Swallowtail Angel fish gasping for air

Eddiebfl · Aug 1, 2023

So I have a pair of swallowtail angel fish in my observation tank and they have been there for 2 1/2 weeks now. Everything was fine until we had a power outage yesterday and the tanks temperature went from 78 degrees to 84-85. I was able to get a fan on the tank and over the course of 2 hours I was able to get the temperature down to 79 degrees. By that time my mail angel was stressed. I quickly did a 50% water change and I was hoping for the best.

So today when I got home from work I found my angelfish gasping for air at the top of the tank. I don't see and visible parasite like ich or velvet. Not sure what to do.

Parameters are as follows:

Salt 1.025
Temp 79 degrees
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 10

Eddiebfl · Aug 1, 2023

vetteguy53081 · Aug 1, 2023

Eddiebfl said:
So I have a pair of swallowtail angel fish in my observation tank and they have been there for 2 1/2 weeks now. Everything was fine until we had a power outage yesterday and the tanks temperature went from 78 degrees to 84-85. I was able to get a fan on the tank and over the course of 2 hours I was able to get the temperature down to 79 degrees. By that time my mail angel was stressed. I quickly did a 50% water change and I was hoping for the best.

So today when I got home from work I found my angelfish gasping for air at the top of the tank. I don't see and visible parasite like ich or velvet. Not sure what to do.

Parameters are as follows:

Salt 1.025
Temp 79 degrees
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 10

Likely due to elevated ammonia, high temperature, low oxygen leve(add air stone) or velvet
Is fish eating?
If possible, provide video under white lighting
Is fish swimming in path of water flow, eyes cloudy?

Eddiebfl · Aug 1, 2023

I'll try to get a video up shortly. I dropped the water level so my tidal 55 can add extra aeration to the water. I'll look for my air stone to add more air. I don't detect ammonia but then again I'm using the API test kit.

He was swimming in the in the path of water earlier today. His eyes do not look cloudy and the last time he ate was yesterday

Eddiebfl · Aug 1, 2023

Jay Hemdal · Aug 1, 2023

It could be oxygen deprivation plus the temperature rise due to the power outage. Definitely add that air stone, it can only help.

However, "observational quarantine" is very risky, as they leave the fish open to a variety of diseases that are best handled through a preventative process. Velvet, for example has the primary symptom of the fish hanging in the water flow and breathing fast....you won't see lesions on the skin or eyes until very late in the infection process.

In the video, the fish is breathing super fast and hovering. If you hadn't had the power outage, I would 100% say this is velvet.

Jay

Eddiebfl · Aug 1, 2023

Ok. How do I treat for velvet?

Jay Hemdal · Aug 1, 2023

Eddiebfl said:
Ok. How do I treat for velvet?

Coppersafe at 2.5 ppm is the standard treatment that I use, but the trouble is that it can take up to 3 days to work, and your swallowtail probably doesn't have that much time.

You could try a 150 ppm dip in hydrogen peroxide (3%) to try and buy some time, but the fish may not survive that....

The dose is 20 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water in a bucket. Put the fish in that bucket for 30 minutes, then return it to the tank and get the copper treatment started ASAP.

jay