60 Gallon Tank Sick or Gravid Angelfish??

Hello!

I have two angels in a tropical community tank.

One is now sequestered in my 10 gallon hospital tank, receiving daily doses of "Artemiss" for a mystery ailment that may not be an ailment. The ailment in question is a cloudy slime shroud with little white dots in it that falls off and sticks to the plants in the tank.

The other angel is now rampaging about the 60 gallon, fins up, looking for their friend/partner/mate. (He??) Is pretty cranky, and bold which is unlike (him??).

I have had a couple pet shop people look at a video of this weird ich like goo hanging off my (female??) Angel and both are stumped since it is not attached to (her??) Directly so we opted for the passive "Artemiss" treatment since my sequestered "sick" angel isn't acting sick at all. Eating and swimming fine, no fins pressed against the body, no gasping for air, just hiding a bit and shy in the hospital tank.

It has been two days of treatment and the weird cloudy slime with white dots keeps sloughing off my angel and onto the plants in the hospital tank!


Is my angel just trying to lay eggs and they aren't getting fertilized or something? The slimy stuff does not look like the Google images of "angelfish eggs" but does look like "angel fish egg sacs unfertilized" and it does stand to reason that fungus could be growing on them...although the "Artemiss" stuff is a fungicide I believe.

They're about 2 years old now (the 60 gallon community is too) and the first cichlids I've ever had... I'd also love to give my Angels a chance to be parents if I can, and if necessary set them up with a separate tank.

Any advice is welcome! Thank you!!

 

The picture isn't that helpful....
Is this "slime" growing on the fish or just appearing around the tank? It's not clear in your description of what's happening.

Angels generally lay eggs on vertical surfaces in lines and cover an area like that, if the eggs get fungused they turn from an opaque brown color to a white color and after a while will grow a fuzzy then slime like coating and spread over all of the eggs. They will eventually become dislodged and drift about in the flow of the tank.

It's why I use a piece of slate leaned up at an angle almost vertical for mine to breed on, they get used to it because it's ideal for them and then they end up always using it and you know where to look for eggs and have an easy time removing them. The "surprise" spawning can happen in strange places and go unnoticed and get quite messy as the eggs get enveloped in fungus or mold and decay.

If this is originating ON the fish though I'd need more pictures and more information to try and figure it out, I've heard of angels shedding their slime coat, or dropping scales even, due to skin conditions or a vitamin deficency, but at least from your initial post it doesn't sound like that's what's going on here.
If it were an external parasite cause, the other fish would have it also by now.

Maybe more description on what's going on, how often it happens, and if it's On the fish or just appearing in the tank where it's been hanging out would help.

If you leave the eggs in the spawning site in the tank if they are infertile and the fish don't eat them, it's gonna get all kinds of funky as they decay.

 

Sorry! I have been trying all day to get a better picture but (she?) Keeps hiding behind the sponge filter in the hospital tank...seems also like the snails in the hospital tank are eating the slime. Weird.

So yes, the "slime" does start off on the fish then ends up on plants in the aquarium! I did not know they could shed their slime coats. I don't see any missing scales and none of the other community fish have had any symptoms of parasites or illness yet. I also have not seen any lines of eggs, just these weird blobs with white dots in them. To be honest, the slime looks like a shredded cloudy jellyfish with white sprinkles in it.

I hope that is a better description and I will post a better picture once and if I am able to get one. I so appreciate the help! Luckily (she?) Is still not showing any signs of labored breathing or pain that I can tell.

 

Hope you get your problem worked out!

 

Would you consider the spots on the slime to be "tiny air bubbles" in appearance?

Just a guess based on what you've written and what I've heard from people over the years.

I'm thinking it's likely your water and dissolved gasses in it causing excessive slime coat and it shedding it. Or the fish's sensitivity to it, or a bit of both. People have experienced this in the winter months and the transition into spring with the water in the pipes being cold it holds more gasses that cause irritation that cause the slime coat to overproduce and "shed" there will be times when there's nothing you can do it's going to happen no matter how small a water change and then other times of the year like in mid summer when even a 90% change won't do anything at all.

Try smaller, more frequent water changes, like under 20% at a time. It's not so much the gasses themselves it's that the water holds them when it's colder in the pipes and stuff, and as the water warms up it forms microbubbles of the gas that cling to the fish causing the slime coat reaction to get the irritant off. This happens with some south american fish, some but not all, some are just more sensitive to the microbubbles of gasses or have a stronger reaction to it than others do, like an allergy, SA fish don't experience much of the cold water so they don't experience these cold water dissolved gasses.

Some people have had luck drawing water change water to a holding container and letting it sit on heater for 2 days to offgas and get to temp and release these gasses before water changing with it.

You could try diet also look into the foods given currently and if all bases are covered or not, that should boost the immune system, strengthen it and it might not be so bad of a reaction. I don't think it's a deficency cause though, most likely it's an allergy type reaction.

Anyways this is what I think is going on. Look at it and see if it's plausible and may fit the situation.

 

Would you consider the spots on the slime to be "tiny air bubbles" in appearance?

Just a guess based on what you've written and what I've heard from people over the years.

I'm thinking it's likely your water and dissolved gasses in it causing excessive slime coat and it shedding it. Or the fish's sensitivity to it, or a bit of both. People have experienced this in the winter months and the transition into spring with the water in the pipes being cold it holds more gasses that cause irritation that cause the slime coat to overproduce and "shed" there will be times when there's nothing you can do it's going to happen no matter how small a water change and then other times of the year like in mid summer when even a 90% change won't do anything at all.

Try smaller, more frequent water changes, like under 20% at a time. It's not so much the gasses themselves it's that the water holds them when it's colder in the pipes and stuff, and as the water warms up it forms microbubbles of the gas that cling to the fish causing the slime coat reaction to get the irritant off. This happens with some south american fish, some but not all, some are just more sensitive to the microbubbles of gasses or have a stronger reaction to it than others do, like an allergy, SA fish don't experience much of the cold water so they don't experience these cold water dissolved gasses.

Some people have had luck drawing water change water to a holding container and letting it sit on heater for 2 days to offgas and get to temp and release these gasses before water changing with it.

You could try diet also look into the foods given currently and if all bases are covered or not, that should boost the immune system, strengthen it and it might not be so bad of a reaction. I don't think it's a deficency cause though, most likely it's an allergy type reaction.

Anyways this is what I think is going on. Look at it and see if it's plausible and may fit the situation.

I think it is literally exactly that!!

Now that I think about it, I did notice what looked like weird bubbles on (her?) Before this whole slime fiasco started! And I live in Indiana, this all happened right after a huge storm cell blew through and raised temps suddenly and now consistently.

I am going to try your suggestion of small water changes and holding water in buckets with a heater to allow the gasses to dissolve. (She?) Is showing less slime now than she was but is still timid in the small tank. I'll finish out her med dosage to be safe and then start the small water change cycles when I reintroduce (her?) To the community.

Thank you so so so much for your thoughtful replies and insight! I love these fish and am grateful that we've made it two years without losses. My kids will be relieved too, as will her angel partner.