Angelfish With Wasting Disease

I purchased two young angelfish a few months back along with 4 cory cats. After a few weeks, I noticed one of the angelfish didn't seem to be as active as the other one. About a week and a half ago I noticed that one angelfish was a lot bigger than the other. I should have picked up on it sooner and feel bad that I didn't, but am quite sure it has the internal parasite and it is wasting away. I had some General Cure on hand, medicated the tank as prescribed - one dose, then 48 hours another dose. During treatment, I noticed the larger angelfish had the white stringy pooh too. Last night after the last 48 hours of the second dose, I did a 50% water change and put carbon in the filter to take out the medicine.
The smaller sicker fish doesn't appear any better - I feel he may be too far gone as he isn't interested in eating at all! The other one is very active, however eats and then spits out his food. I keep looking for white stringy pooh, but don't see any at the moment.
Is it even possible to cure the wasting disease? If so, what do you recommend I get to treat them with. I wasn't sure about starting another round of General Cure and how it would affect the other fish. Also, I noticed that my emerald cory has a white dot on his nose. How do I treat that? The other cories are fine so far. The GC didn't do anything for his white dot.

I have a 40G breeder tank and the water parameters are fine. I checked it a few days before starting meds, and Ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates 20.

I have in my tank the two angels, 4 cories, 3 cardinal neons, 3 norman lampeyes and about 15 guppies, 1 zebra loach and 1 BN pleco. My water has always tested good - I have two AC70 filters on the tank and change water every week without fail. I could possibly be 'over feeding' the fish making sure the cories and zebra loach get enough to eat.
So, since I put all my fish through two rounds of General Cure, I'm thinking it would be too hard on them to go through another round of ???
I'm sorry this is so long. I just feel so bad for the angelfish just isolating itself and waiting to die. Is there anything I can do for it at this stage? I feel that if I could get it to eat, there's a chance. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi! Sorry to hear you are having trouble and I hope your angel makes it.

First of all, wasting disease is a nickname for fish TB. This is different from parasites; which is it?
For fish TB, there is no cure - sometimes the fish pulls through, but usually not. It is also highly infectious so most people recommend euthanizing (or at least isolating) any fish that shows symptoms before it can affect the others.

If its an internal parasite, there are lots of options to cure. Personally, I just used levamisole hcl to get rid of camallanus worms on 4 angels and 2 discus. They all pulled through and I see no sign of worms anymore!

So anyway we need to know what it is before recommending treatment.

As for the cory with the white dot, could you post a picture? Most likely its just ich, but a picture could help us tell for sure.

Good luck!

 

Hi! Sorry to hear you are having trouble and I hope your angel makes it.

First of all, wasting disease is a nickname for fish TB. This is different from parasites; which is it?
For fish TB, there is no cure - sometimes the fish pulls through, but usually not. It is also highly infectious so most people recommend euthanizing (or at least isolating) any fish that shows symptoms before it can affect the others.

If its an internal parasite, there are lots of options to cure. Personally, I just used levamisole hcl to get rid of camallanus worms on 4 angels and 2 discus. They all pulled through and I see no sign of worms anymore!

So anyway we need to know what it is before recommending treatment.

As for the cory with the white dot, could you post a picture? Most likely its just ich, but a picture could help us tell for sure.

Good luck!

Its probably just hexitima and you have to give it metronidazole inside its throat somehow if it won't eat at all.

 

Its probably just hexitima and you have to give it metronidazole inside its throat somehow if it won't eat at all.

Okay - Home from work now. Last night I put General Cure in the tank again because I wasn't sure what else to do. It was so late. The GC seems to have helped the 'healthier' angel become more active. I did see stringy white poo coming out of it, and that is what made me realize that that is what the other one has had for a long time and I just didn't realize it. I never saw anything coming out of it, but it just never seemed anxious to eat. I did just order the levamisole from Amazon and can get it tomorrow. I saw on YouTube last night a video on Metroplex mixed with the binder (name escapes me now) and putting it with garlic guard. Can I prepare this mixture and feed it to my fish while I have General Cure in there? When I receive the levamisole tomorrow, can I do a water change and then put it in the tank?
I have posted pics of the cory, larger sick but healthier angelfish, and one of the sick fish (sorry I can't get a better pic, as it just stays in the back of the tank). I don't feel that the cory has ich, as no other fish has any white spots on it. Based on the the one angelfish that I did see white stringy poo come out of, I'm assuming that that's what the really sick one has had for a while. I've read that that is a sign of parasites - I could be wrong and am hoping someone can tell me what it means because I don't know for sure. If it is a parasite, is there at least hope for the one that isn't that bad yet? Thanks in advance for all your advice.

 

UPDATE: Okay, it's been since last Thursday that I posted the above post.
I have used several doses of General Cure, as that is what I had on hand. It has definitely helped my other angel that I saw the white stringy pooh coming out of. He seems to be fine.
My other angel, with the wasting disease (for lack of a better description) appears to be hanging in there so far. I sectioned off a quarter of the tank to get it away from the other angel who has been shunning and picking on him for quite a while. Now it has its own space and definitely feels more at ease in his space, however it is quite pale and thin. It is swimming around, and wants to eat, but mostly lets the food pass by him. When I put in frozen blood worms (cut small) that were marinated in garlic, it seems to want to eat them and does, but then spits it out. After about 2 or 3 times of doing this, it just gives up and swims on. I'm assuming that it does not have worms any more, but am wondering if it is too far gone to get better.
I have posted a pick of the sick angel and based upon what I have said about his behavior and the fact that he is swimming around, do any of you experienced fish keepers feel that there is still hope for my angel? If so, please let me know what I can do.

As for the cory with the white spot on it's nose, I did post a pick of him in my previous post, but here it is again. I put a capful of Paraguard in the tank last night. Not sure if I should put it in again or not. Should I go and get some fungus cure? Please advise.
I need to do a water change, as I've been putting in more food than necessary, trying to get my angel to eat

 

Its possible that they have a roundworm called capalaria.
General cure dosent kill those.
Stringy poo is usually worms, so if you raise angels or any fish at all, you may want to get a proper dewormer.
Levimasole is what most people use, and this is something you put in the water and is skin absorbed.

Hole in the head can cause a lot of damage, I have seen people with chiclids that would not eat at all and they starve to death.
I have also seen people sedate the fish and shove a tube down its throat just to inject some metronidazole.

Yes, metroplex is a lot cheaper than buying general cure. Especially since praziquentel is not the right de-wormer to use.

You can in the future find both these meds in flakes or pellets, and levimasole too.

 

Yes, metroplex is a lot cheaper than buying general cure. Especially since praziquentel is not the right de-wormer to use.

You can in the future find both these meds in flakes or pellets, and levimasole too.

Thank you for your response. I just got some levimasole in the mail yesterday.
I feel like the cory and the angelfish have two separate illnesses, however I can most certainly be wrong. I had some paraguard so put some in the tank last night.

Just finished a 50% water change. Can you tell me how much levimisole to put into mytank? I have a 40G breeder tank.
I just ordered some medicated pellets from Amazon. Thank you.

 

1/4 teaspoon per 100 gallons

 

1/4 teaspoon per 100 gallons

Thank you very much!

 

Okay - I treated my tank with Levimasole and did a 80%-ish water change 24 hours later, which was last night. Everyone survived! The healthier angelfish is doing fabulous! He's eating like a pig and acting very normal. I noticed a fat short almost black thing coming out of his rear. Not sure if that was a dead worm or food. Have been watching all my other fish and have not seen any worms come out.
Now, my very thin thin angelfish is still alive. Bless her heart, she wants to live and I want her to live so bad. She is very comfortable in her space separated from the other angelfish. I've been coating frozen blood worms with garlic and she really goes for them, but ends up spitting them out. Is there still hope for her? She should definitely be eating now. I've put the sera nip things on the glass, flakes, etc. The food just goes by her and she is uninterested. Would a salt bath or some kind of bath help at all?
I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

Levimasole suppresses appetite for a few days or longer. Be patient. Garlic is a good idea but not too much. Keep changing the water. Make sure they eat all the food or don't feed

 

Levimasole suppresses appetite for a few days or longer. Be patient. Garlic is a good idea but not too much. Keep changing the water. Make sure they eat all the food or don't feed

It's been touch and go with my sick angelfish this week. Looking back, I should have noticed its condition sooner. The other angelfish was always shunning him/pushing him away. But then I would see them together, so thought maybe things would be okay.
The angelfish is clearly not going to make it and I don't want it to suffer any longer. I do have some clove oil but have never used it. As much as it pains me to euthanize her, it pains me more that she should suffer any longer. I read somewhere someone said to put the fish in a cup of tank water and sprinkle a few drops of clove oil in there and then cover up the cup. Does this sound right? I just don't want her to suffer any longer. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

It's been touch and go with my sick angelfish this week. Looking back, I should have noticed its condition sooner. The other angelfish was always shunning him/pushing him away. But then I would see them together, so thought maybe things would be okay.
The angelfish is clearly not going to make it and I don't want it to suffer any longer. I do have some clove oil but have never used it. As much as it pains me to euthanize her, it pains me more that she should suffer any longer. I read somewhere someone said to put the fish in a cup of tank water and sprinkle a few drops of clove oil in there and then cover up the cup. Does this sound right? I just don't want her to suffer any longer. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Humane method of Euthanasia for sick fish

 

Sorry the one angel isn't pulling through.

I would make sure to finish the treatments anyway though, make sure there are no other infected fish. It's advised to do at least two dewormer (Levamisole) treatments two weeks apart.

 

Humane method of Euthanasia for sick fish

Thanks very much for this information. I'm going with the clove oil.

Sorry the one angel isn't pulling through.

I would make sure to finish the treatments anyway though, make sure there are no other infected fish. It's advised to do at least two dewormer (Levamisole) treatments two weeks apart.

Thanks - yes, I will do another treatment on Monday and will be watching every fish very closely.