Sick Angel fish

[autumnrenee]

Can anyone help me identify what’s wrong with this juvenile Angel fish please?! She is still eating and actively swimming. They look like white spots, when the fish moves certain angles they are more visible.

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The fish has excess mucous over its body. This is caused by something in the water irritating the fish.

Check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until we work out why it's producing the excess mucous.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish?
How long has the fish been patchy?
Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

How often do you do water changes?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
Do you have buckets specifically for the fish tank?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

[autumnrenee]

Hello and thanks for your reply! This tank has been up and running since July 2022. I base my water changes off my nitrate levels and I’ve tested and nothing is alarming or would lead me to believe it’s my water. Now I bought this fish with 4 others at petco and the rest have already passed. I believe the fish had something when I purchased them. The others showed signs of stringy white/clear stuff coming off their fins. This one on the other hand has white circle ⚪️ marks that look kinda fuzzy. The fish is surprisingly still eating and is active. I’m not sure what is wrong but I believe they were infected when I brought them home unfortunately.

[autumnrenee]

Also this tank has an aqua clear 50 on it and it’s a 36 gallon.

[Colin_T]

How often and how do you clean the filter?

The other option is an external protozoan infection like Costia, Chilodnella or Trichodina. These parasites attack the skin and the fish produces more mucous over the infected area/s. You can treat it with salt, (see directions below).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.