Please help! My angel is not well:(

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Laurelp

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Location
Palm Harbor, FL
We rescued this one from our local store. His fins were all beat up and was in a small tank and did not look cared for very well. We have had him for 2.5 months and he seemed to really be thriving- fins growing back, great behavior. We noticed before that his gills were not looking great and now he’s taken a turn for the worst and the gills look really bad. We are thinking it’s either Gill flukes or Hexamita. You can reference the pics for the visual. He is currently aimlessly going around the tank, bumping into things, getting stuck, and hovering the bottom

We aren’t sure what to do because they take different treatments. Any thoughts would be helpful and appreciated as we are not sure he will make it through the night.
Tank is 60 gal
- 4 angels
- 6 white skirt tetras
- 12 harlequin rasboras
- 6 emerald corys
- 3 dwarf Gourami
PH is a little high and we are treating for that
Thank you!!
 

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How high is a little high for pH. Angels don't like Alkaline water. So if he has come from an acid tank you could have problems.
 
A pH of 7.5 is fine and does not need to be adjusted unless you are keeping wild caught fishes from acid water.

---------------------
What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level in the tank water?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

---------------------
It's not gill flukes or hexamita.

If a fish starts losing balance and bumping into things, it can be water quality or a bacterial or protozoan infection in the brain. These are usually caused by lots of rotting matter in the tank and filter.

You can try the following and see if it helps.

1) Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

2) Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

3) Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

4) Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

5) Add salt, (see directions below).

---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

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, 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.
 
A pH of 7.5 is fine and does not need to be adjusted unless you are keeping wild caught fishes from acid water.

---------------------
What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level in the tank water?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

---------------------
It's not gill flukes or hexamita.

If a fish starts losing balance and bumping into things, it can be water quality or a bacterial or protozoan infection in the brain. These are usually caused by lots of rotting matter in the tank and filter.

You can try the following and see if it helps.

1) Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

2) Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

3) Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

4) Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

5) Add salt, (see directions below).

---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

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, 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.
What if this fish has come from an acid system, salt doesn't fix everything
 
They have had the fish for over 2 months, if pH was an issue it would have affected the fish back then, not now.

Salt does help treat some protozoan and minor bacterial infections and is safer than most chemical medications. This makes it a safer option for the fish and owner in situations like this.
 
A pH of 7.5 is fine and does not need to be adjusted unless you are keeping wild caught fishes from acid water.

---------------------
What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level in the tank water?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

---------------------
It's not gill flukes or hexamita.

If a fish starts losing balance and bumping into things, it can be water quality or a bacterial or protozoan infection in the brain. These are usually caused by lots of rotting matter in the tank and filter.

You can try the following and see if it helps.

1) Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

2) Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

3) Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

4) Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

5) Add salt, (see directions below).

---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

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, 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.
Ammonia is 0
Nitrate this morning is 20 ppm
Nitrite is 0

We do 30-40% water change every week. Filter is hang on back and on a monthly schedule for everything. Vacuum during water changes. It’s always a clean tank.

We changed the substrate from cheap gravel to caribsea river rock a week ago and everyone handled it well. Nothing new for the last 2 weeks other than that.

We think this fish had this when we got him and it’s now just gotten much worse. He is still not doing well this morning at all. His dorsal fin is bent at the top, I haven’t mentioned that before. Pic attached.

We put in Nox-Ich from what we read in a possible way to treat. Thinking I’m going to put him in a quarantine tank today.
 

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Ammonia is 0
Nitrate this morning is 20 ppm
Nitrite is 0

We do 30-40% water change every week. Filter is hang on back and on a monthly schedule for everything. Vacuum during water changes. It’s always a clean tank.

We changed the substrate from cheap gravel to caribsea river rock a week ago and everyone handled it well. Nothing new for the last 2 weeks other than that.

We think this fish had this when we got him and it’s now just gotten much worse. He is still not doing well this morning at all. His dorsal fin is bent at the top, I haven’t mentioned that before. Pic attached.

We put in Nox-Ich from what we read in a possible way to treat. Thinking I’m going to put him in a quarantine tank today.
Do you think he should be quarantined or will that be too much added stress? He is not eating this morning. He tried but just couldn’t muster up enough energy.
 
Sorry to hear the fish didn't make it. Unfortunately if an animal or fish is malnourished, harmed or stressed when young, that can shorten their lives quite considerably. There can be damage to the heart or other organs and even though the fish might get better for a while, they eventually succumb to the stress and damage that occurred months before. You tried to save a fish, you gave it a good home for a few months but it was probably too little too late.
 
Thank you for saying that, it was a very difficult day letting him go. His tank mate that we got with him is still thriving and well, so we are hoping she remains healthy:)
 
Thank you for saying that, it was a very difficult day letting him go. His tank mate that we got with him is still thriving and well, so we are hoping she remains healthy:)
So sorry about your angel fish. I'm glad you other one is doing well and hope that continues! Good luck.
 

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