Unknown Parasite/Bacteria

[Ucigas]

Hi there, I got a new fish last week and didn't quarantine it (I know I know) and now I think my fish have some kind of parasite. I put in prazipro 2 days ago and haven't noticed improvement but I know it's supposed to take a week. If it doesn't work, I would appreciate some recommendations as of what to do next

okay so here's my fish

baby koi angel - The one I just got that I didn't quarantine. Has long white beaded poo. It seems to be eating but not a lot, and isn't scratching itself against plants

2 baby yellow angelfish (can't tell them a part) - scratching against plants. I also noticed one had white kind of fluffy poo 2 days ago but haven't really seen any poo since. they go after food and then spit it out.

1 adult striped angel - I just noticed it start scratching against plants today. It has normal poop and is eating as of now

3 glass catfish - haven't noticed much. they might be eating less but I'm not sure

2 albino cories - seem to be fine as of right now

Aside from that stuff, they aren't lethargic, have clamped fins, or swimming sideways or anything like that.

Again, I just need help figuring out what this is and how to treat it. Aside from prazipro I have jungle fungus and bacteria tabs. If the prazipro doesn't work I'm gonna do it again and then try something else

 

[Matt68005]

So you have angels and one fish with stringy poo. Try this
Antiprotozoan Fish Flake Food
This is metronidazole to treat intestinal protozoa, that angels are prone to.
Its called Hole in the Head or HOTH.
Do you feed them live food? Good idea not too. Feeder fish carry parasites.
Is your water appropriately hard?
In not too worried about the flashing. That can be dealt with later with a ick medicine.
BTW do not combine the metronidazole with an ick medicine.
Limestone rocks can make your water harder if needed.

 

[PoppaRyno]

Hard water for angels??? No.
And who feeds angelfish... feeder fish? stringy poo is not automatically HITH/HOTH disease.

OP... do not harden your water as Pterophyllum Scalare ( Angelfish) are a South American Cichlid from the amazons. Which means its requirement are soft acidic water. I breed Angels, rams, discus, and other SA cichlids. Raising your hardness is a bad idea. You can google their requirements for more info. But the common pH they are found in the wild is 6.0-6.5.... 7.0 is neutral PH. UNDER THAT is soft water. Over that is considered hard water. If you need anymore info feel free to ask me, as i have research and articles to back this up. Andy Sager is a master breeder of angels and a member here and has a wealth of info as well. Hope this helps. HITH/HOTH is also most commonly caused by bad water conditions, and does not spread fast from fish to fish... So your other 2 angels that are flashing since the new guy got introduced says to me its something other than hole in the head disease.




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[sinibotia]

I think HITH is a possibility. Instead of buying medicated flakes I suggest getting some epsom salt and soaking their food in a 3% solution of it (2 cups of water+1 tablespoon epsom salt).This is gentler than metronidazol but still highly effective, so it's better for fish where you aren't sure if it's HITH or not.

 

[PoppaRyno]

You dont think its a parasite??? The flashing and poo issue is why i figured parasite and not HITH. I'm not super well versed on HITH, but didnt say it isnt a possibility... Just seen most of these signs before and ive never had HITH. Its usually flukes IME with quick spreading flashing with a new introduction (the non gt'd angel). Hope it isnt HITH and someone much smarter than I will chime in I'm sure.

Pssst MOST people are smarter than I. Lol

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[sinibotia]

You dont think its a parasite??? The flashing and poo issue is why i figured parasite and not HITH. I'm not super well versed on HITH, but didnt say it isnt a possibility... Just seen most of these signs before and ive never had HITH. Its usually flukes IME with quick spreading flashing with a new introduction (the non gt'd angel). Hope it isnt HITH and someone much smarter than I will chime in I'm sure.

Pssst MOST people are smarter than I. Lol

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Oh I totally think it could be a parasite. But the poo and the appetite issues can be an early sign of HITH aka hexamita aka spironuclease so I thought a gentle prophylactic treatment might help. I just dodged a bullet myself with the redhead marble pair losing their appetite and having stringy poo and the epsom medicated flakes improved their symptoms almost immediately. I say, treat for flukes while feeding the epsom soaked food.

Prazipro is good for treating flukes btw.

 

[PoppaRyno]

I agree with the epsom food. Great laxitive to free the intestinal tract. Should clear the poo thing up. Its the flashing that got me thinking my line of thoughts.

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[sinibotia]

Ehhh, to be honest I think that flashing is way overblown as a symptom. A lot of my fish are completely healthy and flash occasionally for no apparent reason. Believe me, I check when they flash for every possible ailment when I see it; I'm ridiculously paranoid. But some fish just got an itch, ya know? Unless there's something else indicating an external issue, or unless it's serious chronic flashing, I'm reluctant to strongly consider it.

 

[Ucigas]

thanks guys, I will look into epsom salt. If they all lose their appetite and don't eat the soaked food, would doing a salt dip be fine?

Hope the prazipro works though. The koi has red gills so I immediately thought gill flukes. Turns out koi angels just have red gills lol.

 

[sinibotia]

thanks guys, I will look into epsom salt. If they all lose their appetite and don't eat the soaked food, would doing a salt dip be fine?

Hope the prazipro works though. The koi has red gills so I immediately thought gill flukes. Turns out koi angels just have red gills lol.

If they lose all their appetite treating with metronidazole is best. Epsom salt in this particular instance is only effective ingested.

 

[Matt68005]

thanks guys, I will look into epsom salt. If they all lose their appetite and don't eat the soaked food, would doing a salt dip be fine?

Hope the prazipro works though. The koi has red gills so I immediately thought gill flukes. Turns out koi angels just have red gills lol.

Gill flukes will make the fishes gills swollen and it will breath fast and hang.
Has nothing to do with flashing, an angelfish is after all a member of the chiclid family, and prefers hard water, and is prone to getting HOTH.

 

[PoppaRyno]

GBR & Discus are cichlids too... They do soft water. Africans are the hard water guys.

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[sinibotia]

Gill flukes will make the fishes gills swollen and it will breath fast and hang.
Has nothing to do with flashing, an angelfish is after all a member of the chiclid family, and prefers hard water, and is prone to getting HOTH.

Flukes can affect elsewhere than just the gills and flashing is generally a symptom of it, especially in early stages.

Angelfish come from South America- where discus, corydoras, tetras, blue rams, etc. come from. Y'know, SOFT WATER fish. They can adapt to all kinds of water but c'mon this is like basic-level fish knowledge....

 

[Matt68005]

LOL i know very little about chiclids. Never been a big fan of them.
I know i read about HOTH and i read about chiclids in hard water get the disease less than chiclids in softer water, i think it was a reasearh paper about african chiclids from lake malawali or something.
Anyways we both agree that metro and or praziquentel would be a good first step.

 

[Matt68005]

If you take like one teaspoon of epson salt in i think 2 cups of bottled water let it dissolve, pour a little in the metro food youve bought or prepared, and let it sit, that way you can get the laxitive and the metro in the fish if their still eating.

 

[sinibotia]

LOL i know very little about chiclids. Never been a big fan of them.
I know i read about HOTH and i read about chiclids in hard water get the disease less than chiclids in softer water, i think it was a reasearh paper about african chiclids from lake malawali or something.
Anyways we both agree that metro and or praziquentel would be a good first step.

Well at least you'll admit that much. Hard water is no good for angelfish. Could just be that HOTH like many diseases is caused by stress from less than ideal conditions I still vote for prazi combined with epsom soaked flakes.

 

[Autumnsky]

Flashing can also be caused by Nitrates. Could be a separate issue. Check to make sure they are not too high. I hadn't heard about this untill an extremely experienced fish keeper told me to pay attention and test for that.

 

[Ucigas]

Just an update - they seem to be eating more and haven't really seen them flash so I guess I got lucky with the prazipro.

But I also noticed something peculiar, one of my angels spastically twitching his ventral fins for a few seconds. I read that was it displaying dominance so I hope it was that and not itching.

the angelfish with parasites also had broken ventral fins when I got him (he was a surprise gift) and now he has swim bladder. What a curse he is