Healthy Angelfish with stuff hanging from his fins - keeps going away and coming back

[BettaFishMommy]

i wouldn't treat with anything except good ol' fashioned clean water/clean tank.

how about try this, do a 50% water change + good gravel vacuuming twice a week for four weeks. report back and let us know if the angel still has the fin issue.

 

[sundragon]

i wouldn't treat with anything except good ol' fashioned clean water/clean tank.

how about try this, do a 50% water change + good gravel vacuuming twice a week for four weeks. report back and let us know if the angel still has the fin issue.

Thanks for the advice will do. 50% water change isn't excessive (unless there's an emergency)?

 

[BettaFishMommy]

Thanks for the advice will do. 50% water change isn't excessive (unless there's an emergency)?

50% water changes on a weekly basis are the norm for most well cared for tanks.

when i do a water change for my big guys (oscar and paratilapia polleni), i leave just enough water in the tank to cover them. so about a 75 to 80% water change, every week to 10 days. they are thriving. i used to house an angel in this tank as well (until he started being a bully to the oscar, lol) and had the same maintenance regime when the angel was in there. the angel thrived as well in my tank.

as one member here used to have in their sig, 'fishies are more happy when their water is less crappy'.

 

[Cerianthus]

Thanks for the advice will do. 50% water change isn't excessive (unless there's an emergency)?

Since no after effects & dont know what we are dealing with to begin with, would just to stick to your routine maintenance schedule. I would not disturb well stablized ideal conditions.
Unnecessary massive/drastic changes can render other problematic situations.

 

[DavidZ]

Nice angel, great color on that KOI, agree with BettaFish Mommy, always try the water changes first, before using chems.

 

[sundragon]

Nice angel, great color on that KOI, agree with BettaFish Mommy, always try the water changes first, before using chems.

Thanks, that's what I'm going to stick to the water change schedule. I'm just surprised no one knows or has experienced something similar.

 

[Cerianthus]

In general, Analysis (reasoning) to our best ability before determining actions is how one should approach any possible problems.
Although WC may benefit but unnecessary/improper wc/treatment before analysis can render unfortunate outcomes.

It is not if I havnt seen similar symptoms but never had similar symptoms appear/disappear in matter of hours.
Need to compare few more occurrences (hopefully not for your fish) if your symptoms matches what I may remember.

btw, does this take place at exactly same places all the time?

 

[sundragon]

In general, Analysis (reasoning) to our best ability before determining actions is how one should approach any possible problems.
Although WC may benefit but unnecessary/improper wc/treatment before analysis can render unfortunate outcomes.

It is not if I havnt seen similar symptoms but never had similar symptoms appear/disappear in matter of hours.
Need to compare few more occurrences (hopefully not for your fish) if your symptoms matches what I may remember.

btw, does this take place at exactly same places all the time?

Nope, there are a couple of places it does reappear, but it changes around. mostly the anal fin near the bottom and ventral fins. Once on the tail and a couple of times on the dorsal fin.

I just did the water change and it came back - pictures attached. The water conditions are the same as before, except the Nitrates are 5.

Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=5
pH=6.8
KH=3 degrees

The angel's hungry, swimming and acting normally, as are the rest of the fish. I'll let you know if the lesions are still there tomorrow.

I fear that this is a low level infection that will come full blown if given an opportunity.

 

[sundragon]

almost 24 hours later and it's almost all gone, a small lesion left on one of the ventral fins, the anal fin is almost totally free...

Any suggestions?

 

[sundragon]

Update the Angel looks healthy, so do the other fish, they ate this AM... I changed the water on Saturday, 2 days ago - the API readings are:

pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm
KH: 4

I tested the ammonia twice because I was afraid it would be a false positive. The color is almost the "0" but it has a slight tinge of green which makes me feel it's higher than "0"...

I treated the new water with Prime and let it sit 24 hours like I normally do...

1. I'm tempted to do another water change, but I'm wondering what the h*ll is going on?
   
2. I rinse out the test tubes with tap water, then filtered water just to make sure there's no residual water in them, could it have been residual ammonia from the last time I cleaned them and put them away?

le sigh...