Angelfish delimina- drastic temp drop

Question
Hi Rachel,

I have a 6 year established tank. The tank has 2 swordfish 1 goldfish and 1 angelfish. I have not added anything in the 6 years other than water and dried food-no live plants.

Last week I lost power to my house. The fish tank temp dropped to 60 degrees. I was able to gently warm it up. They all seemed to pull through without incident.

Yesterday I noticed my angelfish was not eating. She acts like she wants to eat but she spits out the food. She has never been picky.

Her being sick- I was told that it could be parasites but how and if this is not the case what is causing her to be sick and what can I do? She is very beloved to me and I don't want to lose her

Answer
The stress of the incident could still be affecting her. Does she have any other signs (fuzzy or salt like spots, bumps, velvet patches, darting, clamped fins, torn fins, anything odd)? Since you have had her for so long, you should be able to notice anything odd in behavior and appearance other than the eating. If there are other things let me know. However, until I know this I suspect stress. I did have one yellow rainbow fish and a bosemani rainbow fish in the same tank. Soon, the bosemani rainbow started picking on the yellow rainbow and almost killed the yellow rainbow. I removed the yellow rainbow to a different tank and it did not look good. I tried to feed it and it did as you explain, it took the food and spit it out. I was concerned it would not make it. However, soon it started actually eating the food, after 4-5 days or so. I suspect the rainbow just was very stressed and did not feel well. It wanted to eat but could not bring itself to eat. I suspect this with your angel. The drop was a drastic occurance and probably really stressed the angel out. How long has it been doing? If it has only been 1 or 2 days I would not be very concerned. Keep feeding as normal. If it has any other symptoms it could be a parasite or disease. If not, I would only be concerned if the angel does not eat for around 5 days or so. Than the angel may die from lack of nutrition. Also, try some other foods. Try foods like frozen brine shrimp or tubifex worms. These foods are very enticing to angels and may entice the angel to eat. However, do not overfeed and only feed these other foods as treats and not the angels main food. Basically, the shrimp and worms are treats but continue to feed the flakes. Be very careful to not overfeed. Let me know if there are any symtoms other than the ones you said and if there is anything else in which could change my reasoning. I hope this helps. I love angels too. I once had one for over 6 years too. They are beautiful and personal fish. Let me know if you need anything else.