Emperor angel fin rot!!!!!!!!

[popothemailman]

Help my emperor angel's tail and the tips above and below the tail are rotting. At first i thought it was a fish pecking at him, but after observing i saw nothing. This morning even more of his fin was missing! How can i treat him i have nearly 160lr in a 80gal tank(basically impossible to catch him for qt). All other fish and corals are fine.

Description.
His scales are very pale he is not "shiny" anymore. His tail fin may be all gone in the next 2 days by the look of it. And the area above his tail and below are deteriorating as well. All he has been eating is clip on algae and occasionally some mysis shrimp(he would not eat full spectrum pellets). However just yesterday i bought some formula 1 and he chomped that up.

possible cause...? mal nutrition, or from the nori i bought from a sea food market.



My water conditions are:
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
ph 8.2

 

[steve-s]

What else do you feed besides the nori? How long have you had the fish?

It sounds like a bacterial problem. First course of action would be several large water changes with well aged/aerated SW. Even though the water parameters read fine, they are not an indication of DOC which is the primary food source for opportunistic bacterias. With those lowered, it will allow the fishs own immune system to take over and hopefully heal. If the problem is severe or showing red enflamed area's, you will need to QT and treat with a gram negative antibiotic.

FWIW, the Emporer is a very poor choice for that size of tank. I hope you have plans to upgrade tank size soon. Even if it's appearance was healthy, it would not remain so long term under these conditions.

Cheers
Steve

 

[popothemailman]

I feed nori, spectrum pellets, and mysis shrimp, The emperor will eat all except the the spectrum pellets. I feed every other day, but the nori is always replaced. The redness at the base of the tail is very very minor now. Wold he be a canidate for a qt? I am going to do a large water change today, and as for the tank size, he is due to go to my uncle's 300gal soon.

 

[steve-s]

Wold he be a canidate for a qt? I am going to do a large water change today

Do several water changes over the next week and see if it improves. If not then yes, a QT would be in order. Also be sure to vitamin soak the foods before feeding. It can make a world of difference.

and as for the tank size, he is due to go to my uncle's 300gal soon.

Cheers
Steve

 

[popothemailman]

Well im going to attemp to QT him, he does come out when he sees me messing with the algae clip. Will Melafix be ok to use? If i am not able to get him in qt, will melafix harm the main tank?

thank you very much steve

 

[steve-s]

Melafix won't hurt the main tank but it's effectiveness is very limited. Personally I wouldn't bother with it. It's a PITA to clean up after your done. It can sometimes help reduce the chances of wound infection but it won't act as a cure.

If you do get the angel into the QT, treat with SW Maracyn II at double the dose daily for seven full days with a water change just prior to each new dose. Don't do this in the main tank though.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Guest]

Steve gave some great advice. If it doesn't look like catching him is going to do, I'd do several very large water changes over a three to four day period. Sometimes this alone is enough to reduce the harmful bacterial load and the fishes immune system can kick in. How often and how much water are you changing? Good luck!

KG

 

[Hara]

I think that if you were going to be taking the fish to your uncles 300 gallon soon, you would have been doing whatever had to be done to get the fish out. Not to point out the obvious, but you should probably go ahead and do it now, or you may not have a fish to give to your uncle. Hopefully you can fool him with the algae clip idea.

(I am not meaning this to sound smart alecky, just trying to help you do what is right for the fish)

 

[popothemailman]

I was able to get him out on the first try with the algae. He is currently in a QT tank. However, this was all done yesturday and wasnt able to see Steves message about melafix. I already had half a bottle of melafix and did the suggested dose, and this morning the redness completely went away. should i still add maracyn II, and can it be added with melafix? I am feeding him formala 1 & 2, should i feed anything else?

 

[Hara]

I would stop the melafix and use the maracyn, do a nice waterchange first though. Feed him whatever he wants to eat. As long as he is eating, there is good hope for him.

 

[Guest]

I like Melafix. It's worked wonders for me. Sometimes a more aggressive course of action is necessary, but most of the time it works. Hope he makes it!

KG

 

[quarryshark]

If you have him in qt, I would definately do a large water change and switch to the Maracyn. Much better drug IMO.

 

[popothemailman]

I couldn't find any maracyn so i got triple sulfa.