Help!!!! Sick Angelfish

[NoeyD-BettaGirl]

Im not too sure what is going on with one of my angelfish and could use some advice/input. A few hours ago I found her kinda floating near the top of the tank (alive), sometimes upside down for a brief second or two but mostly on her side. So when I took her out of the tank I noticed that she has a bloated stomach and also there is some white filmy looking "slime" coming off of her tail. I don't know what is wrong or if this is something even treatable at this point or is it too late? Im assuming it is fungal of some sort. But what? And the bloated stomach is what is throwing me off. The current water parameters are 7.2pH, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm and nitrate 10ppm. Temp is 78.8. I included some pics of the white film Im referring to and that is how she is currently, just floats at the top.

 

[Andy Sager]

Most likely it's a swim bladder issue. Swim bladder problems can arise from internal infections, damage to the bladder from a hit from another fish, poor water quality, poor diet, over eating, internal parasites, to name a few. What you are looking at on the tail appears to be just the fish's slime coat so that's not the problem.
Because there are so many possibilities, to even try to medicate the fish will be an extensive and expensive proposition with no guarantee of it working.
If you wanted to try treating the fish, it would need to be in a separate hospital tank with new clean water, a heater and an air stone. ( The medications you will need to use will damage the biological filter so treating in the main tank is not recommended.) Depending on what size tank you use, measure out either 5 gallons of water or 10 gallons because medications are measured for exact water amounts and tank size names do not reflect the actual amount of water they hold. ( No need to cycle it as the medications needed will have a water change schedule so nothing toxic should come from this. ) No lighting as you want the fish to extend the least amount of energy during the treatment. The first med to try would be Kanamycin ( Seachem Kanaplex if straight Kanamycin is not available.) Follow the directions on the package for at least one full cycle. If the fish shows promise of survival, do a second full medication cycle. If there are no apparent changes, post again and we can discuss the next step.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

@ Andy
( No need to cycle it as the medications needed will have a water change schedule so nothing toxic should come from this. ) I didn't think about this I've been keeping a bag of bio-rings in my HOB just for this reason it keeps me from taking it out of my canister. never thought about the meds killing the bio. Guess I can keep it for QT. I learn something every week from you and Aiken
Thanks

 

[Andy Sager]

@ Andy
( No need to cycle it as the medications needed will have a water change schedule so nothing toxic should come from this. ) I didn't think about this I've been keeping a bag of bio-rings in my HOB just for this reason it keeps me from taking it out of my canister. never thought about the meds killing the bio. Guess I can keep it for QT. I learn something every week from you and Aiken
Thanks

Not all meds suppress the biological microbes but the ones in this case do so medicating the main tank will only bring more issues down the road. Hospital tanks are just any container that holds water. I've used tanks, buckets, plastic bags, garbage cans, sweater trays, the list goes on. You just have to use the proper amount of medicine for the amount of water. The only guessing when medicating should be " am I using the correct med?" nothing else. The big thing is that once the patient is either healed or deceased, the " hospital" tank gets sterilized and broken down and put away. It's not a permanent fish holder. A quarantine tank is more of a permanent tank than a hospital tank so that should be a cycled aquarium.

 

[Fishfunn]

Hello, how is your angelfish doing? I used SeaChem KanaPlex in the past and it worked well for my Angelfish.