Angelfish, Large White Patches Over Body

[ramram]

Hey all
 
Went to the lfs yesterday as the girlfriend wanted to get some angelfish, while she was doing that I was having a look around.
 
when I came back she had two platinum angels bagged up, they came from a tank with quite a few in there along with some other fish, cant remember what they where though.
 
Stupidly I never checked the fish over before she bought them.
 
When we got them home I noticed that one of them has a very large white patch on its side, It didnt look too bad at first as the lights where off in the tank and I could only get a glimpse of them through the bag. 
Skip forward a few hours, the angels are in the tank the lights come on and I can have a better look. Straight away I dont like the look of what i see.
 
One of the angels is fine but the other has a massive white patch on one side and a slightly smaller one on the other side.
It also has some strange lumps at the front of its anal fin.
 
Both angles seem happy swimming and eating fine, no odd behaviour at all.
I had a quick look for angel disease and didn't find any thing that matches what this angel has.
I was wondering if it had been attacked while in the tank with all the other fish and its been left with a nasty mark?
 
The angles are both small juveniles. I've taken some pictures in the hope some one can identify what this is and what the best course of action will be.
 
 
smaller white patch on one side.
 

 
 
the larger patch on the other side

 
 

 
 
and the lumps at the front of the anal fin

 
Hope some one can help.
 
cheers.
 

 

[MBOU]

Wow, very good clear photos! Unfortunately non the wiser...
 
However, I did notice on my platinum angels that some did have white patches like this as their colouration! Slim chance it might be nothing
 
That said.. the fishes fins are a bit clamped.. I would do two thing...
 
I would deworm the tank, Kusuri Discus Wormer is a great product to have to hand and easy to find on ebay, about £8 to treat 50 gallons or something daft like that!. I always wormed cichlids at least once a year as a rule, sometimes twice, they eat *anything* and will pick at the bottom of the tank a lot, pick up parasite infestations easily, especially when young.
 
After worming the tank, if they don't seem better, I would use a bacterial treatment if you want to use any treatment. To be honest, i'd be just keeping an eye on the patch to see if it changes any, if it does... you know there is a problem...
 
But would definitely worm those angels.

 

[gregswimm]

What is it in the tank with?
What are you nitrates at?

Edit: I would advise not treating with a medication.  Often the medication can cause a fatal amount of stress especially if you don't know exactly what you are dealing with (which is the case here).  Just keep your water pristine and let the fish's immune system handle it.
 
Edit 2: Defiantly quarantine him, and use a mature filter/ mature filter media in the quarantine tank.  If you feel inclined to treat, I see no harm in feeding a garlic flake.  Also, raise the temp to 82F/28C and keep the water well aerated.

 

[ramram]

Thanks for the replies guys. Been doing a bit more research and still cant match it directly to a disease?
 
any thoughts on the lumps by the anal fin?
 
I'll check out that wormer.
 
unfortunately I don't have another tank to quarantine it.
 
Not heard of a garlic flake before I'll have to look into them.
 
Water is straight from a HMA filter and 30% is changed twice a week, aeration is good and the temps already at 28c.
 
Like I say its swimming about and feeding fine, I'm hoping its just a weird colouration but i'm not sure.
 
I'll keep a close eye on it and wont dose any meds for the meantime.
 
If you have any more info on what it could be please let me know.
 
cheers.

 

[ramram]

I had a quick look through my meds stash and have a pack of the Kusuri Discus Wormer, though on the back it says it might kill invertebrates.
 
I have 8 amano shrimp in the tank so i'm not sure whether to use it or not?
 
any body used it with shrimp?

 

[MBOU]

I have used it with Amanos in the tank but it really is hit and miss....
 
Have you another tank you can keep the shrimps in? The treatment is fairly fast acting, you could keep shrimps in a tib or box with water and air/airholes in lid and keep it somewhere warm, they will only need to be out for 2-3 days to miss the worst of it...

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'm not too sure about the lumps but maybe the patches were caused by him getting stuck behind a heater? 

 
I don't think I'd bother with any meds unless there starts to be any weird behaviour
 
Edit: spelling mistake, I promise I'm not posting at nearly 3am 

 

 

[gregswimm]

I'm not too sure about the lumps but maybe the patches were caused by him getting stuck behind a heater? 

 
I don't think I'd bother with any meds unless there starts to be and weird behaviour

 
I'll second that.  Don't medicate unless you have 100% certainty of what you are dealing with.  Frivolously medicating will only make it harder to treat an illness later on down the road.

 

[ramram]

cheers for all the replies.
 
Think i'll hold off dosing any thing for the time being and just keep a close eye on things.
 
there's no chance i'll be able to catch all the amano shrimp so dosing the tank with them still in is the only option really.
I did think about some flake food wormer but I cant seem to find anything in the Uk.

 

[DrRob]

One question, which you may not know the answer to given the above. Was there anything like a Siamese Algae Eater in the tank with them?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

That angel has worms for sure. In the states I can tell you exactly what meds to use- either Levamisole HCl or Flubendazole. Fenbendazole will also work but it must be fed, the other two can be dosed into the water.