finally got him eating last night. Thanks Shorty for the tip on trying new foods. He finally ate some Cobalt Tropical Pellets, while I was chasing/herding him around the tank with a flashlight.

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Note the missing fins and severely sunken stomach.

Oh man, he looks pretty bad but if he's still alive and now eating I'd say there is a very good chance at recuperation.

Apparently he's got a tremendous will to live. He took some pellets this morning as well so things seem to be looking up. I'll post recovery pics here as he improves. He's become my "project fish" so to speak. We've been talking about where to put him once he's recovered his finnage. Maybe setup the newly acquired 55 Gallon acrylic, or the 125 Gallon 6' tank. We want to make his life very nice after what he's been through.

D.

If he's like my pictus he'll eat any small tetra or live bearer adults. Just to keep in mind for placement.

Sad update, Lastnight he seemed to be swimming around and having a difficult time staying on the bottom. It seemed like he had a swim bladder problem. Woke up this morning and found him dead on the surface. He had been eating well, fed him Cobalt pellets, but I think the battle damage may have been too much for him to recover from. I suspect he got an infection in one the the fin stumps. I put him in a ziplock bag in the freezer and will see if the LFS has another one.
  

Sorry for the loss of your Synodontis Angelica.    They are very cool fish. I was talking with an old fish keeping buddy from some years back and his Synodontis Angelica just passed. We figured the thing must have been over thirty years old!

Well dang, he lasted quite a while. Sorry for your loss.