Black angel with white on it's head

[DiscusEden]

Hi,
I'm having some trouble with a veil tail angel I bought a bit over a week ago.

First it got a hole in its ?dorsal (upper) fin, which I was worried about, until I saw a baby guppy double the hole's size in one bite. I figured it was injury, not disease. I fed the fish & put in melafix yesterday.

Thismorning the angel had a white spot on its side fin. I put in another dose of melafix. By late thisafternoon it seemed to have a cobweb (white) on the side of its head, and now the cobweb has white lumps. Is this whitespot? If so, can I add Ickaway with the melafix in there?

Should I just farewell the angel? It hasn't eaten all week, except when it stuffed itself Sunday when I bought live brine shrimp in desperation. It's now hiding in a corner behind the filter, and has been all day.

I've tried to take a photo, but can't get one because of where it's stuck itself! It's the only angel in a tank of tetras, clown loaches, SAE, one sailfin platty, and a betta that went in today, but is trapped in a breeding cube (hangon).

Help please? I don't want to lose the rest.

TIA,
DiscusEden

[FishLover]

I'd be watching for the clown loaches. Your angle is carrying something and the clowns are very sensitive to white spots.

It is very important to QT your new fish for at least 2 weeks before put them in the main tank. Maybe it is a good idea to take the angle out and QT him/her to protect your other fish, if it is not too late already. Have an UV unit running will help a bit in this case for your other fish.

[sammigold]

If you can separate your angel into another tank I would do so as soon as possible!...
He sounds like he is pretty stressed.

From what you have described it is hard to know whether you angel has whitespot (ick) or a fungus/columnaris. Whitespot is normally seen as tiny risen white spots about the size of a pin head which can grow in number very quickly.. if it is whitespot here is a link to a page that may help with treatment... (it is important to get him away from your loaches because as fishlover said they are quite susceptible to whitespot and dont respond well to use of meds in their tanks due to the fact that they are scaleless.
Here is the whitespot link that explains symptoms and treatment http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ich.htm

I would be inclined to think that you have a columnaris type infection from your description and here is a link to symptoms and treatment of columnaris...
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm

If you believe that you have columnaris I would go to your LFS and ask them for the appropriate medication to treat this.

If you are going to use any salt based treatment it is important to make sure that your clown loaches are not in the tank as they are intolerant to the use of salt.

HTH
sammi

[DiscusEden]

Thanks guys,

I kind of figured it might be whitespot or fungal. So I panicked & did a 1/2 ickaway treatment last night. The outbreak on its head is looking better, but it now has another patch on the body.

I don't have another tank yet (will get one before i fill the 6 foot I'm getting, but don't want this in it anyway), so the angel and one tetra who's has a suspiciious white spot on its tail for 3 weeks (despite a melafix & 2 ickaway treatments) might need to go to fishy heaven before they take the rest with them.

I hope it's not too late! This is a community tank I'm giving to friends when I get my 6 foot - starting fresh & buying clean hospital tank - so I hope it'll still have some fish in it to give them!

Thanks for the help,
DiscusEden

[sammigold]

Sometimes just good clean water (no meds) can help... It sounds like you have been medicating quite a bit... maybe your water quality is not so good at the moment... Most fish respond well to regular water changes giving optimum water conditions. Whitepatches sound like fungus not whitespot... I would not go the ickaway anymore if I was you.... Sometimes you can cure fungus using salt treatment but you need to do it in a separate tank to your loaches. HTH good luck.

[DiscusEden]

Thanks Sammi,

I've been doing weekly water changes of 40%. I had the water tested at the LFS 3 weeks ago, and the only part that was a problem was extra phosphates.

The angel fish and dodgy neon have gone to fishy heaven now (with some encouragement). I'll hold off doing anything else unless I see problems, and maybe do another water change tonight after work - the last one was Monday (3 days ago). I might even be able to restrain myself from putting anything new in for a couple of weeks.

Thanks again for your help - very much appreciated!

DiscusEden

[sammigold]

Hi DiscusEden, there is only one thing that I cant say enough and that is "Quarantine!" If you have a tank of healthy fish you should always quarantine any newcomers to make totally sure that you are not adding any nasties into your healthy tank.
I usually quarantine any new fish for a period of 3 to 4 weeks before putting them into my established tanks.
I am sorry that your angel was sent to fishie heaven.