Is this a bacterial infection?

Ben jammin · Feb 29, 2016

My emperor angel has occasionally gotten a patchy look to him over the years, but it has always gone away within a few days. But recently I had an ich outbreak in my tank so I did a copper treatment. All fish were fine after that except my emperor who had a cloudy eye and some raggedy fins as well as the patchiness. See pic:

The eye cleared up in several days but the patchiness remains. He is otherwise beh aving normally and still eating so I have tried feeding him Dr. G's antibacterial food the last couple weeks but it has made no difference.

Are there any treatments I can and should try? It would have to be in my DT as I don't have a tank to use as or room for a hospital, but it's a FOWLR so I have some flexibility.

Thanks in advance.

sc50964 · Feb 29, 2016

Are the white patches the only problem now? If so, this could mean two things. One is he being uncomfortable in the tank. This may be due to the tank size or tank mates. The other is he being malnutrition. You can help by soaking his food in vitamins and feed him that way.

melypr1985 · Feb 29, 2016

how long did you run the copper for and did you test it every day to be sure it remained at therapeutic levels? doing copper in the dt is difficult because the sand and rock absorb the copper and release it back out making the levels dip and rise unpredictably. I just got up and am a little bleary-eyed still, but I also think I see some HLLE (the holes along his lateral line).

The copper thing aside, he does look like he could have something bacterial going on. In that case you can feed him kanaplex soaked into his food while using a binder such as Focus to bind the kanaplex to it. Do this for 10 days straight and run carbon if you dont already just in case some leaks out. Probably wont be a problem since you already put copper in the DT, but it's always best to be safe about it. Good nutrition and clean water will help with the HLLE if that's what I"m seeing there also.

Humblefish · Feb 29, 2016

Dr. G's antibacterial food is already laced with Kanamycin & Metronidazole, so if he didn't respond to that I think he needs antibiotics dosed directly into the water column. I would try Erythromycin since he didn't respond to Kanamycin by way of food.

Or you could try soaking fish food in vitamin supplements (exs. Selcon, Zoecon, Vita-chem) instead to see if that gives his immune system enough of a boost to fight this off naturally.

sc50964 · Feb 29, 2016

I've had two adult Emp Angels in the last ten years. I've noticed the same problem with white patches described here and have done research online and asked LFS that I trust. I've also owned pretty much all the common Angels. With all that, I've yet found a source that reveals what this white patch problem is. IMO, it looks like BJF disease but the biggest difference is that it's not so lethal, or in my cases not lethal at all. What I do know is that it has something to do with the stress level experienced by the fish. Is it a just general discoloration when stressed? I don't think so coz the patches seem to carry some consistency in patterns and locations. I've tried treating them with general, broad spectrum, medicine like seachem paraguard, but found very little improvement. What's consistent to both Emps I had were that they didn't stop eating despite the white patches. I stopped using paraguard and adapted a recommendation from an online source to soak food in vitamins described by @Humblefish. It also didn't have any immediate effect, which is good I suppose since it should take more time by ways of natural healing, but the recovery phase seemed to begin shortly after the vitamins soaking regimen. So, if your fish is still eating and not exhibiting any general sick behavior (I.e. scratching, lethargic, breathing hard, etc), my vote is to keep the water quality high, reduce environmental stress to the Emp, and feed vitamin soaked food.

squalo_75 · Mar 1, 2016

My Koran angel has a cloudy eye since 2 days ago, any advice? Should I wait to recover by itself?

Humblefish · Mar 1, 2016

@squalo_75 One or both eyes? Do either of his eyes look like this up close?

squalo_75 · Mar 1, 2016

Just one eye and doesn't look like that one; I was thinking maybe he hit on a rock or something

melypr1985 · Mar 1, 2016

It doesn't look too bad yet. You might try epsom salt to reduce the swelling and boosting the immune system with Selcon or some other vitamin suppliment. If it doesn't get better in a couple days you can feed with Kanaplex using a binder such as Focus for 10 days.

melypr1985 · Mar 1, 2016

Epsom Salt: Treats eye and other injuries. Popeye in one eye usually means injury, but popeye in both eyes usually denotes a bacterial infection requiring antibiotic treatment. Cloudy eye can be a bacterial infection or flukes.

How To Treat - 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of aquarium water. Repeat only once, if necessary. Use only “USP” grade Epsom salt.

Pros - Reef safe, as Epsom salt is just magnesium sulfate.

Cons/Side Effects - The effects of excessive sulfate in a reef aquarium are not fully known.