Angelfish in rough shape

[Terrorbyte]

About a month ago a dime-sized off-color spot showed up on my angelfish. I left things alone up until this week (hoping that the disease would go away naturally), when ulcerations began showing up all over one side of the angelfish's body, including a hole in the dorsel fin of the fish. At any rate, from what I've read, it looks to be a bacterial infection (some sort of flesh-eating bacteria, perhaps a parasite of some sort). The angelfish is over 1 year old, my water conditions are very good (no traces of ammonia and/or nitrites/nitrates -- test weekly), and none of the other fish in the tank are showing any signs of disease (keep in mind that this angelfish was in the tank for several weeks after that discolored spot showed up). I do weekly water changes, roughly a 30% change, and the tank is fully planted.

I siphoned some tank water into a 3 gallon bucket, and added the appropriate dosage of both tetracycline and melafix, then dropped the angelfish in there. There's a small airstone in the bucket to keep the water aerated. I refuse to medicate my entire tank -- I dealt with this years ago and it was a nightmare, and took a LONG time for the water chemistry to normalize. Additionally, *only* the angelfish is diseased, all of the other fish appear to be 100% healthy. I'm not terribly concerned about the temperature -- the room temp is about 78, and so is the water in my 50gal tank, so temperature control shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Any futher recommendations of what I should do to treat this d@mn fish? Is the airstone too much? How often will I need to change the water in the 3gal bucket, and should I always siphon it from my 50gal tank? Thanks in advance for suggestions.

 

[Tolak]

The bucket idea will work, the only thing that concerns me is a lack of filtration. I see you have a fluval canister, if you could pull any sort of foam media out & wrap it around the airstone it will give you some sort of bio filtration in your hospital bucket.

I would do daily water changes, I'm pretty sure this is what is needed when medicating with tetracycline. Water from the larger tank will do, though I would use fresh water, cleaner is better with ill fish. The temp is good, angels like temps in the low 80's, you want it a little lower when dealing with a bacterial issue.

Tolak

 

[Terrorbyte]

Tolak,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I agree on the filtering -- I actually have a power filter in addition to the Fluval 304 in my 50gal (mainly for DIY CO2 diffusion), so I threw one of those "bio bags" together and tossed some zeolite into the bio bag to control ammonia levels (also added some cycle, but the tetracycline will probably kill the bacteria anyway), then hooked it onto the bucket and placed it directly above the airstone. Ammonia levels are my main concern in a small bucket like that.

In terms of feeding, I've heard that weekend feeders are the preferable way to feed a quarantined, ill fish. I drop in a couple of fish flakes every now and again, but that just seems to create unnecessary waste in the bucket. Are weekend feeders the way to go?

As for the water, I used tank water initially to avoid shock/stress on the fish. From here on out I'll use dechlorinated tap water when doing daily water changes. Hopefully the angelfish toughs it out and pulls through.

 

[Terrorbyte]

The angelfish is still going strong (normal swimming and eating), but still has a couple of ulcerations and discolored spots (they are shrinking though). I've been treating the fish daily with appropriate amounts of tetracycline, nitrofurazone (binox), and a small amount of melafix to promote healing. I've been changing 25% of the water in the 3 gallon bucket on a daily basis. All in all, it's been about 1 week since I began treatment.

Is there a recommended length of time to treat an ill fish, or will I need to wait for 100% healing (then more time for quarantine to make sure the disease/infection does not return)? Just want to know how long is too long (for example, is it damaging to expose this fish to medicated water beyond a certain time period)?

 

[SkiFletch]

Not sure if there is a "too long" limit to exposing fish to antibiotics like tetracycline. I've seen around this board many people reccomending 2 weeks minimum of treatment for similar diseases. Definitely not an expert here though

 

[Tolak]

2 weeks is not too long to treat, many meds reccomend 10 to 14 days, & repeat if necessary, giving you 20 to 24 days. There is harm in taking them off meds early, this is how resistant strains of bacteria start out. If the fish is doing better, but not completely well, I would continue medication

Tolak

 

[Terrorbyte]

2 weeks is not too long to treat, many meds reccomend 10 to 14 days, & repeat if necessary, giving you 20 to 24 days. There is harm in taking them off meds early, this is how resistant strains of bacteria start out. If the fish is doing better, but not completely well, I would continue medication

Tolak

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Thanks for the tip -- perfectly understandable as the same deal applies to people and antibiotics. I'll just have to wait for definite signs of healing and certain recovery before discontinuing the meds to make sure the infection doesn't return in a more resistant form. From what I have read, many strains of infectious bacteria are already resistant to tetracyline (hence the additional nitrofurazone (binox) treatment), but if the bacteria is NOT resistant, tetracycline is the way to go since it's broad spectrum.

What's the low-down on melafix? Other than that stuff making the water smell like bengay, does it actually work as advertised (few things do)?

 

[kimbowee]

I personally like Melafix. It does the job for me. I had an outbreak of columnaris awhile back that did leave ulcers and a guppy that fought with the filter. Both times the Melaifx did wonders to heal their wounds. Just my experience with it though.

 

[SkiFletch]

From what I've read Melafix does pretty well in helping heal wounds/sores/burns, etc. With known infections the Melafix people reccomend using it in conjunction with medication (tetracycline, or what have you) to help speed up recovery... Dunno how well it works personally since I just started using it on my poor Gourami with ammonia burns

 

[WILDER]

You will need antibioic med with ulcer, plus you have a second bacteria infection with the pin holes in the fins.
http/www.fbas.co.uk/Ulcers.html

 

[Raz]

The trick with all meds is a water chg every other day..You med 1 dose a day, then the next day change the water Dose the day after. Med /water/med/water/etc...Ususally takes 3 weeks for the cycle and if the fish isnt cured. Flush it.