No clue what this is

kaiboshi

New member
A few weeks ago I picked up a cream angel. Immediately into QT he went. I treated with praziquantel in the form of prazipro as soon as I was sure the fish was eating. The fish had visible exterior worms latched on to it. The fish writhed and scratched and eventually injured it's eye which wound up as full blown pop eye. I treated with furan 2 and eventually epsom salt. I don't think either treatment had an effect but eventually the popeye went away.

Once I was sure the popeye was gone and the fish was eating again I did a prophylactic treatment for ich in the form of crypto pro, quinine sulfate. The treatment is supposed to last 10-14 days, I've dosed for 11 days now.

I've been going through some medical hell recently so I haven't really been paying attention TOO much to the angel aside from dosing the QS but everything seemed to be going fine. I did notice some scratching over the past few days but I thought "nothing some prazi can't take care of".

Today I turned on the lights to the tank and took a look to see what was going on (which I hadn't done for 11 days) and I was somewhat shocked. I thought I saw some agitated scales from the scratching but it was kinda hard to tell and I didn't want to turn the lights on for fear of disrupting the QS procedure.

Anyway, take a look:

creamangel001.jpg


creamangel002.jpg



It looks like the fish scratched so much that it took it's scales off and started digging at the flesh. The white bumps look almost like pimples. It looks almost as if the flesh is being eaten away where the scales have been removed.

I don't have a clue what this is symptomatic of. Maybe extreme scratching from anchor worms or something, maybe a horrendous bacterial infection, I don't know. I threw in another round of prazi because I wasn't really sure what else to do. Oh, and the fish won't eat as of tonight (that I could see).

Something I find interesting is that the the scales that have been completely removed are on opposite sides of the fish b ut in the same spot. Is it possible it has worms IN it's flesh or something?

Any thoughts?
 
I looked at your pictures last night and had to give it some thought.

The scale damage appears to be related to the previous infestation of worms. The bumps look like some form of lymphocystis, a viral disease, again a secondary infection likely a result from the depressed immune system. If the fish has a strong enough immune system after the deworming(hopefully the worms are gone), it should be able to fight the lymphocystis on its own.

Does it continue to flash or scratch? How's the breathing? Appetite? The eyes look clean now.

Hopefully, some others can chime in and recommend whether they would treat with some antibiotics (or another round of furan 2 as you dosed before). Low stress, good water quality, good diet (greens), and some careful observation would be my recommendation until some others suggest some additional treatment.

Good Luck. Hope you are able to get it back to good health.
 
Unfortunately the fish passed tonight. Took a nose dive. Thanks for the reply though. No one has had any solid ideas yet. Real bummer.
 
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