PlanetCatfish.com

I just came into possesion of 2 Synodontis Angelica. In their eagerness to both kram into a cave made for one....and the ensuing effort to get them out... they got kind of roughed up abit. One especially sustained some substantial scuffs. Theyre not deep wounds or anything but they are more than minor. Yesterday was showing some redness....today turning whitish...like maybe fungus? Or maybe this is just the fishes natural slime coat trying to heal over?

I originally thought that with time to settle down in their new tank with plenty of clean water that the wounds would heal on their own....but their appearance today has me a little concerned.

I know next to nothing about these beautiful catfish.... recommended treatment?

I guess I should add I think these fish must be near full grown...Im guessing they are 6".... currently in a 15 gallon tank for QT with 4 baby Petricolas bought at the same time

thx a million!
Rob

I have used melafix when my synos got injured, works great and smells good.

I dont have a pic but the damage looks very similar to the fish in this thread....

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =8&t=24077

That will probably heal. Synos are pretty tolerant to injuries. However, as I understand it, Syno angelica is rather intollerant to other synos of the same size (apparently, a 10" specimen is perfectly happy to have a bunch of 3" synos of a different species share it's tank).

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Mats

Two six inch S.angelica in a fifteen is not a good scenario for the weaker of the two he may get roughed up a bit/lot, two is a bad number for these at the best of times...and watch closely with the small rift cats, depending how small they are .
They can heal up well but these are really tight quarters.
What are you planning to put them into...keeping in mind they are maybe half grown.
These are a great fish and I really love mine, but they definitely have their ways and always need to be watched over.

Birger

Oh, and 6" is nowhere near fully grown - they grow quite a bit bigger than that...

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Mats

well unfortunately this fishes condition rapidly declined and it passed

I know nothing about these fish so not sure what might have happened. I am going to assume the combination of the rough handling by the previous owner and being stressed from being moved around to new home was just too much.

The wounds originally really did looked to me like they would have healed with some TLC and clean water. The next day the wounds looked worse...turning white with some red/blood streaks along with rapid breathing. We made a run to the LFS and the gf got some broad spectrum anti bacterial med. When we returned from the store the fish was really looking bad. She dosed the tank. We watched a movie. Looked again and the fish was gone. Its a bummer she really liked these fish but theres still one left and it looks in much better condition.

These two were eventually going into her 75 with a couple eupterous and ocelifer.

Two is a bad number? How about one? Thats a lonely number...

For fish that are aggressive to others of the same kind, 1 or several are the best options. The problem with exactly 2 is that it's always ONE that is stronger and one weaker, and the strong one will pick on the weak one. If there are more than 2, then the strong one has a task of keeping BOTH weaker ones in check, which reduces the pressure. The higher the number, the better, because it spreads the agression.

The Cat-eLog actually doesn't say that this fish is aggressive to congeners, but I'm pretty sure this is one of those Syno's that don't like other synos - I spoke to a chap having one that was a good 10-12" TL a few weeks ago, and he said "It doesn't like other large syno's, but small ones is OK".

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Mats