sick Bicolor Angel ... HELP!!!!! I don't know what to do

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jen-213

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
13
Location
MI USA
Ok, this is my first problem with any of my fish since I started into this hobby ... Ok, I haven't been doing this long but I haven't had any serious difficulties with anything as of yet.


Anyway, my recently purchased Bicolor Angel has a problem and I need to help it. When I bought it (about a week ago) it seemed perfectly healthy ... nice shape to it's body (not skinny or too fat), Beautiful color, was very active and swan all over. For the first day or so it and the yellow Tang in the tank had a bit of a time getting along but after that they seem to get better. Now they seem to be very tolerant of eachother.


For the first few days I didn't see the Angel eat anything at all but the other day it did nibble on some "Formula" frozen food so I figured it was just getting acclimated. Yesterday it seemed to be staying in it's cave a lot ... more than I had seen anytime before ... and the same thing all this morning. It just recently came out of the cave and swan a bit and I've noticed it seems to have a problem with it's eyes. It's Right eye is VERY cloudy ... it's Left eye is just a little cloudy but I fear it may get worse. I also think this may be why it isn't eating much if anything ... I don't think it can see the food. It swan around the tank a bit and kind of hovered in the aeration column like the bubbles made it feel better or something.


What could be the problem with my new fish ... I've never had any fish get cloudy eyes like this ... what should I do? If this is something I can treat should I treat the entire tank or just remove the Angel and treat it? Please, any advice would be terribly helpful!
 
I was just taking a closer look at my ill Angel and ...

I also noticed that there seem to be some tiny spots on it's fins ... they almost look like tiny bubbles but they aren't. Is this a parasite?
 
It sounds very much like your fish has gotten ick. The fish should be removed from the display aquarium into quarantine and should be treated with copper at a level of .15 - .20ppm for a period of 3 weeks. You should also start feeding the fish in the display aquarium food soaked in garlic, to try and prevent infestation in the main aquarium. Beware, since the ick is in there, it is very likely that you will either have to remove all the fish and leave that aquarium empty of fish for 3-4 weeks (so the ick doesn't have a host and the life cycle ends), or treat the display aquarium with copper or hyposalinity. If the display aquarium is treated with copper, it is pretty much done for inverts.
 
Please let this be your first and last lesson as to the importance of quarantining EVERY new livestock you purchase. It is too easy and foolproof to not do it, not to mention it prevents infecting your whole tank. :wink:
 
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