Favorite Fish Died - Now Partner Is Dying Too? :(

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Mylesmom08

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Joined
Jul 7, 2013
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Location
US
Fish:
-5 cory cats
-2 angelfish
 
Temperature:
-Constant 77-78
 
Readings:
-0/0/5 (A/NI/NA)
 
Water Change Schedule:
--25-30ish % every Saturday

Just a month ago, 1 of my 2 angelfish I've raised from babies started to get sick. They were a breeding pair and the male got injured during a lip-lock. The bottom of his lip got torn up, but it didn't stop him from breeding and continuing to eat. I upped my water changes to 25% every 2-3 days for a week to fix his lip before they tried breeding again (they breed like every 2 weeks). It wasn't helping since his lip started to deteriorate. I kept up the water changes and dosed ParaGuard for 2 weeks. During the 2 week treatment, he started to ignore the food and hang at the top. I turned up the aeration on my powerhead incase it was the meds/air factor, but sadly I ended up euthanizing him 3 days ago after he started laying/floating on the bottom and was unresponsive to any attempt I made to keep him upright. When he died, I did a 50% water change and stopped dosing the ParaGuard since it wasn't working. -- He had no other lesions during the entire time except his lip. However, my female is now displaying lesions that I think might be related to his death?
 
Now, my female is showing the same symptoms (hanging at the top, ignoring food) but she has a lesion starting on her left side, about half an inch from her pectoral fin. Her stomach is also largely bloated, but she hasn't ate since he died (she wouldn't leave his side the whole time except for food). Shes clamping her tail fin like a square now instead of the regular free flowing triangle shape. I haven't been able to see what her excrement looks like though, but the rest of her looks ok aside from the tail and hole type crater/lesion. 
 
She's exactly 1 year old if age matters. The only connection I can think of is about 1 month before the male got sick (2 months ago total) I added an adult bristlenose pleco to eat the algae off my plants. But he was in quarantine for over a month, about 6 weeks (he was keeping my 20 gallon clean - what can I say?) and I got him from a good reputable ma and pa store in my town, the same ones who I got my angelfish from a year ago. I know humans can be carriers for diseases, so its probably safe to assume fish can too? The BN pleco showed no signs of disease during the entire time. But its the only thing I can think of since it was only 4 weeks until my angelfish got sick. I don't know what it could be or what to treat her with?? 

I should add that the "2 angelfish" count up top under the 5 cories is actually only the male (deceased) and female (the sick one). So really, I only have 1 angelfish. It's just a bad habit now to still say 2 :(
 
unnamed_zps54a635d5.jpg
 
I just used Google and put in: angelfish bloat lesion
 
Comes up with lots of hits on dropsy.  Could that be it?
 
Thank you, I did some research and seems dropsy causes raised scales and can be fatal pretty quick. :/ I really don't know what else so I'll keep playing Clue until I find out
 
 
But I think I'll use this as my update journal incase anyone else has this problem.
 
Yesterday I gave her a 1 hour paraguard bath to help the lesion. Today she started eating. I'll update how long until it starts to close, if it does. 
 
Can you isolate and use antibiotics. Such as Maracyn  Plus, Or tetracycline.
 
Unfortunately I can't isolate her - The only empty tank I have is a 5 gallon which I did use to give her the bath, but she couldn't move the whole time :/   The 20 gallon is *sigh* quarantining new baby angelfish from the same parents as her. Kinda put the cart before the house, but I really thought she wouldn't make it. But I guess if she does, I would need to find another partner for her to pair off.
 
I'll order some Marcyn Plus. Have you ever used if with good results? 
 
Forgot to add, Angelfish now has a clear but white discoloration on all fins - not raised, not cottony, not ick. The only way I can describe it is, its like Scotch tape? The normal, christmas present type that is slightly white. But she did freak out like a dog when I pulled her food jar out, something she hasn't done in weeks.
 
Can't get Maracyn Plus in the UK. The medication is an antibiotic which treats gram positive, gram negative bacteria.
It will wipe the good bacteria out in your filter.
It's a good medication but it does depend on if you want to save the fish.
It sounds like a severe bacterial infection to me. 
 
That was my biggest wonder - fungal or bacterial. I'm in the States so I can get it, just ordered it thankfully. Only thing that sucks is its going to take 5-7 business days since they didn't have it Amazon Prime :/ Hopefully it'll work, in the mean time I'll stay with paraguard til it shows up. I'm still relatively *new* to the hobby, I've only been in it just over a year and have stuck to a small variety of fish with very little experience in illness/medications/death. So thank you!! 
thanks.gif
 
How is the angel fish?
 
Well I gave her another paraguard bath last night for an hour, and when I went to drain the water I noticed almost like a 'scab' of scales on the bottom. Don't know if that was good or bad. The hole looks cleaner and lighter, but now it looks like another one is starting just above the first one. The white on her fins is starting to cause fin rot. Not looking so good :/
 
Maybe the clump of scales had fallen off in the bath of paraguard. They must of already been loose.
 
I think I would definately think about adding the maracyn plus.
 
Did a 50% water change last night with another dose of ParaGuard. Today the hole is almost closed. The circumference of it has turned white again with a small red streak in the inside, the signs of healing. The upper part of her body still looks like it may turn into another lesion, but no change in size or shape so I'll take that as a good thing. However, the white on her fins is gone but it took whatever part of her fins with that it covered. Gonna do another Paraguard bath dip after work and try to get another picture of her. She's still eating vigorously, so I'll take everything as a step forward. Hopefully the Maracyn Plus will get here soon - they didn't include tracking but it did say it shipped, so I can only hope its here soon. Thank you Wilder!
 
Sorry I forgot the Maracyn Plus hadn't arrived yet.
 
At least the ParaGuard keeping the outside infection clean. Just worried about the internal infection.
 
Good Luck.
Thank you for the update.
 

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