Advice on Sick Fish

[Arnold M]

Hi all,

I have 225g fowlr tank with a 6” queen angel, 5“ dogface yellow belly puffer, 4” niger trig. 5” anglerfish and a fimbriated moray eel. The queen angel and puffer suddenly stopped in since yesterday day has been hiding in the rocks. 2 weeks ago the queen had flukes and I treated her with fw dip and prazipro in my qt. I put her back in the dt 2 days ago. She stopped eating today and I noticed her fins were deteriorating, but not signs of ick or velvet, so I did another fw did just to be safe and no flukes. My question is should I treat the tank with anitbiotics- kanaplex &furan 2? I just did a 30 gal water change and all peramiters are normal except my nitrates are a little on the high side 80+. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[fishguy242]

hi,sorry to hear,try to post some pics,lets get some expert advice here,best wishes, @Jay Hemdal #reefsqaud ,thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi all,

I have 225g fowlr tank with a 6” queen angel, 5“ dogface yellow belly puffer, 4” niger trig. 5” anglerfish and a fimbriated moray eel. The queen angel and puffer suddenly stopped in since yesterday day has been hiding in the rocks. 2 weeks ago the queen had flukes and I treated her with fw dip and prazipro in my qt. I put her back in the dt 2 days ago. She stopped eating today and I noticed her fins were deteriorating, but not signs of ick or velvet, so I did another fw did just to be safe and no flukes. My question is should I treat the tank with anitbiotics- kanaplex &furan 2? I just did a 30 gal water change and all peramiters are normal except my nitrates are a little on the high side 80+. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Yes, pictures might help. Just the angel and puffer are affected? They had different histories through - the puffer has been in the tank the whole time, and the queen was the only one removed and treated?

Typically, flukes need to be treated in the DT, as they will just reinfect the fish when you return them to the tank. However, you said the angel didn't show flukes on the second dip, so that didn't happen (yet).

Can you get a breathing rate on the angelfish? Just count the number of gill beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4.

Jay

 

[Arnold M]

Yes, pictures might help. Just the angel and puffer are affected? They had different histories through - the puffer has been in the tank the whole time, and the queen was the only one removed and treated?

Typically, flukes need to be treated in the DT, as they will just reinfect the fish when you return them to the tank. However, you said the angel didn't show flukes on the second dip, so that didn't happen (yet).

Can you get a breathing rate on the angelfish? Just count the number of gill beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4.

Jay

Here’s a pic of the queen from last night. I also noticed that when my puffer came out from hiding and he was scratching on the sand bed and rocks and when I took a closer look it definitely looks like velvet (hundreds of tiny white spots). Unfortunately I can’t put him in the qt tank because I have a pair of Crosshatch triggers in acclimation qt. Since I don’t have any corals or inverts (puffer ate them all) I started dosing the dt with cupermine. I know that’s a big gamble and getting the CU out of the rocks and sand bed will be a challenge, but I really didn’t have a choice. The queen doesn’t look like it’s breathing is laboring, just the fin deterioration and not eating. I’ll be running the tank with lights off for the next week and monitor the other fish closely.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes - get the Cupramine dose up to full right away, and keep tabs on it with a test kit. Remember, never add dechlor or ammonia removers when running Cupramine. The eel may go off its feed during the copper treatment.

At first glance, the angel's fins look like they are damaged from aggression - but if you look closer, the inside soft portions of both the dorsal and anal fins are also damaged - and that is not a location where another fish would be able to bite. That means that the damage is from parasites or bacteria or both.

A video of the Queen would help, or at least can you get a respiration rate?

Jay