Constipation and Ich

[Aquarium Dan]

Hi,
Three weeks ago I received a Scribbled Angelfish through an online dealer. I had him alone in a quarantine tank and within about a week a small white speck appeared on his pectoral fin. A few days later a few more specks appeared on his tail fin. Since it looked like Ich, I decided to follow directions for treatment I found in an online article.
I elevated the temp of the tank to 80 degrees and reduced the salinity to 1.009 specific gravity. After two weeks, the next step is to treat the tank at half strength with Copper Power while maintaining the 1.009 salinity for another week. I am currently 9 days into treatment, hyposalinity only, and there are about 12 specks now on the fish. If this is Ich, should the lesions have begun to disappear by now?
The other problem I fear may be more dire. I have not detected any poop in the tank since I acquired this fish 3 weeks ago. The absence is obvious as he is the lone fish in sandless bottom tank. He has been eating well up until today, feeding primarily on chopped scallops, squid, shrimp, and pellets. His behavior is now changing as he is not swimming around as much and has not eaten for the last 24 hours. There may be evidence of blockage at the anus as I noticed today that it has opened to about 3 mm in diameter.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Other parameters:
5 1/2 inch fish
30 gallon tank
using ammonia binder daily
using buffer to keep pH above 7.5 (pH ~ 7.6)
replacing 20% of water daily

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The two spots I see on the first image are too large to be ich, more likely lymphocystis. Does the fish have smaller spots?
Don’t dose copper with hypo, copper is more toxic at lower salinities, and dosing at half dose is a wild guess to try and adjust for that.
Is the fish breathing normally?
The fish is big for a 30 gallon, what is the ammonia level and what are you testing with?
I agree that prolapse is an issue, but don’t see an bloating that would go along with constipation.
Jay

 

[Aquarium Dan]

There are many smaller spots on the tail fin that cannot be seen in the photo. One small spot on the pectoral fin disappeared today. All of the spots have been on the fins.
He may be breathing more rapidly than normal. He now often likes to swim in the bubbles from the air stone. He will occasionally open his gills wide while doing so.
As the quarantine tank is small, I thought ammonia might be an issue. I replace 20% of the water daily and also add Imagitarium’s Ammonia Remover twice daily. I added bacteria via substrates of a sponge filter and some bio media cubes that came from my DT before introducing the fish. I also dose daily with bacteria. He will go in a 350 gallon DT if he survives QT.p
If the fish is not constipated, is it likely that internal parasites are the cause for prolapse and lack of feces production?

 

[Greg P]

I'll leave the diagnosis and treatment to the experts, such as Jay.

But, I'll recommend you test NH3 multiple times daily and not just add removers, but rather WC the QT, and more than 20% if needed. Sometimes it takes 75 or even close to 100% to fix things and keep your critters safe.

Many ammonia removers only bind it short term. Continued use can lead to issues. I forget the exact info but if memory serves, they are only meant to be used as a temporary measure until you can perform a WC to remove the unwanted ammonia.

Larger WCs in a QT without meds are your friend.
Large WCs in QT with meds are possible with correct calculations for med replenishment.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

There are many smaller spots on the tail fin that cannot be seen in the photo. One small spot on the pectoral fin disappeared today. All of the spots have been on the fins.
He may be breathing more rapidly than normal. He now often likes to swim in the bubbles from the air stone. He will occasionally open his gills wide while doing so.
As the quarantine tank is small, I thought ammonia might be an issue. I replace 20% of the water daily and also add Imagitarium’s Ammonia Remover twice daily. I added bacteria via substrates of a sponge filter and some bio media cubes that came from my DT before introducing the fish. I also dose daily with bacteria. He will go in a 350 gallon DT if he survives QT.p
If the fish is not constipated, is it likely that internal parasites are the cause for prolapse and lack of feces production?

AS @Greg P said, ammonia can build up in a tank at a rate of as much as 1 mg/l per day, so 20% water changes won't help much with that. You need to be running ammonia tests daily before and after water changes in order to keep the ammonia level below 0.25 mg/l The prolapse issue is secondary - the ammonia (if it is a problem) will kill faster, and besides, there really isn't any treatment for a prolapse short of surgery.

The smaller spots and the breathing issues all point to a protozoan infection. That needs to be the second thing to address, after ensuring the ammonia is under control. If it were my fish, I would give it a 30 minute dip in 150 mg/l formalin (with good aeration) and then bring the tank up slowly to 1.020 (over 3 days) and treat the replacement water with copper, brining it up to a full dose about the same time.

Jay

 

[Aquarium Dan]

AS @Greg P said, ammonia can build up in a tank at a rate of as much as 1 mg/l per day, so 20% water changes won't help much with that. You need to be running ammonia tests daily before and after water changes in order to keep the ammonia level below 0.25 mg/l The prolapse issue is secondary - the ammonia (if it is a problem) will kill faster, and besides, there really isn't any treatment for a prolapse short of surgery.

The smaller spots and the breathing issues all point to a protozoan infection. That needs to be the second thing to address, after ensuring the ammonia is under control. If it were my fish, I would give it a 30 minute dip in 150 mg/l formalin (with good aeration) and then bring the tank up slowly to 1.020 (over 3 days) and treat the replacement water with copper, brining it up to a full dose about the same time.

Jay

Thank you guys