sick angels, possibly gill infection..

[pearldrummer]

my 2 yr old angel Zeke is not doing well at all. 20 gallon tank. 1 blue gourami, 1 long fin tetra, and 1 plecostamus in the tank as well. planted with java ferns. ph 7.8, nitrite 0 ppm, nitrates 15-20 ppm (based on the liquid color vs. the chart) ammonia reading unavailable. water changes now biweekly. more on that later

basically he's been gasping at the top for about a week and a half now. at first signs of it, nitrate levels were off the chart ( yes i was lazy at water changes, now i've learned my lesson - did immediate water changes of 30% over the course of 3 days and vacuumed all i could out the gravel. lowered nitrates signifcantly to where they are now. also raised temp to 82 degrees as opposed to 74 before. also added aquarium salt as directed by the box. tank is well aerated. they've been at this level for 5 days now. still no improvement on him and he's gettin tired. so i started a tetracycline medication tonite to see if it will improve over the next two days (as the box indicates). i do not want to lose him so i'm just seeing if i'm doing things right. he still has a decent appetite, not as much as before he was sick, but still eating. unfortunately, due to the lazy water changing part on my half, i know it's what made him sick. i was only changing bimonthly. yes, bad on my part. i hope i've done enough to save him. all the other fish seem fine though. that's why i think its a gill infection. but i dont see any growth, abnormal color, or strange things about his gills. any info would be awesome.

edit: title says angels, but its only one angel.

 

[pearldrummer]

also, a little more info i forgot to post. tank is 2 1/2 years old, filter changes once a month. added Prime during recent water change.

 

[pearldrummer]

so two days into the treatment, still no luck. now he's crashed at the bottom. is there any hope at all? i really tried pulling all the stops but it just may be his time. any suggestions would be awesome.

 

[Zagz]

Sorry I missed this thread before. Have you done a large water change since getting the nitrates down? I would consider doing at least 50%, do not add any more medication. Lower the temp to 78-80F. Is he still gasping? Is he bloated at all and have you seen him poo or eat lately?

 

[pearldrummer]

Sorry I missed this thread before. Have you done a large water change since getting the nitrates down? I would consider doing at least 50%, do not add any more medication. Lower the temp to 78-80F. Is he still gasping? Is he bloated at all and have you seen him poo or eat lately?

He's not bloated cuz he's stopped eating.kinda skinny now. Stopped the meds too. Changed 25 percent of water but he's still at bottom. Ugh. I do appreciate the response. Hopefully he improves through the nite

 

[Zagz]

Does his stomach seem indented? Any changes to his outward appearance, whitish, slime coat coming off? When he was eating did you see any poo? Was it whitish and transparent? Just trying to figure out if it is bacterial or parasites.

 

[pearldrummer]

stomach's a little indented. no color change, nor slime change. havent seen him poop in a while. if i had to guess, probably clear because i really havent seen much of his at the bottom of the tank recently. he still gasps fast, whether at the top or bottom.