Please help my flame angel is messed up

[Ramiro Casal]

So I thought my flame angel had velvet after I added him to my tank. Now after 12 hours and a freshwater dip he has this at the end of his fins. Is it still velvet and what should I do now I have copper treatment and food supplemented with garlic and a liquid to help with slime coat. Please help I love that fish

 

[Ramiro Casal]

Please help guys he is getting worse and I have no clue what to do. It looks like his right fin is rotting. He his laying on his side breathing heavily

 

[seastar]

Calling in the big guns. #reefsquad

 

[kesh]

it may be a bacterial infection. try dosing paraguard. it may help

 

[Ramiro Casal]

Update: All of a sudden he is just completely on his side breathing very heavily..................i dont know what to do, all my other fish are perfectly fine

 

[seastar]

It looks to me like a bacterial infection as well, just being totally honest mine looked exactly the same and didn't make it a few months ago. I treated it as a bacterial infection and used metroplex and kanaplex, but I also had it on hand. There are far more experienced disease people on this forum than I so hopefully one of them chimes in soon.

 

[Ramiro Casal]

I got API general cure parasite kit and melafix coming tonight just in case because I have no clue what it is, it was perfectly fine eating and everything then all of a sudden he had white dots kinda like velvet then in 6 hours his fins are like deteriorating and now he is flat on his side

It looks to me like a bacterial infection as well, just being totally honest mine looked exactly the same and didn't make it a few months ago. I treated it as a bacterial infection and used metroplex and kanaplex, but I also had it on hand. There are far more experienced disease people on this forum than I so hopefully one of them chimes in soon.

 

[Brew12]

I do agree with a bacterial infection. Velvet is a likely cause although it would be unusual for the spots to disappear in only 6 hours.

API general cure is a good start since it contains Metro. Adding Kanaplex would be good if you can.

Unfortunately, this sounds like a gram negative bacterial infection. These tend to be very fast acting and it is difficult to save fish who have it unless you already have the medications on hand.

Do you have a QT system you can move the fish into? General Cure is not reef safe and the rocks/sand will make keeping the proper levels of medication in the water more difficult.

 

[Ramiro Casal]

I don't have a QT I am brand new to the hobby I was just looking to have 3-5 fish. I dont have any corals its basically just rocks fish and a sea urchin that I can easily take out for a while. Yeah its looking grim he can swim when another fish gets near but otherwise flat on the side...

I do agree with a bacterial infection. Velvet is a likely cause although it would be unusual for the spots to disappear in only 6 hours.

API general cure is a good start since it contains Metro. Adding Kanaplex would be good if you can.

Unfortunately, this sounds like a gram negative bacterial infection. These tend to be very fast acting and it is difficult to save fish who have it unless you already have the medications on hand.

Do you have a QT system you can move the fish into? General Cure is not reef safe and the rocks/sand will make keeping the proper levels of medication in the water more difficult.

 

[Humblefish]

It's fin rot - a bacterial infection, which is usually a secondary complication from velvet.

How long did you do the FW dip for? If less than 5 minutes, he might still have trophonts inside the gills making it difficult to breathe.

Were you able to perform either an acriflavine or formalin bath after the FW dip? Those will greatly increase your chances of success once the fish goes into QT and is treated with copper.

 

[Ramiro Casal]

I did the dip for around 6:30 minutes afterwards he was much much better but sadly i didnt have access to those meds cause like I said am new to the hobby so I had nothing like that. Will the melafix help for the finrot? I have been monitoring my tank ever since I thought he had velvet and no signs on any fish they have all been extremely active very hungry.

It's fin rot - a bacterial infection, which is usually a secondary complication from velvet.

How long did you do the FW dip for? If less than 5 minutes, he might still have trophonts inside the gills making it difficult to breathe.

Were you able to perform either an acriflavine or formalin bath after the FW dip? Those will greatly increase your chances of success once the fish goes into QT and is treated with copper.

 

[Brew12]

I did the dip for around 6:30 minutes afterwards he was much much better but sadly i didnt have access to those meds cause like I said am new to the hobby so I had nothing like that. Will the melafix help for the finrot? I have been monitoring my tank ever since I thought he had velvet and no signs on any fish they have all been extremely active very hungry.

Just do your best, we know you are in a tough situation.

It's so hard to be prepared when starting out in this hobby. The upfront costs can be daunting enough just for a regular setup. And then we trust our LFS to provide healthy fish to get us started. Unfortunately, that is very rarely the case.

I strongly recommend getting a cheap 10g setup when you can along with some PVC fittings for your local big box store. I set up my first QT system for under $60 from Petco. I would also get the med's listed in this post. With Velvet and some bacterial infections there isn't time to save your fish if you don't already have everything you need.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/medications-to-keep-on-hand.213574/#post-2445601

Hopefully you can get these things in time to save the angel fish. I know I love my flame angel! Good luck and please ask as much as you need to see if we can help!

 

[Ramiro Casal]

Just do your best, we know you are in a tough situation.

It's so hard to be prepared when starting out in this hobby. The upfront costs can be daunting enough just for a regular setup. And then we trust our LFS to provide healthy fish to get us started. Unfortunately, that is very rarely the case.

I strongly recommend getting a cheap 10g setup when you can along with some PVC fittings for your local big box store. I set up my first QT system for under $60 from Petco. I would also get the med's listed in this post. With Velvet and some bacterial infections there isn't time to save your fish if you don't already have everything you need.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/medications-to-keep-on-hand.213574/#post-2445601

Hopefully you can get these things in time to save the angel fish. I know I love my flame angel! Good luck and please ask as much as you need to see if we can help!

Thank you for your help, yeah I feel awful just looking at him not being able to do anything... he was so beautiful I was so stoked to have him in my tank. Is there any chance of a miracle natural recovery like if he starts feeling better and I get him the meds in time?

 

[Brew12]

Thank you for your help, yeah I feel awful just looking at him not being able to do anything... he was so beautiful I was so stoked to have him in my tank. Is there any chance of a miracle natural recovery like if he starts feeling better and I get him the meds in time?

It's possible since we don't know for sure the cause even if it is very unlikely. If you are like me you will feel better for at least trying instead of wondering if you could/should have done more.

 

[Humblefish]

@Ramiro Casal I'm gonna be straight up with you. Based on how you are describing his current condition, odds are very likely you are going to lose that Flame. And if he shared water with the rest of your fish (in the DT) then odds are likely those fish are also now infected. Not showing symptoms just yet, but it is coming. I'm telling you this because if you act quickly and get them into QT with copper... then you can probably save your other fish in the DT before they get to be in dire straits like the Flame.

 

[4FordFamily]

It's fin rot - a bacterial infection, which is usually a secondary complication from velvet.

How long did you do the FW dip for? If less than 5 minutes, he might still have trophonts inside the gills making it difficult to breathe.

Were you able to perform either an acriflavine or formalin bath after the FW dip? Those will greatly increase your chances of success once the fish goes into QT and is treated with copper.

This was my exact thought. The other thing I thought is that it could also be flukes eating the fins away but not as likely as bacterial.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t look good at all, I doubt it makes it

 

[Daan Hijmans]

This was my exact thought. The other thing I thought is that it could also be flukes eating the fins away but not as likely as bacterial.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t look good at all, I doubt it makes it

My apologies in advance for being of topic, but you sir, are in every thread I have ever read on this forum so far. You are one active helpfull amazing, son of a.. haha. Respect!

 

[4FordFamily]

My apologies in advance for being of topic, but you sir, are in every thread I have ever read on this forum so far. You are one active helpfull amazing, son of a.. haha. Respect!

In short, thank you! I try!

I feel like I’m not as active as I’d like to be and I neglect this place these days so this makes me feel a little better. Thanks!

Sorry to be off topic, op!

 

[Ramiro Casal]

Well boys.... sad to say Diablo the flame angel passed away.... all my fish seem to being doing perfect tho. Thanks for all the help, next time I will be much better prepared,I know its early but does anyone a good replacement for him, like a flashy colourful very active fish. I am not getting him anytime soon just wanna do lots of research so this does not happen again. If anything this was a wake up call that i need to be ready at all times with medicine and constant water changes as one fish can put my whole tank in peril. So although he still died thank you all so much for your input it will for sure come in handy again.

 

[Humblefish]

Well boys.... sad to say Diablo the flame angel passed away.... all my fish seem to being doing perfect tho. Thanks for all the help, next time I will be much better prepared,I know its early but does anyone a good replacement for him, like a flashy colourful very active fish. I am not getting him anytime soon just wanna do lots of research so this does not happen again. If anything this was a wake up call that i need to be ready at all times with medicine and constant water changes as one fish can put my whole tank in peril. So although he still died thank you all so much for your input it will for sure come in handy again.

Sorry for your loss