Flame Angel Develops Ich Overnight? Help Please!

yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
New symptoms. On both sides of the fish, just behind the gill flap, something is going on. It almost looks like the scales are being pushed up. It's just in a couple spots, I first noticed it yesterday, but it has gotten slightly worse today. Any ideas? Possibly a bacterial infection? It doesn't look like the pics of an infection in Beth's thread, but that's all I could think of.
So, what should I do now?
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
Well, it is hard to tell because the whole fish is red. But the spots are gone, I think it was ich.
But, today she started acting weird, staying in one place, not swimming nearly as much as before. So, I tested my water, and my ammonia is 0.5 ppm!

I added some Stress Coat to try and make the ammonia a little less potent until I can so a water change.
So, I had already started mixing water this morning (14 ppt water), so I'll get a 50% water change done tonight. Normally I'd let the water sit overnight, but I want to get this water change done. It will have been mixing for 8 hours, so that should be enough.
I used filter media from my DT, it had been in the sump for three months at least. I should have plenty of bacteria in the tank. Why isn't the biological filter working? I thought bacteria were unaffected by hypo?
Anyway, I'll do the water change, and get more water ready for another one tomorrow.
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
Yeah, the Stress Coat and water change seemed to do the trick. She is back to normal. I plan on doing another 50% water change tomorrow, and will keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite.
She still ate well tonight, so I think everything is fine.
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
She is still acting a bit strange. Do you think it is still the ammonia? I'm going to do another 50% water change in about an hour, so we'll see what that does.
I'm a bit worried she isn't getting the nutrition she needs. I planned on nori being a large part of her diet, and she doesn't eat it. I'm going to pick up some brown algae sheet today to see if she likes that. I've just been giving her flake much more than I wanted to because she wont eat the nori...
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
Any idea what could be making her act weird?
She is hiding a lot. Shes swimming, just not as much. Should I be worried?
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
I had to read the thread to get caught up.... why are you just feeding flake? Are you trying to keep the ammonia down? In theory and IMO flake is okay every now and then nonetheless she needs protein, lipids (fat) and Vit. C. Are you leaving the lights on for a great deal of time? How the Ph?
Some off this you can get away with some times but......
Remember what I said about the garlic? Take out A LITTLE mysis shrimp, just a few shrimp, 3 to start out with. Rinse them in you r/o and thaw them. get a clove og garlic and cut some slices, not all the way through, and put the shrimp in it and allow a few minutes foer the garlic to soak in. Feed the little patient with that..... just a few. She needs garlic (IMO garlic works wonders because it's an antitoxin and a great source of vitamin C.
Somebody can chime in with facts. It just sounds like she is lathargic and just not feeling well.
We feed our hypo patients, Flame, cleaner wrasse, niger Trigger. and orchid dottyback with garlic atleast once a day. Just try it and give her a few days.
Are you running carbon?
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
I'm not feeding just flake, it is just flake is making up a larger portion of her diet than I wanted it to because she won't eat nori. And I don't have easy access to more food sources, especially frozen. The flake I've been feeding her has mostly been spirulina based flake.
I've been feeding garlic. Not everyday, but at least every other day. Will continue to, and will try brown algae sheets.
Lights are on more than the DT, as they aren't on a timer, but they aren't on ridiculously long.
pH is okay, maybe a touch low (8.0 ish).
The water change seemed to help, she is back to her old self. Maybe ammonia was the issue? I'll keep monitoring my ammonia and nitrite, it seems as if my bacteria colonies have slowed down due to the hypo.
Yes, I'm running carbon. Is that bad?
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
I read a post by Beth saying go ahead an run carbon, won't hurt anything. So I'm going to say I'm okay there.
Shes back to normal today. I think it was the ammonia. I'm going to keep doing 50% water changes every other day until the bacteria can catch up.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Imo you want to stick with a naturaly activated carbon. Its usually labeled as phosphate free. If you cannot verify that it is not then stay away from it. Chemically activated carbon is rinsed in phosphoric acid. Leeches phosphates anxious posibly can irritate the fish.
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
Okay, I plan on picking up some algae sheets tomorrow, so I'll see if they have any Zoecon. I kind of doubt they do.
Any other food enrichment products that are good?
Oh, and today starts week two of hypo.
 
yannifish

yannifish

Active Member
Just an update, things are going well. Her behavior is normal, she isn't as interested in flake as she used to be, but she is still eating mysis without a problem, and I'm feeding garlic. Still haven't gotten around to getting the algae sheets yet.

I've been doing a 50% water change every other day to keep ammonia in check, and ammonia levels are 0.25 ppm or less, but I'm still getting a reading. Nitrites haven't been going up at all, so we'll see, it has only been a few days.
 
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