Huge red spot on angels head

[Maryjaeee]

Hello, for the past month or so me & this Angel have been having issues with the start of hole in the head I believe. Lots of white puss spots around his head. I’ve done frequent big water changes, cleaned the filter multiple times. Tried treatment with a bacterial/fungus aid.. did a salt dip with 2 tablespoons per gallon .. might of been alil less.. I was a little nervous since I’ve had this angel for years, since California and is a breeding pair. I now have him & my female angel in their own separate tank.. He’s been lookin good but I just seen this when I looked in the tank. I have a tiger pleco on its way as well for this tank and I don’t want to spread the infection .
would another salt dip be good? What salt % should I use if so? It’s been alil over a week since the first one .
Dunno if I should just add salt to this tank ..
My only concern is the new pleco
Thanks in advance

 

[Maryjaeee]

close up

 

[Colin_T]

The red lump above the eye is not hole in the head disease. It looks more like a bacterial infection or growth under the skin.

To treat advanced cases of hole in the head disease, you need Metronidazole, but that should only be used as a last resort, and this doesn't need it. Minor cases can be treated with clean water, clean gravel, clean filter and salt.

You can try adding salt to the tank and keep it in there for a couple of weeks. Salt will treat a lot of minor bacterial, fungal and protozoan infections in fish and is safer than chemical based medications. See directions below for salt.

----------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[Maryjaeee]

Thank you. I added the salt last night
The bump started oozing .. I was hoping it would look better or atleast smaller today but it looks the same to me

 

[Astronomiii]

Hey there, as an owner of Angelfish, red spots on an angelfish usually mean Anchor worms, which are worms that burrow in the fish, however I will let you compare the symptoms
Symptoms that can help identify angelfish anchor worm disease:

• Redness, ulcers, inflammation at the spot where the crustaceans embedded into the body of your fish;
• Red or white-green worms at the base of fins;
• Difficult breathing and rubbing against objects.

If these match, then here are ways that can be better to cure it

• Potassium permanganate bath to kill immature anchor worms that haven’t embedded yet;
• Use tweezers to remove any embedded anchor worm;
• Treat the aquarium with Dimilin to kill larvae and any adult anchor worm that hasn’t embedded;
• Treat aquarium with aquarium salt.

Just for the future, this can be caused if you have put any new object / plant, that might have contained the worm and burrowed inside the Angel, just be careful moving on

 

[Maryjaeee]

Hey there, as an owner of Angelfish, red spots on an angelfish usually mean Anchor worms, which are worms that burrow in the fish, however I will let you compare the symptoms
Symptoms that can help identify angelfish anchor worm disease:

• Redness, ulcers, inflammation at the spot where the crustaceans embedded into the body of your fish;
• Red or white-green worms at the base of fins;
• Difficult breathing and rubbing against objects.

If these match, then here are ways that can be better to cure it

• Potassium permanganate bath to kill immature anchor worms that haven’t embedded yet;
• Use tweezers to remove any embedded anchor worm;
• Treat the aquarium with Dimilin to kill larvae and any adult anchor worm that hasn’t embedded;
• Treat aquarium with aquarium salt.

Just for the future, this can be caused if you have put any new object / plant, that might have contained the worm and burrowed inside the Angel, just be careful moving on

I haven’t noticed any of those symptoms, but now his eye looks like this. Im
Worried it’s gonna b gone by morning

 

[Maryjaeee]

This first pictures are from earlier.. all this white stuff is what’s oozing out of his bump. I cleaned the tank about an hour ago.. and the driftwood has more white ooz all over it.

 

[Astronomiii]

He

This first pictures are from earlier.. all this white stuff is what’s oozing out of his bump. I cleaned the tank about an hour ago.. and the driftwood has more white ooz all over it.

Hey there again, looks like your Angelfish has a red Abrasion, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do but put some salt in and hope your angel survives, change 50% of the water, even though angels die, there is a change that he will survive, without the eye

 

[Maryjaeee]

He

Hey there again, looks like your Angelfish has a red Abrasion, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do but put some salt in and hope your angel survives, change 50% of the water, even though angels die, there is a change that he will survive, without the eye

I was hoping I wouldn’t get that answer I added the salt a few days ago & he seems to only have gotten worse.

He

Hey there again, looks like your Angelfish has a red Abrasion, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do but put some salt in and hope your angel survives, change 50% of the water, even though angels die, there is a change that he will survive, without the eye

I’ve been doin water changes. I started to dose with melafix cos I had to do whatever I could while the salt level was low. I just did a 40% change and dosed again.. he was kinda chillin on his side .. doesn’t look good at all. I think he tried using something in the tank to take it off last night ..

 

[Astronomiii]

Yes, this can be a parasitic or fungal infection, what is actual happening is its itchy so he is trying to rub against the glass, we can try and trace how this was caused, this is usually when you add any new fish, plants or decorations with the infection, double check and recall if you added any recent objects, right now, remove any objects you have and thoroughly wash them as they can be contaminating the water

 

[Maryjaeee]

Ya he didn’t make it thank you guys for you help tho