Mr. Angelfish Looks A Bit Poorly

[koinukun]

I'm a bit worried about my Mr. Angelfish. In the last day or two he hasn't been his normal self.
He tends to stay near the bottom of the tank at the back in either of the corners. He can swim around easily and he isn't gasping for air or lying on his side or scratching but he recently just wants to just sit there. His poop doesn't look to healthy either. It's sometimes very thin and white or clear and bubbly and take ages for it to fall away from his body. I've done some research and think that it's either an internal parasite or constipation as I've read that angelfish are prone to these two ailments.
Does this sound like one of them?

What should I do? Unfortunately I don't have a quarantine tank. I know I really should get one but I'm a uni student and don't have any money to spend on anything but bills rent and food!

If it sounds like internal parasites to you, can I medicate the whole tank without hurting the other fish or killing the bacteria or should I make a quarantine tank priority 1 and separate him for treatment?

I've heard that frozen brine shrimp can have a laxative effect so I'll get some of that. At the moment his diet is normal flakes, frozen bloodworms (about once every 4 days or so) and some cichlid pellets. I've tried giving him some shelled peas but he won't touch them. I feed 2 small feedings a day. Should I cut back to 1?

I've heard that feeding fish dry food can cause blockages and that flakes take about 10 seconds to absorb water but he and all my other fish stuff themselves as soon as the flakes hit the surface of the water. Does anyone know about this? Should I pre-soak the flakes before hand?

Please help! I love my Mr. Angelfish and hate to see him like this.

Thankyou!

koinukun~

 

[Tolak]

What size is the tank, what are the tankmates, and what make & model of filter are you running?

I'm the king of cheap, there may be a way to treat this fish in a home made med tank.

 

[koinukun]

It's an AquaOne AR850 which is about 40g I think. It's 40cm deep, 42cm tall and about 80cm wide. It has an inbuilt filter that is pretty efficient, the water is nice and clear and water parameters are all in check.
ammonia - 0ppm
nitrites - 0ppm
I did a my weekly water change yesterday so nitrates are 0ppm too.
pH is 7.6

The tank mates are 7 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Lemon tetra and 1 Bolivian Ram. Its quite densely planted too but there's enough room for the angel to swim around still. I need to prune some of the plants soon though.

 

[Tolak]

Look around for items to build one of these; http/www.fishforums.net/content/Aquarium...-sponge-filter/

It doesn't have to be a fish food container, any container will do. Use some of the substrate in the main tank for media, gravel works best. This will give you bio filtration. Get the cheapest functional air pump you can find to run this.

You will need to get a small cheap heater, and a rubbermaid tub. Use the tub the same as a tank, run the home made heater & filter.

Frozen bloodworms are great for causing constipation in angels, which will lead to other internal problems, such as what is more than likely internal protizoans with your fish. Cut these out, and switch to frozen brine shrimp.

So, you now have a makeshift tank, under $20. You need to get metronidazole, or dimetronidazole.

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

Don't let the high temp scare you, angels can handle higher than that. I've had them as high as 98 due to a broken heater. Just make sure to have only angels in the tank at that temp. Make sure to have plenty of aeration also, as warmer water holds less O2.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per 10 gallons. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.

I have done this numerous times with angels, the sooner you catch it the better the results are.

 

[LauraFrog]

I have heard the epsom salts are very effective fish laxatives.

According to Wilder if you crush garlic cloves and roll shelled peas in them it stimulates appetite and immune system.

 

[koinukun]

Thanks for great help guys as always! Hopefully Mr. Angelfish will be back to health soon!

I honestly don't know what I'd do without this forum, it has really helped me out!

koinukun~