Sick Angelfish?

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#1
Feb 7, 2006
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#1
A bit of background info...
I had some bleeding-heart tetras in the tank with him---one of which had a 'fungusy/fuzzy-looking' whitish patch on his head, but well above his eyes. I thought it was maybe just a temporary disturbance in his slimecoat that would disappear over time.

I've moved the bleeding-heart tetras to a different tank and have no intention of re-introducing them to my 38 gal. with the angels.

The problem is that one of my angels now has this...not on his head, but on the tips of his two ventral fins and on the lower right-hand corner of his tail. None of the other fish have this so far.

Should I surgically remove the 3 affected areas in order to thwart it from spreading, or is it something in the water-column that necessitates a more general tank treatment?

The pic doesn't nearly do it justice.


Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.
Big Vine
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#4
Feb 7, 2006
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#4
Melafix and Pimafix are anti-fungal medications?
I'm assuming all the other fish and plants are okay to be subjected to this treatment? Could you explain about how dosing with it works?

Forgive my ignorance, but I've very rarely ever treated anything with meds. :eek:

Your recommendation makes it sound like the whole water-column needs to be treated, as opposed to just the one affected fish. If so, surgery would be pointless.

But if not, I'd rather opt for the surgical route rather than have to treat the whole tank.

Either way, I'd like to start taking care of this ASAP---like tonight---so thanks for the help.

Big Vine
 

Mahamotorworks

Mahamotorworks

Superstar Fish
#5
Aug 26, 2006
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#5
If it is fungal then it would be best to treat the whole tank. Cause the fungus is in the water column. The treatment is really easy. Remove Carbon from filters. Add meds. Treat for 7 days. The only reason I saw treat the whole tank is becasue it HAS spread to other fish. Isolationg the affected fish will only cure the one fish.

MAHA
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#6
Feb 7, 2006
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#6
Any other similar, equally-good meds that you know of off the top of your head that might be good for this...just on the odd chance that the store doesn't have Melafix?

Mahamotorworks said:
If it is fungal then it would be best to treat the whole tank. Cause the fungus is in the water column.
Click to expand...
Makes sense.

Mahamotorworks said:
The only reason I saw treat the whole tank is becasue it HAS spread to other fish. Isolationg the affected fish will only cure the one fish.
Click to expand...
Right.
My plan was to actually remove the angelfish momentarily and cut off the affected areas (they would grow back), then put him back in the tank.

BUT, if this thing has the capacity to spread on its own (i.e. independently from the angel), then I'll opt for full-tank treatment as you suggested.

Thanks! I'm off to go get me some meds!
Big Vine
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#8
Feb 7, 2006
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#8
Cool...thanks Maha.
I just went out and bought a small bottle of Pimafix. It'll take about the whole bottle for the 7-day period, so hopefully it works this time around.

I'm probably being overly-paranoid with this one, but better safe than sorry. I'd much rather catch it early and take care of it now than have it develop into an all-out fungus outbreak or something catastrophic. lol

Big Vine
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#9
Feb 7, 2006
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#9
I'm happy to report that after one treatment, Guy Smiley is doing much better. The fungus has completely disappeared from the tips of his pectoral fins, and the spot on his tail is significantly smaller.

His behavior has remained the same, which is a good thing, because the fungus really hadn't changed it anyway.

I will continue dosing as per the instructions that came with the Pimafix. Thanks for steering me in this direction, Maha. Going the surgical route would have been 'jumping the gun' in this particular situation.

The reason I even brought it up was because I've actually performed 'surgery' on angelfish before...seriously.

Big Vine ;)
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#11
Feb 7, 2006
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#11
Mahamotorworks said:
What happened and why?
Click to expand...
I worked in a school where a fellow teacher had a classroom fish tank with 2 roughly 2-3 inch (body length...i.e. excluding tail) angels. I noticed that both of them had what I can only describe as a 'gristly' (like the knot of gristle you see on the end of chicken legs) growth on the end of their mouths.

It was rather disheartening to see them like that---the growths were literally pulling their mouths forward so that they ended up with more elongated mouths like you see on those yellow tangs...it looked quite painful. One of them could barely eat because of it.

It was apparent that they would both die of starvation if nothing was done.

I took some paper towels and wet them in tank water. I then put each angelfish on its side on the paper towel and cut the growths free from the end of their mouths using a scalpel. I'll spare you the rest of the graphic details...

Once back in the tank, they were able to feed like normal, and I know for a fact that they lived for several weeks afterward without any sign of the growths reappearing.

Summer then hit, and I never ended up checking back on them...I've since moved away from that area. I'd be willing to bet they're doing just fine now though.

Big Vine
 

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