Potter's Angelfish Injured Tail: Tail Rot or just Bullying? (PICTURES included)

[Schwe]

I have a pretty healthy Potter's Angelfish in my QT with two Ocellaris and a Chromis. The fish were in my DT until ich appeared and all the fish were transferred to hypo.

The fish have settled in (we're on week 3 of hypo) but my Potter's tail is a mess. I have seen the clowns bickering with the Chromis, but never an issue with the (much larger) Potter's. Just in case I put in an egg crate divider in the QT to separate the fish from the Potter's, but the little bastards can wriggle through the spaces in the egg crate. Until I can get a screen in to effectively separate the fish, they're cohabiting in the QT.

I'm worried that if this isn't an injury resulting from another fish that it may be tail rot. If it is either of these, what should I do? What is the prognosis on a tattered tail like this? Will it heal to it's former glory or will it scar over and remain battle-worn?

For comparison, The fish in the DT:

In QT:

 

[JHemdal]

Schwe,

I'll go out on a limb here and say that it looks to me that IF tankmate aggression was the start of this, it isn't active now. Look at the soft rays of the caudal fin in your last picture, how they extend further out from the integument between them...to me that indicates that something is wearing away at the thin tissure faster than the stiffer rays. A fish biting on another's fins is going to cause different damage...plus an aggressive fish would also go after the soft portion of the dorsal and anal fin, and those still look good.

That said - do you treat or not? Is the fish eating and behaving otherwise normally? Is the change in color between the DT and QT a function of different lighting, or did the fish really pale out and turn drab like that? If the latter, treatment might be indicated since that would be a sign that more than just the trailing edge of the caudal fin is involved.
How low is your hypo? I've seen a distressing number of people taking this way too low - 1.0085 for example. I never take it less than 1.0125 with pygmy angels....and wouldn't use it on them at all except they also do so poorly in copper.
Obviously your going to want to be thinking about a broad spectrum antibiotic effective against gram negative organisms....
but I can't say you are quite at that point yet, for sure a fish can regrow that amount of tissue damage.

JHemdal

 

[Schwe]

JHemdal,

Thank you for your help and information. The SG in the tank (via refractometer) is 1.011. I think that his coloration not being as vivid is a result of a combination of factors... The lighting on the QT, my photography skills/camera, and the stress of hypo. When I first suspected an issue with the fish, the Potter's Angelfish was the first indicator. He was very pale when I came home one day (the lights were on).

After further observation, I noticed some spots I suspected might be ich on his fins. I soon got a cleaner shrimp and the two became best friends. The first few hours the shrimp was in the tank were spent 100% on the Angelfish. The Angelfish became much more perky and happy, but two days later the clowns were covered in ich and I yanked all of the fish for QT.

Here are some pictures I just took. I do not think that his "colors" have washed as much as his "shades" (ie: black stripes).
He is too fast for pictures without the flash, but here is the best I got:

With flash:

I absolutely hate the "wait and see" route, but feel that it is all that I can do as I fear that over medication is often worse with these fragile animals.

Again, thank you for your help look forward to further input.

-L