Freshwater dip gone bad?

[dwculp]

I brought home a new Coral Beauty Angel the other day and acclimated him to the tank and he was doing very well, even ate within minutes of being in the new tank. However, I observed him yesterday scratching himself on the substrate and observed what appeared to be very small white specks on his fins, but not his body. I decided to try a freshwater dip, since I am new to this I was not entirely sure what to do. I had read a few books and websites on the procedure and figured I could do it.

I obtained a clean five gallon bucket and filled it half full with distilled water and added buffer to bring the pH up. I checked temperature and made sure it was the same as the tank temp. I netted the fish and placed him into the freshwater. I left him there for 8 minutes. This is where the instructions varied, some books and websites said to dip for 30 seconds, others to dip for up to 20 minutes.

After 8 minutes I gently netted him and placed him back in the tank. He seemed stunned and disoriented, he had no energy and just hovered in one spot in the tank for hours afterwards. I came in this morning and he seemed well, swimming around and ate vigorously this morning. He seems well, no white spots anymore but the ends of his rear fins and very frayed, could this be a side effect of the freshwater dip?

 

[revhtree]

Yes it could be. It is a good sign that he is swimming and eating. Also I have always heard to dip for 3-5minutes. For a second I thought I was going to read down a little further about the little guy dying. Glad I didnt.

 

[srgetz]

"his rear fins and very frayed, could this be a side effect of the freshwater dip?"

Not a chance, that is called "fin rot" which is a bacterial infection due to poor water quality. From what I have seen (my hippo had this coming out of qt), this is usually due to excess organics (doc) in the water. Best thing to do is several large (30-40%) water changes with aged (24hrs) sw over the period of a few days. You can try melafix along with water changes, it seemed to help with my hippo, but other antibiotics I would add only in qt. But the water changes alone should do the trick. If the white specs return, it may be ich, a parasite which needs to be dealt with in qt. Fresh water dips only prolong the outcome and do not cure ich, and are stressful to the fish (as you have seen). But the water changes are a must for that type of bacterial issue. I would do 3 large ones, then get on a regular schedule every other week or so. You should see big improvements in a few weeks, he will grow it all back in a month or so of good water quality. Are you running a skimmer on this tank? If you start seeing white specs again, let us know and we will help...

 

[dwculp]

I wonder if this could possibly have come from the pet store. None of my other fish have this, they are all colorful, healthy and active without a single mar on their body, it is just this new fish. All my water parameters are within acceptable limits (Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5, 1.021 SG).

I am setting up a hospital tank today specifically for this fish.

 

[dwculp]

Fish died at 3:00 today

 

[indy]

Sorry for the loss. In the future make sure you keep a close eye on any fish you're dipping. Don't go by an predetermined time, but by how the fish is reacting. If he shows signs of stress after 30 seconds he need to be removed and put back in saltwater. Some fish can go quite a while in fresh and not seem affected, it depends on the fish. And always QT your fish before introducing them to your display tank.

You'll need to keep a close eye on the rest of your fish now. If he had ich and/or fin rot, there is a good chance the rest of you fish will begin showing signs. How was the color on the CB before he died? Ich doesn't usually kill that quicly, but velvet can take a fish down in hours.