Paging Dr. House - Flame Angel Sick <-- Pictures Included

[deanthebean]

First off this is my first post and thanks in advance for all of the help as it is greatly appreciated!

Our Flame Angel, AKA "Flash" was initially purchased for a 150 gallon tank but proved to be incompatible with the other tanks fish and was being harassed. As you can see from the pictures below some of his tail fin and top fin are missing. Once we seen that he was not going to survive in the large tank we rushed out to buy him a 14g Nano Cube to setup as his own home. We followed the LPS advice and filled the tank with water from our larger tank but after a few days the nitrite levels advanced up to 1ppm and we noticed visible difficulties in the Angel's breathing/swimming. With the 14g tanks chemistry out of order we put the clown in a plastic container (with holes all around the top) and placed him inside the 150g tank for a couple days until we were able to stabilize the 14g. I am assuming that container did not have enough flow and the water conditions inside became quite poor. Once the 14g tank chemistry was in line we moved the Flame back into his new home, unfortunately when he swam out of the frosted container we found one side of him including his eye covered with a white film and a chunk of something in/on his tail fin. It also might appear that the eye with the film on it is now much further out than his other eye but I am unsure as it could be just an allusion as the other eye is clear. He has been in the nano for over 36 hours now and seems to be fine, swimming at a normal pace all over the tank, not having difficulties breathing, and is eating normal.

Current Water Condition:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0-0.25ppm
Nitrates 5.0-10.0ppm
PH 8.3
Salinity 1.023 SG
Temp 78°F

As I said condition has remained unchanged after 36 hours. I don't know what to do to save this little guy, after all the trouble we have gone through it would be quite upsetting to loose him now.

Please provide any help/advice for us to clear up the problem and get this guy back healthy ASAP.

 

[kinlayan]

he looks very malnourished indicated by the pinched area below the dorsal, is he still eating? if so he needs a very good varied diet with vitamins added to it and you have to make sure his water in that nano is perfect no ammonia, nitrite and very low nitrate

if possible i would even suggest some antibiotic like kanamycin added to his food till that cloudiness around the eye dissappears look up on the forum how to medicate the food, thisonly helps if he is still eating

The chances for survival are not good though looking at his condition

 

[deanthebean]

He is eating very well and seems to still be swimming quite well. I am going to go to my lps tomorrow and pickup some vitamins and kanamycin, is there a particular brand that you could recommend? Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[JHemdal]

deanthebean,

Unlike on House where it always ends up being a single rare problem that is easily cured, your fish has three different issues. As pointed out it is extremely emaciated. If it has been eating normally all along, then there is some malabsorbtion problem going on. It is rare to bring a fish back from being this thin as the liver becomes compromised. The lesion on its caudal fin looks like Lymphocystis. The fish's overall immune response is obviously damaged, so until that is repaired, there isn't anything to be done about that viral infection. The lesion at the mid-body looks like either mechancal damage or an internal Ichthyophonus fungal infection. Combine all this with the "iffy" water quality in your nano and I agree with kinlayan that things just do not look good at all for this fish.

Jay

 

[deanthebean]

Thank you Jay and Kinlayan for all of your help, both of your knowledge is quite overwhelming!

Is there a particular brand of medicine and vitamins that you could recommend? Is it best to try to treat the lil guy for the fungal infection? I don't want my lps to direct me to the wrong stuff as you guys obviously know what you are talking about. Thanks again for taking the time to help.

Dean

 

[kinlayan]

you can use kent zoe or boyd's vitachem also seachem make a vitamin supplement that may help

lots of luck with that fish , miracles do happen!