adopted Angel with problems

suzscott

This morning my neighbor knocked on my door to offer me this very large (nearly saucer size) silver angel. Claimed his son hadn't been feeding it and he was taking down the son's tank. This fish was apparently kept at 72 degrees.

I have it isolated in a 20 gal. Slowly acclimated it to my warmer temps 80 - 82. Then I noticed where its anal fin meets its belly the connecting tissue is missing and it has a red ulcer.

Stupid stupid me never thought to test the water it came in. Can only assume the quality stunk. It is nicely filled out, doesnt look starved. No sign of Ich, pop eye, dropsy, cotton wool fungus.

Currently its resting on its stomach on the bottom looking like it has one fin on the banana peel.

Airstones are on overtime and I lightly salted the tank. Tank is cycled and I did do a 50% WC before adding it. Stress coat and aquarisol added.

Anything else I can do to help this fish recover?

girlofgod

turn off the air stones. angels are sensitive fish, and dont like heavy current, or decorative bubbles in my experience. and i would turn them off anyways, since the fish is stressed and sick, and create a peaceful environment. i would also keep the lights off, and minimize tank intrusions. i.e. hands in the tank, nets, etc.

was the 20 gallon cycled? (sorry, i missed where you said it was cycled) :D

i would treat with a melafix/pimafix cocktail. follow the instructions on the bottles for dosage amounts/times. these can be used together. almost everytime i have had an issue, it's cleared up with using these, so I would try them first, and then post back if there is no improvement. but you should remove the carbon in your filter while treating with this, because carbon will filter it out.

is it eating? its a good sign if you can get it to eat. angels are ravenous fish, so if it's not eating, its Not a good sign.

keep us posted!

suzscott

Hey Girl,

you & I are going to be the best of buddies lol

I turned on the airstone as the LFS told me to do that when Maggie the Angelfish was sick - my thought was if it was in crappy water it was a quicker way to get the gunk out lol more oxygen more healing? Will turn it off and see what happens - no lights on this tank, will throw a sheet over it for added peace.

Fishy not eating at all- not flake, BW, baby shrimp - nada for a 'starved' fish I'm amazed! Think it has more problems then sulking etc

Will have to break out the melafix - dont have pimafix (sigh)

keep ya posted & thanks for the speedy reply!

girlofgod

yea, i would def start with the mela/pima (if you can get some) but if it's not eating, i dont know... as for the bubbles, i've always thought they stressed out the more sensitive fish, besides, I'm assuming you have a filter on the aquarium, and the return flow from the filter should be sufficient enough for oxygen exchange for now.

you don't need to block out ALL of the light, but i would just keep any glaring flourescent lights off for now.

I see you have more than just this one angel, I would love to see pics. I have angels myself. =) I'm sure we will be great friends!!

good luck to your little fishy, and keep us posted!

Kim

I have heard many contradicting things about melafix and the ingredients that it contains. Some say that they are harmful to fish.

I used it once for a betta with fin rot and it did not work. It did gunk up the water TERRIBLY though. I would watch out for this if you do decide to use it. Personally I think it is junk, and the frequent water changes necessary would just stress out this fish further. I am not an expert, this is just my experience. I will not use it again, although it is possible that I somehow got a bad bottle (you never do know with those pet stores). Has anyone else had problems with it building up in the water? I did water changes as recommended.

Anyway, I think that clean water and a quiet environment would be your best bet. And keep trying to get it to eat, and watch for other symptoms. Is the ulcer growing, shrinking, staying the same. I know some parasites can cause ulcers. Just something to watch out for.

Well, that's the best advice I can give. Good luck and hope this helps.

suzscott

Thanks for all the advice

I tried my best to get him back to health but sadly he died this afternoon. He spent the last several days totally vertical resting on the bottom on his tail fin. I asked its previous owner what was wrong with it, turns out the wound was from a crayfish having a snack. Poor, poor fishy.

You may be right about the melafix Kim. It didnt gunk up my water but every fish I ever tried it on ended up dead.

girlofgod

i'm really sorry to hear about your fish Suz, but IMO the melafix probably wasn't the problem. Melafix is made from natural ingredients (tea tree oil) and the chances are more likely that your fish were sicker than the melafix could handle, not that the melafix killed your fish. it's kinda like taking an OTC vs. prescription meds when you are sick. once your illness passes a certain point, OTC's aren't going to help any.

also, you have to be careful to follow the dosing instructions on the bottle, as you CAN overdose the fish on melafix, resulting in cloudy water, etc. and as far as I know, water changes should not be done until the treatment is complete. and the carbon pad in your filter should have been removed while treating.

okiemavis

I agree completely- Melafix is great, but only when used properly. The nice thing about it is that it's so gentle, so you can treat with it just to help the fish before you're sure exactly what's going on. It's very good at preventing infection while a fish recovers from physical injury. *However* it's not going to treat any serious illnesses.