Minnow

My angel's fins are shredded! They were fine when I checked on the tank around 6pm, and 3 hours later, they look horrible. He is in a 30g tank with his mate, a dwarf gourami, 5 pristella tetras, and a Buenos Aires tetra.

Right now the tank is half full with the filter off while I treat the tank with Levasole because a guppy died of camallanus worms. (the filter won't run with the water level so low, and I lowered the water so I would have enough meds for all my tanks) The heater is part of the filter, so I stuck in a spare heater meant for 10 gallons.

Temp is 78 degrees. Last I checked, a week or so ago, I got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 nitrate. I'll check tomorrow, but it's almost midnight and I can't tonight.

The only thing I noticed different about him was that white/cloudy patches/streaks appeared on his fins right after I moved him from the 10g QT. I thought this was a good sign, but maybe I was wrong.

Why did this happen? What can I do? I'm going to add some Stress Coat+ and Vitachem, is there anything else I can do? Tomorrow I'm doing a close to 100% water change as part of the treatment, and I will fill the tank to the top again.

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agabr123

poor thing is it possible that the tetras did it? if he hasn't been aggressive towards them they may have done a number on him, they're notorious fin nippers.

did they look fine after you removed the filter or is it possible that the filter intake shredded them?

Minnow

I don't think it was the Buenos Aires, it knows not to mess with the angels. The pristellas aren't aggressive at all, they all have nipped fins from the B.A.. The gourami hasn't done it, either. I know it's not nipped fins.

As for the filter, he was fine for several hours after I turned the filter off.

The tank is a little cold- the heater is only meant for 10 gallons, and the tank holds 15 right now. The temperature is around 75-76%.

His fins look a little worse this morning. I couldn't get a good picture of them, but his pectoral fins are shredded, too. Also, there seems to be some sort of stringy, white fungus on the tips of the dorsal and caudal fins.

Is it possible that the medication caused this? Or is it the colder temperatures? All of the other fish are fine, the other angel only has a tiny v-shaped tear in her tail, and I'm pretty sure that was there before.

agabr123

i dont think it's the colder temp, if anything the colder temp would have slowed down the deterioration if it's fin rot. i don't know if the meds could cause it, i would just keep adding the stress coat, i dont know what kind of affect treating with some kind of fin rot medication would have on the meds that you're already using to treat for the camallanus worms.

AlyeskaGirl

your Angel has fin-rot. That stringy white stuff on fins is a second infection. You have a bacterial infection. The most common thing that brings fin-rot on is bad water quality.

BTW your Angel is gorgous!

Minnow

Thanks. His fins don't look too much worse, but they haven't gotten any better. I suppose that the addition of the new fish messed with the water quality. When I tested the water before, I had 5 glowlight tetras and a neon. I switched them with my dad's larger tetras and added the angels and gouramis at the same time.

I wouldn't have added such a big load if it weren't for the medication. I didn't have enough to treat the 10g quarantine tank, so I had to move fish around to make things work.

How long should it take for his fins to heal? Clean water and Stress Coat are all he needs, right?

Shawnie

im sorry about your angels fins ..poor babies..have you tested you water to make sure your not into a mini cycle from the meds?

daily water changes for a few weeks should heal them up ...stress coat is good unless you are in a mini cycle then you need stress coat + ...some fish protector and some garlic guard will also make them feel much better!

cerianthus

Looks like an infection since not just the edges are tattered but the holes on connective tissues b/n dorasl rays confirms. May be started by being nipped leading to secondary infection. There are numerous products available so look into disease itself to veirfy/treatments. Make sure to run full test,pH, NH3, NO2, NO3 to eliminate the water as culpit.
It look like very nice female(?, need full side view with fins fully open) but how old? Usually it takes a while to to build the hump (adipose tissues?)on forehead like that. You must be feeding them well or HORMONE induced foods?

Minnow

I'm doing a nearly 100% water change in an hour, and I'll do smaller daily ones for a while until he's better. I'll have to test the water tomorrow, I hope it's not a mini-cycle. After the 4 month long cycle, I would rather not go through all that again.

I have Stress Coat and Prime (out of Stress Coat+), Vitachem, and some garlic juice. Stress Coat and Prime with each water change, Vitachem daily, but how often should I add garlic juice? Also, around how long until he heals up? He's so pretty, I don't want him to suffer.

Minnow

This one is the male, the female doesn't have a "hump" at all. They were like that when I got them, I think they got a lot of food in their old home. I don't know how old they are, but they're around 3-4 inches right now.

Shawnie

30-40% is enough for water changes a day...I would add the garlic a few times a week...no one can tell how long healing will take....each fish is different..just prestine water conditions are a must to keep it from getting worse...and I agree thats deffinately a a male and his bump i the biggest ive ever seen before!!

Minnow

Thanks, Shawnie! I'll keep the water as clean as possible.

Is his bump really the biggest one you've seen? I'll have to tell him that, maybe it'll make him feel better

Shawnie

hahahahah LOL yes ive never seen an angel with such a defined "BUMP" if it makes him feel better, by all means!

cerianthus

Trust me, even female are capable of hump when old and kept for few yrs w/ very good (proper)diets such as mosquito larvae, daphnia, other insect larvae, etc grown in your own backyard or very fat enriched artificiall food.
As far as gender, like I said, need full side view with fin fully open to confirm, unless actual spawning took place with visible sharp pointed tube..Need to edit often due to stiff fingers which can not keep up with my thinking,lol!

Minnow

Well, I know they were fed flakes exclusively in their old tank.

I give them bloodworms and daphnia several times a week, they love it

I know they're a pair, and since he has a huge hump and the other doesn't have one at all, I think it's safe to assume he's male. You can see pictures of both here.

cerianthus

Even though have not massively spawned Angels in close to 30 yrs other than few in early to mid 90's (Black Lace and koi), and few attempts on ALTUM ANGELS (WILD SPECIMEN) before leaving hobby, Unfornutely both seems like female, hopefully i am wrong so you can have spawn.
Is this the fish obtained from Ranch? or it may have grown in small tank to age w/o body growing?
One with Orange Cap is a beauty. Hard to find with pattern of color as is.

It is also known and have experienced, two female angels actually go thru spwaning, laying eggs but no fertilization.
Like I said, I hope I am wrong about the gender.

AlyeskaGirl

I just realized they are the Angels you rescued, lol! You get them and bring them to your house to take care of them only to deal with fin-rot later. That's frustrating.

Keep the water very clean. I went through the same thing with my 3 Angels. I moved them into a 10 gal q-tine tank and treated them with Pimafix and Melafix after dosing with stronger meds in the main tank. I lost a bunch of fish. I dosed everyday for 3 days and did a 25% w/c and again dosed 3 days and 25% w/c and so on. I did that for 2 wks. Their fins have grown back nicely and are healthy. I had fin-rot with second infection of white cottony on fins and a third of cloudy eyes.

Minnow

I don't really care whether or not they spawn, I didn't get them to breed them. They get along very well and act like a pair (the day I moved them to quarantine, they were "kissing," which from what I have read is mating behavior), but if they're both female, that's cool too. They were both rescued from a friend of mine who had an absolutely disgusting, overstocked tank she was getting rid of. I think they are from a chain store, probably PetCo.

Minnow

Yep, these are the rescues Luckily only this one is affected, the other is fine. How long should I go with water changes, Stress Coat, etc. before I think about medicating? I have both Pimafix and Melafix, plus a 10g QT.

AlyeskaGirl

I got the same advice as you once I noticed my rosy barbs (died) had white tips on their fins. Which is a sign of fin-rot. I was doing w/c using Stress coat as I always do but it wasn't helping. It was getting worse. I decided to medicate them. I used E.M. Erythromycin. After the first round it didnt get rid of it all but I did a w/c anyway. I woke up the next morning with dead fish. 3 Angelfish, silver dollar and 5 blk neons were the survivors. The rest of my fish were covered in a white cottony blanket floating on the surface. The 3 Angles were back with cloudy eyes and white cottony on their fins. So I did another round of meds. After that round it wasnt all gone. So moved the neons and Angles down into the q-tine and used the Pemafix and Melafix together.

If it were me I would put the Angel in the q-tine tank and treat with Pemafix and Melafix. It worked great for my Angels. Add half capful of each; 5ml. When I setup my q-tine I used fresh clean water from the tap using stress coat and added Stress Zyme. Right after filling up the tank the Angels went in. Had no probs. Just made sure the temp was the same as the main tank. I figured SZ would work great for q-tine tanks since it wont be setup for long. It keeps the parameters at zero.

I hope everything works out for your Angel.

Minnow

Thanks, I'll move him/her tomorrow and start treatment.

Minnow

I don't know if I'll have to move the angelfish, his/her fins look much better this morning! They are halfway healed. I think doing the big water change, refilling the tank, and starting up the filter has really helped. I'd be surprised if they aren't healed within the week. I'll do another water change today and see what happens.

agabr123

that's wonderful! i'd just keep a close eye (which i'm sure you will) and your angel should be back to normal in no time. i always prefer not to use meds if i can help it, and if a water change can do the same thing i'd rather do the water change!

Minnow

Yes, I always use meds as a last resort, but I was prepared to use them in this case if it didn't look a whole lot better soon. And it does! I think with daily water changes, my angel will be fine. The water is really cloudy right now, I would be doing water changes anyways.

agabr123

i'm glad your angel is doing better