Potter's Angelfish Sick/Injured

[Zwogle]

Hey ya'll any help would be appreciated, I have the potter for about 2 weeks now, in the first week he was doing great, eating swimming fine. Last Friday after 10% a water change he started hiding, and hovering in one spot, hasn't eaten much and the last few days has not eaten anything. I noticed his tail was ripped up looking and other issues, then today there was a bubble hanging off of his eye. you can see it looks like an abrasion on one of his side, and significant fin damage.
Any thoughts?


About the tank:
running for 2.5 months, 33gal
Tank mates:
Orange spotted Goby
Pajama Cardinal fish
Starry Blenny
Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
Calcium 460
Alk 7.5
Sal 1.026
PH 8.2

 

[tiggs]

I'm far from an expert on disease, but it looks like a bacterial infection to me. I'd suggest waiting for someone with more expertise on disease to chime in with a second opinion, but the fins definitely look like bacterial fin rot.

 

[melypr1985]

Ummm.... Yup I'm speechless looking at that ball thing hanging from his eye. I've never seen that before. ever. It has to be an injury... maybe the pistol shrimp got him? Gotta call in the big guns here... @Humblefish ! Look at that eye! Whoa!

Ok, as for the rest of it... he certainly appears to have an infection going on there. I would wonder what the main cause was though. Did he ever appear to have small white spots on him, even if it was just one or two? Did he ever flash or scratch himself against the sand or rock? Heavy breathing before or now? How fast did the patchiness and fins take to reach this point?

 

[melypr1985]

Oh and welcome to R2R! I'm sorry one of your first posts is because you have a sick fish though :(

 

[Zwogle]

Hey thanks ya'll, I never saw any spots or scratching behavior, breathing seemed normal.
My observations: the first week he was as happy as could be, eating fine and swimming around like normal. After the water change, he was hiding really well overnight, in the morning his tail looked a little off color, but not torn, then within a day or two it looked like it does now. I only noticed his pectoral fin till and eye today (I can't be sure how recent the injuries are since I could really only see his tail where he was hiding/hovering), also the scales behind the pectoral fin looks like it was scraped.

 

[Humblefish]

I'm far from an expert on disease, but it looks like a bacterial infection to me.

^^This. I would treat with the "hedgedrew special" in a QT: Furan-2, Kanaplex, Metroplex.

The thing on the eye is a gas bubble. More info here: http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/bubble/. My best guess is he wasn't properly decompressed when collected from deep water. I highly doubt this fish will survive. I'm sorry. :(

 

[melypr1985]

Ok. So I'm still not sure about that eye.... it kinda freaking me out and I can't stop looking at it.

For the rest, it would be best if you can put him in a QT and treat with antibiotics. Personally I would go straight for the full monty: kanaplex, furan 2 and metroplex. All three together for 10 days straight. Unless humblefish can give us a better alternative considering the eye, that's where I would start. Add vitamins to his food, something like Vitachem or Selcon - not garlic unless he's refusing to eat period, then the garlic will be helpful in enticing him to eat again.

 

[melypr1985]

LOL! just barely beat me to it Bobby! I like it when we are thinking the same thing :) Well, except for the gas bubble thing ;)

 

[Zwogle]

Well, things have gotten worse, he was stuck against the overflow, the eye with the bubble is gone, he can't really swim, just resting in a net in the tank right now :( I think it might be too late for this poor guy.

 

[Zwogle]

So it sounds like it's the fin was caused by bacterial issues, if so is the problem in tank water quality? or something else?

 

[Zwogle]

^^This. I would treat with the "hedgedrew special" in a QT: Furan-2, Kanaplex, Metroplex.

The thing on the eye is a gas bubble. More info here: http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/bubble/. My best guess is he wasn't properly decompressed when collected from deep water. I highly doubt this fish will survive. I'm sorry. :(

How long after they are collected can these decompression issues happen, just curious, he was at my LFS for at least two weeks before I brought him home.

 

[Humblefish]

So it sounds like it's the fin was caused by bacterial issues, if so is the problem in tank water quality? or something else?

Bacterial infections can pop up for a multitude of reasons; however they are most often "secondary" to a preexisting parasitic infestation such as ich or velvet (or sometimes a worm infestation such as flukes.) The immune system is already compromised by trying to fight off the parasite, so the secondary infection just becomes too much to handle. Poor water quality, open wounds (oftentimes inflicted by feeding parasite trophonts), malnutrition are all other possible precursors to infection.

How long after they are collected can these decompression issues happen, just curious, he was at my LFS for at least two weeks before I brought him home.

Can sometimes take 2-3 months to show up. The gas bubble sometimes forms in the swim bladder. Look here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/venting-a-swim-bladder-black-cap-basslet.219954/

 

[Zwogle]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies!