Flame angel might have ich

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

I bought a flame from live aquaria that god here yesterday. It is the most active anf interactive one I've ever seen and it is full of personality. Unfortunately, it has some spots under its fine on both sides behind its Gills. I've had a fish that died from marine velvet before ( a gold rimmed tang) and the flame doesn't look like this. The velvet was more like a salt coating anf this looks more like a white parasite hanging on the side. One of them looks like it's about to fall off? Is ich a common thing for flame angels or do you think it might be another parasite? I tried to get a decent pic but I couldn't get it to stay still for 1 second. I figure if I g does have it it showed up while it was shipped.

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

Managed to get a couple

zesty · Dec 3, 2014

I would do the agonizing W&W (wait and watch). I've seen fish with little white spots on the fin, just to have it gone the next day. Now, by no means can tell what is going on, this is just my one tiny example. I also didn't see the "QT" guy hanging around here.

Do you have him in QT?

zesty · Dec 3, 2014

Hard to tell; tell that fish to "stay!"

Could be shipping stress, also.

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

I dont have him in qt. I know its risky and ive had it setup before but it's a lot of trouble and stressful for the fish so I would rather just w&w (like you said) and see if it's necessary. I really hope it's not ich! UGHHH!!

fishroomlady · Dec 3, 2014

I agree with zesty - it doesn't look from the pictures to be a clear case of ich - I'd wait and observe and make sure it's eating and acting ok......try not to stress - I'm sure the experience with the velvet has you a bit worried when something could possibly be wrong

saltyphish · Dec 3, 2014

Agreed, wait and watch! Now on to the QT thing. Someone had to! I personally I don't agree with the treat fish for everything just in case method in QT. I run a QT or should we say more of an observation tank instead. When I get a new arrival they go in there for 5 weeks to see how they are doing. I find this gives the fish a better chance to acclimate without the stress of territory disputes. You can also ensure they are feeding well to. I keep a 10 gallon tank running with liverock for just that purpose. Not giving you a hard time about it. I just saw where you said you feel it is harder on the fish and wanted to present an alternative idea that is not as stressful. Goodluck.

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

I would set one up if I only had one or two new fish but I had 7 showing up at the same time and I don't have enough space for that many

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

zesty said:
Hard to tell; tell that fish to "stay!"

Could be shipping stress, also.

Haha I tried! It's an active fish alright

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

I did some searching and if I had to guess I think it's lymphocytis. If I spelled that right. Apparently the it's very common among flames but unfortunately I know nothing about it. I looked at pics and symptoms and im pretty sure that's what it is. Any thoughts?

Humblefish · Dec 3, 2014

The pics are not definitive. Can you describe what you are seeing in as much detail as possible.

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

My first thought was... The fish has a pimple. It looks like his scales are kind of swollen around each dot. One of them looks like it's barely hanging on though like it's about to fall off.

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 3, 2014

Ill be able to tell more tomorrow though, it's hard to see now in the moonlight

Maarten · Dec 4, 2014

There is an alternative to QT. As I can imagine that not everybody is able to have a QT.

What I do with fish that seem to have parasites or something like that. Is putting them in freshwater for a few minutes. Freshwater? Yes freshwater

. Make sure the ph and temperature are good. Then it's possible. The fish won't die but the parasites will. Depending on the health of the fish you can keep him there 10 to 15 minutes. However although I done it before I still find it stressful to see lol. So I painfully wait 5 minutes and then put him back in my tank. I put them in a separate basket in the tank though. So they can catch a breath.

This is a method I learned from a well know Dutch aquaria keeper.

Maybe it helps you.

reefnz · Dec 4, 2014

There is an alternative to QT. As I can imagine that not everybody is able to have a Q

There is no alternative.

putting fish in freshwater for a few mins will not kill white spot /velvet etc. been there done that, does not work.

Carlson Moncrief · Dec 4, 2014

Yeah my lfs told me to do freshwater dips for the last fish. It might have helped a little bit but I think it stressed out the fish more than anything

Marshall O · Dec 4, 2014

reefnz said:
There is no alternative.

putting fish in freshwater for a few mins will not kill white spot /velvet etc. been there done that, does not work.

Correct. Doing a freshwater dip won't help for either Ich or Lympho.

VelasCorals · Dec 4, 2014

Carlson Moncrief said:
I did some searching and if I had to guess I think it's lymphocytis. If I spelled that right. Apparently the it's very common among flames but unfortunately I know nothing about it. I looked at pics and symptoms and im pretty sure that's what it is. Any thoughts?

I was going to say lymph. If that is what it is then do nothing. Usually clears up on its own.

carlson · Feb 24, 2017

I have not replied to this post in a long time! I actually haven't been on R2R in a long time, and I somehow managed to create another account over that time period. A LOT has changed since I made this post, but just because you replied to this post in the past, I figured I would let everyone know that the flame angel ended up fine. It began eating all my coral so I sold it to the LFS for $80 dollars when I only payed forty. It was a decent deal in the end

I haven't posted anything about my tank or account in a long time so hopefully I will do that tomorrow!

4FordFamily · Feb 24, 2017

Maarten said:
There is an alternative to QT. As I can imagine that not everybody is able to have a QT.

What I do with fish that seem to have parasites or something like that. Is putting them in freshwater for a few minutes. Freshwater? Yes freshwater . Make sure the ph and temperature are good. Then it's possible. The fish won't die but the parasites will. Depending on the health of the fish you can keep him there 10 to 15 minutes. However although I done it before I still find it stressful to see lol. So I painfully wait 5 minutes and then put him back in my tank. I put them in a separate basket in the tank though. So they can catch a breath.

This is a method I learned from a well know Dutch aquaria keeper.

Maybe it helps you.

This is called a freshwater dip and is certainly helpful but will do little or nothing to prevent disease in your tanks. Too many fish burrow under the slime coat of the fish and safely hide away. The fish will die long before the last parasite does.

Also, to the op. Please don't take this the wrong way, but am I to understand that you had a velvet outbreak and you still aren't quarantining?

No exaggeration: 50% or more of all angels these days seem to come with velvet, 80% of fish with ich, and probably 40-60% of all fish seem to come with velvet overall.