One very sick looking angelfish...

[fuzzysocks]

In the past month I've had a tank spring a leak, a canister filter spring an even worse leak, ich and multiple deaths. So it figures that this is what I come home to tonight:



It's a horrible photo due to my SD card reader kicking the bucket, but the four white spots above the fish's eye are not glare from the camera. They're also not ich, unless ich is 3 mm in diameter and fuzzy. The spots have been developing for a few days, but they stayed small enough that I figured it was ich. He has the same spots on the other side of his face in the same location about his eye.

His mouth also looks absolutely awful. It's swollen open (you can kind of see that it's in an O shape), and the skin behind it is essentially gone.

Does anyone have any suggestions? My inclination at the moment is to euthanize the fish, since he's had numerous health issues over his life, but if it's something that can be easily treated I'm willing to give it a shot.

[jobber604]

Is it just one fish?
Did you check your water?
How often do you do water changes?
How big are your water changes? 25%? 50%?
Water conditioners?
How big is your tank?
How often do you feed your fish and how much?
What other fish is in the tank?
What is the bioload?
Are you dosing fertilizers?
CO2?

[fuzzysocks]

I think all the relevant information ought to be in this thread: Ich and dying fish. The bioload was upped a few weeks ago when I transferred the fry into it, but that's the only thing that's changed since I moved the tank to its current home in August.

[gklaw]

It could be fungus. If so, I would treat fast.

[fuzzysocks]

It does look a good bit like fungus, given that the white dots are kind of fluffy. What's stymieing me is why they all fall into an arc above both eyes. I forgot to mention it, but the dots seem to be somewhat recessed into the skin.

Any suggestions for a good anti-fungus medicine?

[Claudia]

I think is a good idea to start using salt and then maybe add some meds.

[gklaw]

I used Jungle Fungus Eliminator.

[fuzzysocks]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I used Maroxy last night, since everywhere was closed at the time. The infection around his lips spread rapidly overnight, and given both the severity and the small likelihood of him surviving the stress of being quarantined, I put him down.

[monkE]

sorry to hear that man, win some lose some i suppose. Hope the rest of the tank is all right

[Morainy]

I'm sorry to hear about your sick fish, Fuzzysocks. It's too bad that you had to put him down but it was probably best for the whole fish community.

Looking at your other post, it seems that you've had a problem that has affected a few fish. Do you think that it's just ick, and now you're rid of it? Or do you think there's something else going on, making them susceptible to the ick?

I know that a lot of people hesitate to use medications, but your tank is really big with absolutely gorgeous display fish. It would be a shame for a disease to run rampant through that community. If it were my tank and multiple fish were dying, I'd treat the whole community with something like Lifeguard (treats fungus, virus, bacterial, protozoan), or similar. Big Als has Lifeguard. Aquariums West has several powdered medications by Seachem that are very easy to add to tanks. Seachem Metronidazole treats bacterial and parasite infections and doesn't affect your filter. Seachem Kanaplex treats several fungal and bacterial infections, etc. Fungus Eliminator is really good for fungus. I have some on hand, but it's a very small container, probably too small for your tank.

If you need something quickly after hours, send me a PM. I have a broad spectrum Seachem med (not sure which one) and also Quick Cure and a few others. I try to keep things on hand in case of emergency, but fortunately rarely run into those emergencies! You don't live too far away, so I could bring something over.

I know that your tanks are gorgeous and very well cared for, so it's really hard to imagine what could have gone wrong. As April says, I wonder if it's something in the water? It seems odd that the two of you are only a few blocks apart, both have had weird ich-white spot outbreaks, and yet there hasn't been any cross-contamination between tanks.

If you need it, I have a spare Fluval 205.