Angelfish has some missing skin around head

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Vladka

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 29, 2016
Messages
103
Location
Arizona
What’s happening to my angel? Is he just getting picked on by the black red tail shark or is it something more severe at this point?

Acting a little reserved but still eating and swimming around fine, one eye has some cloudy lines and some skin around eyes is missing. Bottom fin is a little torn now too, that’s new.

Side note: I did have an Odessa barb die recently and it had a large white spot on its head, not sure what it was- maybe hole in the head disease? Is that contagious? Another barb is acting a little weird now too.

IMG_3850.jpg

IMG_3847.jpg

IMG_3843.jpg
 
Looks like some sort of infection, but it could be the shark beating him up? Do you see the shark constantly harassing the angel? If so, the stress could have made him more susceptible to infection which then caused him to pick up some bacteria. Red tail sharks are nasty little guys and in my opinion don't really belong in most community tanks. I would QT your angel and run a course of erythromycin which is a broad spectrum antibiotic in order to kill off the infection.
 
Looks like some sort of infection, but it could be the shark beating him up? Do you see the shark constantly harassing the angel? If so, the stress could have made him more susceptible to infection which then caused him to pick up some bacteria. Red tail sharks are nasty little guys and in my opinion don't really belong in most community tanks. I would QT your angel and run a course of erythromycin which is a broad spectrum antibiotic in order to kill off the infection.



The shark is not constantly harassing him, but in the past has injured another angelfish which caused the he mouth to be deformed and that one eventually died :(

Sometimes the shark gets more aggressive and then I remodel the tank or something and she is fine again. It’s always a bounce back and forth for if I’ll rehome her or not! But I’ve had her for 7+ years and she’s pretty cool so for now I like her.

The only reason I’m hesitant to QT is because I’m bad at keeping a QT tank haha, the 5 gallon currently has qt rasboras in it which is rare, and also it’d be too small for the angel for very long, and the 10 gallon is a shrimp tank with plants... it’s not or never to us it as a qt tank though I suppose, shouldn’t be hard to move all the shrimp to the 5 gal for now, but worry about lingering effects in the 10 from meds.
 
This is what comes up on amazon when I search erythromycin, is this good?
IMG_3859.jpg
 
So... I finally got the erythromycin and quarantine and it’s the 4th day of treatment. I have both angels in there. The gold one is doing good and it’s belly looks less bloated so that’s cool.
However, the black one still has some sores on it’s eye and body and one of its fins looks likes it’s basically gone?! Strangely it is not swimming sideways anymore though he was struggling for a little while. That fun has some meat on it at the base but I can’t see much of it past that point. What could be going on? Should I continue treatment longer or try something else?
 
Instructions say 4 total doses, should I continue daily for now? With 20% water change every 2 days?
 
IMG_4166.jpg Here’s what the fin looks like right now. Meaty and the fun part isn’t there. Can that grow back? He swims a little funny sometimes.
 
so I’ve been dozing daily and he still seems to be doing unwell. I have removed the other angel and am onto the second pack of erythromycin I have. Is there anything else I can do for him? His vision is poor as his eyes are covered in a cloudy partial film and his fin is still missing.
IMG_4322.jpgIMG_4321.jpgIMG_4320.jpg
 
Would it be worth trying to treat with furan-2 at this point or is it too late for him?
 
Maybe try metroplex. It treats hole in the head. Buy Seachem Focus to bind the metroplex to your food then feed him the medicated food.
 
I did buy some powder that could be added to the tank or you could soak food in and I did the food thing a few times. I know it treats fungus and I think bacteria. I’m out of town right now but will check what it’s called when I get back. I think it was seachem or API (It is konaplex by seachem), fish store guy recommended it for some white stuff on my other fish. (Turned out to be lymph)
I also went ahead and ordered the furan-2 since it’s only $6 and same easy treats
Want as erythromycin. I feel like it’s too late but it’s worth a try, he’s a good fish!
He’s been mostly hanging out by the top of the water all of the time now though. I have 2 large sponge filters going in the 10 gallons so plenty of oxygen and filtration, hopefully there’s still good bacteria alive, I guess I should have squeezed out some more from another tank after the erythromycin before I left oops.
I’ll take care of that in a few days then have a friend come take care of some of those things hopefully.
IMG_4404.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom