Sick Angel?

[dakotagirl]

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Tank size: 45 U.S. gallon
pH: 7.2
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
kH: unknown
gH: unknown
tank temp: 78

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): One of my small angels ( about nickel body size) is hiding in the back of the tank. He has no symptoms..looks fine, poops fine (not white and stringy or anything), good color (he/she is a black veiltail), everyone else is fine, he/she just hides and I noticed tonight that I don't think it is eating.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 25% weekly on a 45 gallon tank

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: none except prime when I do water changes.

Tank inhabitants: 3 baby angels, 2 dwarf platy's and 2 male guppies. Also 4 juli cories

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): none, tank has been set up for 6 months and no new additions for about 2 1/2 months.

Exposure to chemicals: no

Digital photo (include if possible):

Just a quick note: my nitrates are always 0 in all 3 of my tanks, never understood why there isn't some, but all 3 tanks test 0 and I tested straight from the faucet and that is 0 too.

I can quarentine if necessary. Haven't yet, just noticed this odd behavior in the last 2 or 3 days.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Barb

 

[Tolak]

That's two of the symptoms of hexamita, an internal protizoan common to cichlids, and implicated in HITH. I've treated plenty with those symptoms


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.

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 gallon. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.


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.

 

[dakotagirl]

no carbon either right?, Just an airstone?

And how big of water changes twice a day? I have a 5 gallon tank I can use or a 20 gallon, both are empty at the moment. The angel is very small, I stated about nickel size in the post, but not sure he is even quite that big? Would the 5 gallon work so I can just take water from my 45 gallon then?

It shouldn't affect the rest of my fish in the main tank or do I have to treat them with something to be on the safe side? Everyone else is doing great, never had any problems with sick or dying fish in any of my tanks in the 6-8 months I have had them set up.

Thanks for your help!

Barb

Also, another quick question, kind of off the subject, but was wondering if there is a reason for my nitrates being 0. Most posts I read say there should be some nitrates, but I never have any, not complaining, just kind of wondering why? Thanks

 

[Tolak]

No carbon, you can run a sponge filter if you like, metro really doesn't affect bio filtration. A quick way to make a cycled sponge filter in a pinch is to take a small amount of mature gravel & put it on top, this will usually work for a situation like yours.

50% daily wc's, the 5 gallon will work fine for a smaller angel, I've treated adults in a 10. You shouldn't have to treat the other fish, heximita is often a part of a fish's normal digestive flora, and only takes over when there is some sort of stress. Often it's difficult to determine the stress, I've treated dozens of smaller angels from larger spawns, the rest of the 200+ angels show no symptoms and never need to be medicated. It's just one of those things common to cichlids, especially angels & discus.

Water testing chemicals do go out of date, older ones may give improper results. Have your lfs double check, the only time I have heard of zero nitrates is in a heavily planted tank with minimum stocking, or one that has just been set up.

 

[dakotagirl]

Thanks for the info Tolak, I will try that tomorrow and see how the angel does.

I use API master test kit and it is only 8 months old. I bought it when I set up my first tank in May. Maybe I will buy a seperate nitrate test kit tomorrow when I pick up the meds and see if there is a difference.

Thanks again,

Barb