Chopperman Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 (edited) Hi, I have recently noticed that my angel has what looks like small cigarette burns in his fins, he also looks like there is a small hole in his side behind his gills. its not red or anything but it looks white. Nothing pertrudes or hangs off the wound. Has anyone ever seen this or anything info about medication. I do have a hospital tank and have considered melafix for him. Thank You Edited November 1, 2006 by Chopperman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopperman Posted November 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 (edited) just some more info about the angel. He has been in my 30 gal hex for about 3 months and I have had a gourami in with him, but the angel has been very territorial and the gourami doesnt bother him too much. The water temp is between 79 and 80 degrees and the water quality has the nitrates at about 0.3 and the Ph is good. I have since put him in my 5.5 gal hospital tank with about 1/4 tsp of melafix and the carbon filter has been pulled. His tankmates in his home tank are 1 gourami, 4 black neon, 2 neon, 2 clown loaches and a corydoras. He is a mature angel and is about 3 1/2 inches long tip to tail. Thank you Edited November 1, 2006 by Chopperman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 Any plecos? Sometimes plecos - especially common plecs - will suck on the side of other fish at night, when they're sleeping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishEdGirl Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 A picture would help, but in the absence of that: Any negligible ammonia/nitrite in the main tank? How long has your main tank been set up? What are you feeding the angel? How often do you do water changes, and how much? Is there any loss of appetite in your angel? Any behavioural changes? It sounds like a bacterial infection, or possibly HTH (hole-in-the-head); but again, hard to say without seeing it. I doubt that the Melafix is going to correct the situation at all. If I were you, I would put the carbon back in to get rid of the Melafix and do daily water changes on the hospital tank. Often that in itself will clear up any problems. You could also try hitting him with an antibiotic such as tetracycline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 A few months ago my 7year old angelfish died and she developed these cigarette burn type holes in her tail fin and a couple white spots/holes around her head. I never treated her for them, as I knew she was too old and was dying anyways. So I'm not sure how to help you. You could find a angelfish forum and see if they know what this is and how to treat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopperman Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 I do 25% water changes weekly and feed with omega one tropical fish flakes and he occasionally gets a shrimp pellet that may not sink to the bottom for the corydoras. theres no plecos' in the main tank. I havent noticed any change in appetite either, hes always been a glutton. the tank has been set up for about 5 months now. I do have a pic That may or may not help someone that may have seen this problem before. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wibber Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Can't recommend this forum strongly enough for any and all angelfish related matters... http://www.angelfish.net/yabbse/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishEdGirl Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 (edited) I do 25% water changes weekly and feed with omega one tropical fish flakes and he occasionally gets a shrimp pellet that may not sink to the bottom for the corydoras. theres no plecos' in the main tank. I havent noticed any change in appetite either, hes always been a glutton. the tank has been set up for about 5 months now. I do have a pic That may or may not help someone that may have seen this problem before. Thanks again Again - Any ammonia or nitrites? One thing to note: Angels are cichlids. They should not be fed flake food; they should be getting a high-nutrient pellet food supplemented with live/frozen foods at least weekly. The flake food and shrimp pellet are not enough for your Angel. You would never consider giving a Convict - or even an Oscar! - flake food, would you? The picture isn't much help, but then I know how hard it can be to get a camera shy fish to hold still! Are you continuing with the Melafix or did you remove it? I can't stress how important it is right now for your Angel to have frequent water changes. That, along with a change of food, might be enough to clear up whatever the issue is. And if it doesn't, then I'm still voting for the antibiotic. Edited November 2, 2006 by FishEdGirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krystle Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 (edited) This looks very similar... My vote would be Hole in the Head... http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html http://www.flippersandfins.net/HITHarticle2.htm In addition to the change in food recommendations, you might want to try some metronidazole if the general consensus from others is HITH as well. Btw, New Life Spectrum is a fantastic food, and considered by most here to be the best you can buy for your fishies Edited November 2, 2006 by Guppylove1985 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willfishguy Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 (edited) I do 25% water changes weekly and feed with omega one tropical fish flakes and he occasionally gets a shrimp pellet that may not sink to the bottom for the corydoras. theres no plecos' in the main tank. I havent noticed any change in appetite either, hes always been a glutton. the tank has been set up for about 5 months now. I do have a pic That may or may not help someone that may have seen this problem before. Thanks again It's good that you separated this fish from the rest and added the MelaFix to it's water. I would Maintain the use of the MelaFix until the sores on the fish are completely healed. If the sores increase in size continue using the MelaFix and treat with a broad spectrum anibiotic like Maracyn and Maracyn 2, which you can read about here =+++++> http://www.virbacpets.com/mardel/catalog.php . You can find these product at just about any fish store. This fish certainly has a bacterial infection, but whether or not it's a gram+ strain or a gram- strain, I cannot say. I do however think that it is caused by poor water quality. That Omega One really is a great fish food, and I don't have to tell you that the little mouths of Angels deal with flakes easier then they do pellets. Do you feed them a frozen food? Edited November 2, 2006 by Willfishguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopperman Posted November 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 (edited) I havent tried frozen foods but i do have omega one freeze dried bloodworms I give him sometimes and I have omega one tubiflex worms, but the barbs usually get that. I do test my water weekly and the results are always the same, less than 0.1 mg/L nititres and Ph 7.5, and ammonia is 0 mg/L, in the home tank. I have kept up treatment of melafix and just did a 50% water change in the hospital tank. I am changing the activated carbon in the home tank, just because its time. I've heard that clown loaches are to tank water as canaries were to gases in mines, they start acting different when change is happening. If its true I'm not sure but they are as active and normal as can be. Edited November 3, 2006 by Chopperman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krystle Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 did you read the links I gave you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGr8Blade Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 I hope your fish gets better. Poor guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willfishguy Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 (edited) When I mentioned poor water quality I was thinking along the lines of nitrate (NO3-), an acidic salt that accumulates in the tank as it matures. Performing 25% weekly water changes is a great practice, but in the long run it will not prevent nitrate from building up. High levels of nitrate provide an idea breeding ground for pathenogenic bacteria, but nitrate will not specifically harm most freshwater fish. How often do you hydro vac the gravel? Edited November 3, 2006 by Willfishguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopperman Posted November 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 Hi All, I did read the links you sent guppy, it did have good info and I have used some of the procedures. As for using the hydro vac, I do use it everytime i do a water change. Now I hope that Its not a bad thing to use it everytime or to spread the use out. I will be getting a nitrate test also Willfishguy to check that out to. Something that I forgot to mention, About 2 weeks ago I changed the gravel I had in the tank. Its now geosystem substrate. I did this because Its a planted tank and the plants seem to like the smaller substrate and grow better, I also use flourish. As for now the angel is still surviving in the hospital tank the holes in the fins are still there and the ones in the body dont look as bad.Thanks to everyone for the excellent knowledge that has been provided and as I see in the links guppy sent, this isnt an overnight fix and patience must be excercised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.