Picture of sore on angel. Treatment suggestions?

[iamwhatiam52]

This started as a slight pink area at the base of one pectoral fin and in a week showed up on the other side too.

Fish has been in QT 4 weeks (no medication) and is eating and seems OK in all other respects.

 

[krowleey]

try maracyn two for salt water.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Thanks krowleey. I'll pick some up tomorrow.

Do you have a specific idea of what this disease might be, or are you suggesting maracyn two because it is a general medication for infections?

 

[krowleey]

Thanks krowleey. I'll pick some up tomorrow.

Do you have a specific idea of what this disease might be, or are you suggesting maracyn two because it is a general medication for infections?

its a safe antibiotic that will treat internal and external bacterial infections, that would be my first choice of action in this case.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Now that I am getting ready to do this a few questions come to mind.....

1) Is it safe to treat with PraziPro at the same time? I am concerned about flukes, fish is doing that head shaking thing..

2) The 35 gal QT tank has sand, some live rock, a small cleanup crew, and some coral and macro to provide a more natural setting for grazing. Can this stay in the tank, or should I do the treatment in a bare tank?

 

[krowleey]

i would use a barebottom tank, the sand and rock can absorb your medication making it less potent. I'm pretty sure i have seen where people have used both Prazi and maracyn two with no problems. shaking the head could also be signs of other parasites, like marine ich.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Thanks again. I'll remove the rock but leave the sand because I have a wrasse in with the angel. I'd prefer not to use copper, so I'll lower the salinity after treatment if there are any signs of ich or other infection.

 

[krowleey]

Thanks again. I'll remove the rock but leave the sand because I have a wrasse in with the angel. I'd prefer not to use copper, so I'll lower the salinity after treatment if there are any signs of ich or other infection.

get a refractometer if you dont already have one, and some calibration fluid. arm and hammer baking soda is the best PH buffer you can use in hyposalinity. good luck and research, research, research on hypo. good luck.

 

[JHemdal]

Are the lesions on the fish's body itself, or on the fins? If they are on the body, you should run an online search for Uronema - you may be facing a protozoan infection, not a bacterial infection. This species of fish is really succeptable to Uronema.
If you decide that it is Uronema, do NOT use hyposalinity - that will only make the matter worse. How is the fish's breathing rate? If higher than 80 gill beats per minutes, it would be another reason to look towards Uronema as the culprit.


Jay

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Are the lesions on the fish's body itself, or on the fins?

The red areas ( not exactly lesions ) are at the joints of the pectorals, so it IS on the body, not the fin. Interesting that as one side got worse, it started in exactly the same spot on the other side.

If they are on the body, you should run an online search for Uronema - you may be facing a protozoan infection, not a bacterial infection. This species of fish is really succeptable to Uronema.
If you decide that it is Uronema, do NOT use hyposalinity - that will only make the matter worse.

I will not use hypo until the Maracyn/PraziPro treatment is done, and then only if I see a need. If the infection does not clear up I will certainly look into symptoms and treatment for Uronema. Thanks for the warning.

How is the fish's breathing rate? If higher than 80 gill beats per minutes, it would be another reason to look towards Uronema as the culprit.

Breathing looks normal to me, but I have not timed it. Now that you have given me a "normal" rate of 80 I have something to measure it against.


From a quick Google search on Uronema, this does not look like it. The fish has had it over a week, but it is still very localized and there is no visible wound, and no scratching, and color is vibrant.
As for the head shaking thing, it may just be a trait of the species. I have another Singapore Angel in my reef that does the same thing. It is was the size of a quarter and scrawny when I got it 3 or 4 months ago, but has grown considerably, is now fat and sassy, eats well and seems as healthy as can be.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

After only two days in treatment, all visible traces of the infection are gone!
Is this possible, or is the medications green tint in the water making it hard to see the red area?

Regardless, treatment will continue for the full 5 day course.

 

[wooden_reefer]

i would use a barebottom tank, the sand and rock can absorb your medication making it less potent. I'm pretty sure i have seen where people have used both Prazi and maracyn two with no problems. shaking the head could also be signs of other parasites, like marine ich.

Perhaps some antibiotics is absorbed in sand and rock.

If you have nitrification in QT, some antibiotics will only affect nitrification mildly, some will wipe out nitrification. I tend to choose the former.

You can use a non-calcareous material as the medium of biological filtration.

You will certainly lose much antibiotics with water change, on the other hand, so you have to replenish drug with each WC. Without nitrification you have to do frequent and high percentage of WC in QT.

I tend not to give up on nitrification when I use an antibiotics in QT, frequently I squeeze by. Some nitrite but almost no ammonia is often the case.

I never use sand or rock in QT, but I often use calcereous material such as crushed coral as the medium of biological filtration in QT.

 

[krowleey]

After only two days in treatment, all visible traces of the infection are gone!
Is this possible, or is the medications green tint in the water making it hard to see the red area?

Regardless, treatment will continue for the full 5 day course.

maracyn two is completely safe in hypo conditions 1.008-1.009. and it looked like a bacterial infection with the redness, thats why i suggested using it. as far as substrate in QT goes, it's much easier to clean a BB QT tank rather than having trapped waste in substrate. the ol wooden reefer has his/her own technique, and thats great but i tent to lean on the tried and true QT set-up procedure. glad to hear he is clearing up.

 

[wooden_reefer]

it's much easier to clean a BB QT tank rather than having trapped waste in substrate.

Why would you be necessarily interested in cleaning a QT? You don't do so in a DT so there most be difference to cause you to want to clean a QT.

I would agree that one should feed very carefully in QT when an antibotics is used. There is reduced effectiveness in nitrification when an antibiotics is used.

You put the nitrification medium in a filter. You can stop the filter for the few minutes that the fish eat and than quickly remove most excess food. You can't remove fish poop this way, yes.

For most of the time nitrification is still quite useful even with some types of antibiotics in the water, in general, unless if you have to use an antibiotic that really destroys nitrification bacteria.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

After a week of treatment with Maracyn 2 and PraziPro the fish looked great.

Thanks for the help.