Help with blue Masked Angel!

[lemec]

I've had a blue masked angel now for two months, very cool fish. He's been eating well and seems to get along fine with the corals and other tank mates. I noticed about two weeks ago his on gill spine was a bit whiter that I had remembered seeing and decided he had simple gotten into it with the female clown during the night. Over the course of the week just one gill flap has began to bulge out, showing a white growth on the inner portion of the gill flap, his spine seems to be exposed too. It has not affected his behavior, and his appetite is still good. I caught him three days ago, dropped him in a hospital tank established with tank water from my main unit. I began dosing "quick cure" a combination of formalin and malachite green at a drop per gallon increasing this same dosage every day.
My question are: is this the right med or should I be using erythromycin? How long should I wait until some sign of "curing" happens and how long should he remain while in isolation? None of the tank mates seem to be affected (two Picasso percs, and a sunburst Anthias). At what point do I use carbon and start dosing at beginning levels or do I just keep adding the formalin/malachite mix until the illness appears resolved? Thanks.

 

[cngreg]

There were some similar symptoms recently with someones regal angel. It got to the point where the fish stopped eating. Maybe because of pain or maybe just occlusion, only the fish knows. Some differentials for what youve got: Lymphocycstis, a virus that makes cells swell up. Unless it blocks the mouth or renders the fish incapable of breathing or swimming it usually resolves with TLC. Parasite, maybe a microscopic one causing swelling of the gill tissues as can be the case with some flukes and some ciliate protozoans or a macroscoping one that is creating a mass effect, like an isopod. Theres an isopod you see in teh trade every so often that eats the tongue of the fishthen jsut lives in the fishes mouth. It could be bacterial, causing inflammation. Finally, theres a few strange groups of parasites that you would only be able to diagnose with a decent microscope and usually only histologically ( once the fish is dead) but soemtimes on biopsy such as the microsporidians and myxozoans. The quick cure would help with the parasites category but not be enough to shake loose a crustacean parasite like an isopod. Bacteria would need antibiotics but erythromycin is a macrolide antibiotic and has mostly a gram positive spectrum which is rarely called for in marine bacterial disease (sometimes used for dropsy like symptoms or popeye associated with an internal bacterial infection of things like the kidneys). Better antibiotics are TMP sulfa, kanamycin, and if you have to, maracyn 2 (minocyclin). Nothing you can do about microsporidians or myxozoans. Do you have photos? Did you quarantine or medicate before putting in?

 

[cngreg]

Fingus is pretty rare but a possibility. If it's fungus, you could see the spores using a microscope, then theres a few treaments available.

 

[lemec]

I did a fresh water dip. I've taken some pics, just figuring out how to get them on here from my iPhone.

 

[lemec]

here is a quick video I shot of him...maybe that will help
http://youtu.be/_UQSQTKweZg

 

[lemec]

any ideas after looking at the video? What's the right med?

 

[lemec]

Anchor worm on the gills or "cotton mouth" on the gill? He hasn't lost his appetite yet. I've done a week long course of the formalin/malachite green without any improvement. I left activated carbon in the filter for 14 hours and did a 25% water change. His breathing has quickened in the last day, but I figured that was due to the high concentration of med and a bit of dirty water. Kinda at a loss guys.

 

[lemec]

What's the dosing of erythromycin per gallon for these guys? I guess that would be my next thought

 

[lemec]

Well, he didn't make it over the weekend! I removed him from the QT tank and noticed that his gills had been basically consumed. There was a bore hole on his other gill, almost looked like a gun shot hole, very clean. My overall guess would have been some sort of parasitic arthropod or such, that basically ate him from the inside out. Obviously it was pretty resilient to what I tried to use. I haven't had time to see if he's still agile in the QT tank, maybe when I drain that out and wash it, I'll have a more definatie answer. I just wish those dang angels weren't so hard to find!