Sick Gold Severum, Mottled Gray Skin, Listless

[jrc10000]

Hi everyone,
Our female gold severum, Chiffon, has been acting listless, sitting on the bottom of the tank, off balance, until fed. Yesterday I took a closer look at her and her skin had light grey mottled patches, and the outer edge of her anal fin is greyed out. I've seen fin rot on angels before and I'm pretty sure this isn't it, but I don't know. So I set up a hospital tank with a HOT Magnum filter from another tank, but I hope I didn't leave the filter sitting too long before I started it up in the hospital tank. How long does it take for the bacteria colonies to die? The other problem is that the only available tank I had was a 10, it's unseasoned, and she's a little cramped. She is full grown, about four years old. None of the other fish in the 150 where she lives are showing any symptoms, including the two other severums: a green female and red/gold male. I started Maracyn and Maracyn 2 last night in the hospital tank-- today she thought about eating, then didn't. She was eating in the 150. She also seems to be out of breath in the hospital tank. Assuming the bacteria in the filter aren't processing the ammonia>nitrites>nitrates, I'm planning daily 50% water changes. I'd hate to lose her because I mess up conditions in the hospital tank... I have tried to add a picture that shows the grey, especially towards the tail.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks
John

 

[black angel]

It could be shes a bit stressed being in such a small tank.
Can you get anything bigger even a 25 gallon tub that you could hook the filter and a heater up to?
Add extra air if you can.
Any chance of a pic?

I take it the stats are fine for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph are fine on the big tank?

Has she been picked on at all as stress can lower the immune system?

Doing water changes on the big tank daily I would say is a good idea as well.

 

[jrc10000]

How do I post a picture? I'm getting an error that the filesize is too large, but it's only about 300k per picture...

 

[black angel]

www.photobucket.com can host your picture for you and all you do is copy the bottom tag and then paste into a post.

 

[jrc10000]

Here's a link to pictures of the fish

http/s135.photobucket.com/albums/q154/jrc10000/

 

[black angel]

Deffinitely finrot and theres a lot of what look like veins showing through especially at the rear end. Is the fish normally like that?
Where are you located, UK US or somewhere else so we can say what meds to try?

You may need to do salt dips, do you have aquarium salt or similar?

You will also have to do lots of water changes and testing to make sure the tank is always clean and free from ammonia and nitrites so it doesnt stress her.

Need someone to say if its ok to salt the tank as this will help with the breathing and the rot.

Finrot takes a lot of time to cure and healing can take months, so you need to get something bigger to put her in.

Its a bacterial disease so get something and add to the water making sure what you buy is for finrot.

Your main tank will need a lot of work on it as well to make sure theres no bacteria hiding under ornaments in the filter and in the gravel. So a gravel vac is really important.

 

[jrc10000]

I'll pick up a 29 gallon tank ASAP. I'm in the USA-- I started a combination of Maracyn and Maracyn 2 medications last night. And no, the patchy grey areas that look like veins showing through are new, but she hasn't been acting right for a while now. She might have become stressed because there is a little competition in the big tank due to the fact that there are two females and one male severum, but the male seemed to pair off with this one.

 

[black angel]

Then I would be worried it could be septiceamia as that shows like bruising inder the skin.

You are using the right meds so hopefully she will get through it.

 

[jrc10000]

Just a heads up, she already seems to be doing better. She is no longer sitting on the bottom of the tank and is eating both pellets and flake...

 

[black angel]

Good news.

Keep the water nice and clean and hopefully she will soon mend.

You might have to think again about adding her back to the main tank as she may not be welcome any more.