Rip in my Angel

[chiz9ss]

First post here, great site!! My 2yr old Angel has some scale missing, I can see its insides, sort of cool, but I know its not normal. Its eating well and otherwise looks great. Its been like this for a while. Any suggestions?

 

[Allivymar]

Hi Chiz9ss and welcome to Aquariumadvice.

What are your water parameters? Always the first place to start. How often do you water change? What size tank?

Can you get us a pic? How long has he had the hole? It sounds like a really bad ulcer, but its hard to be 100% sure without seeing it.

Are any other fish exhibiting signs of illness?

In the meantime, I would isolate the angel; he will likely need antibiotic treatment, and you don't want to treat the other fish if they're healthy, or mess up your nitrifying bacterial colonies.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:f55fb702c8]Welcome to AA, chiz9ss!! [/center:f55fb702c8]
My first thought was scales missing due to aggression. How large is the "bald spot"?? Who else is in the tank? How large is the tank?

As Alli said, a pic would be great.

 

[chiz9ss]

I have a 29g tank, I do a water change every 1-2 weeks. It is a very established tank, 8yrs old. But this is something I ve never seen. It doesnt look like its from aggerssion. I have an other angel, a irredescnt shark(8+ yrs old, and doesnt bother anyone), a spotted pleco and mostly just tetras. I wish I could post a pic but dont have the equipment...sorry

 

[Allivymar]

Ok, no prob. Pics just make diagnosis easier.

Have you isolated it? My guess is it was likely damage by one of the other fish (possibly the the other angel) which got infected. If you haven't isolated it yet, do so and I would start a round of antibiotics, preferrably something with oxytetracycline (like Kanacyn).

 

[chiz9ss]

Ok, Thanks. No I havent isolated it because it just looks so healthy otherwise, but I will. If it was from aggression it was definatly from the other angel, they are pretty nasty. Thamks again.I ll keep an update.

 

[Menagerie]

Hopefully with a round of antibiotics the angel will be good as new! Good luck!