Hi, New hear, I have a problem in my fish room. Mostly angels have become infected with a gray film. I'ts been a week or so i bought some angels of of aquabid, i think they brought this in, they were put in their own tank, but it seems to be speading. I've only lost a few fish ,fish are eating but then sulk on bottom or top. Any subgestions
gray film
- Thread starter leejr
- Start date
Hi Leejr, welcome to AC.
It sounds like they may have a bacterial infection called Columnaris.
If you can take some pics of your fish it would be very helpful for us to make a diagnosis and recommendations.
Also, we need to know some things about your tank:
Tank size
How many fish and what kinds
How long has the tank been set up?
What kind of filtration do you have? Heater?
Water parameters: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temperature.
What kind of testing equipment do you use? Liquid test kit, or strips?
Water change schedule: how often and what percentage of water removed and replaced?
What kind of conditioner, to remove chlorine and chloramines from the water.
Feeding info: kind of food, frequency.
I know those are a lot of questions, but we need the answers to know what we may be dealing with.
In the meantime I'm going to attach some pics of fish with columnaris.
Your fish do not need to look exactly like these images. Sometimes the mouth is not involved. Sometimes it is just that filmy look that you see on the body of fish in the second picture.
If your Angels look like this then I would go get antibiotic medicines first thing tomorrow, as soon as you can. You mentioned the Angels are in their own tank, that's good. You will need to treat that whole tank.
Get Maracyn and Maracyn II. These two treat gram negative and gram positive bacterial infection. If this is Columnaris then you need to start right away.
Keep their water a bit on the cool side of comfortable for Angels, as the bacteria like warm water.
Keep their water parameters absolutely pristine. No ammonia, no nitrites, and nitrates at 20 or so. If you are using strips to test then you must get a liquid test kit. API Master is good. Strips are unreliable and give false readings all the time. You really must know just what your parameters are.
Do water changes as big and as often as needed to keep their water perfect. They need this to help them fight off this infection.
Water changes won't interfere with the medicines as they are unavailable after a few hours in the tank, anyway.
Remove your carbon from the filter. Get Prime conditioner, which will help.
It not only removes chlorine and chloramines, but it also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites. You need this to help in case you do have any traces of ammonia and nitrites. Prime detoxifies for about 24 hours, giving you some breathing room to make the water change.
Here's what I'd do:
Do a big water change after you get the meds before you dose the tank.
24 hours later do another big water change, and then dose the tank again.
Keep doing this for more than the 5 days that the packaging recommends.
I'd go at least 10 days.
You should see signs of improvement within 48 hours, maybe nothing dramatic, but they should act like they feel a bit better: more swimming around, less lethargy.
Feed very lightly. Medicated food would be very good if they would eat it. Kanacyn in their food is excellent. Tetracycline, also. Garlic juice on the medicated food might entice them to eat it.
If this is columnaris then time is of the essence.
Please post pics and provide the requested info as soon as you can. I hope your fish will be OK.
Again, welcome to AC.
It sounds like they may have a bacterial infection called Columnaris.
If you can take some pics of your fish it would be very helpful for us to make a diagnosis and recommendations.
Also, we need to know some things about your tank:
Tank size
How many fish and what kinds
How long has the tank been set up?
What kind of filtration do you have? Heater?
Water parameters: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temperature.
What kind of testing equipment do you use? Liquid test kit, or strips?
Water change schedule: how often and what percentage of water removed and replaced?
What kind of conditioner, to remove chlorine and chloramines from the water.
Feeding info: kind of food, frequency.
I know those are a lot of questions, but we need the answers to know what we may be dealing with.
In the meantime I'm going to attach some pics of fish with columnaris.
Your fish do not need to look exactly like these images. Sometimes the mouth is not involved. Sometimes it is just that filmy look that you see on the body of fish in the second picture.
If your Angels look like this then I would go get antibiotic medicines first thing tomorrow, as soon as you can. You mentioned the Angels are in their own tank, that's good. You will need to treat that whole tank.
Get Maracyn and Maracyn II. These two treat gram negative and gram positive bacterial infection. If this is Columnaris then you need to start right away.
Keep their water a bit on the cool side of comfortable for Angels, as the bacteria like warm water.
Keep their water parameters absolutely pristine. No ammonia, no nitrites, and nitrates at 20 or so. If you are using strips to test then you must get a liquid test kit. API Master is good. Strips are unreliable and give false readings all the time. You really must know just what your parameters are.
Do water changes as big and as often as needed to keep their water perfect. They need this to help them fight off this infection.
Water changes won't interfere with the medicines as they are unavailable after a few hours in the tank, anyway.
Remove your carbon from the filter. Get Prime conditioner, which will help.
It not only removes chlorine and chloramines, but it also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites. You need this to help in case you do have any traces of ammonia and nitrites. Prime detoxifies for about 24 hours, giving you some breathing room to make the water change.
Here's what I'd do:
Do a big water change after you get the meds before you dose the tank.
24 hours later do another big water change, and then dose the tank again.
Keep doing this for more than the 5 days that the packaging recommends.
I'd go at least 10 days.
You should see signs of improvement within 48 hours, maybe nothing dramatic, but they should act like they feel a bit better: more swimming around, less lethargy.
Feed very lightly. Medicated food would be very good if they would eat it. Kanacyn in their food is excellent. Tetracycline, also. Garlic juice on the medicated food might entice them to eat it.
If this is columnaris then time is of the essence.
Please post pics and provide the requested info as soon as you can. I hope your fish will be OK.
Again, welcome to AC.
Thanks for the reply Melody,The tanks affected are mostly 55 gal. grow out tanks filled with angels. They have auto water changing systems (well water). they get 50% water changed every night, are heavily stocked, heavily filtered , lots of airation. Ph is 7.3, temp 78. This problem resembles angel plague, i've had a few run ins with that years ago, in those cases the fish died in about 48 hrs. Also they wouldn't eat, these now are eating. I used copper safe 2 days ago, it has helped some.
I'm glad it doesn't look like columnars, then. I"m not at all familiar with Angel plague.
There's an angel breeder here named Draal5 you might PM for help with your issues right now.
There are others here that are fish gurus that might know as well. I'm sure someone else will stop by this thread and contribute.
If they are eating, that sounds like your treatment may be helping. I hope they continue to improve.
Keep us posted.
There's an angel breeder here named Draal5 you might PM for help with your issues right now.
There are others here that are fish gurus that might know as well. I'm sure someone else will stop by this thread and contribute.
If they are eating, that sounds like your treatment may be helping. I hope they continue to improve.
Keep us posted.