Sick Angel Fish. Need Diagnosis please.

[Malishi]

I have a 1 year old White Angle fish in a community planted 40 gallon tank. She or he has developed sores on her face and it is very red.
It looks very sore too.. She has stopped eating and seems lethargic.

I have tested the water and it looks good. I have since put her in her 10 gallon tank.

I have pictures attached.

Please help..

THanks

Newbie.

[mistergreen]

This looks like 'hole in the head disease'. It's usually due to poor water quality. And a large fish like an angel being in a 10G.


http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html

[lauraleellbp]

The 10gal is the QT tank, which IMO is a good move.

IMO this is most likely a bacterial issue or some sort of degenerative disease; I'd start treating with a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Try and temp the fish best you can with food, but make sure any uneaten is cleaned up. The fish in this condition I don't think will last much longer unless you can get it eating.

[sewingalot]

Definitely hole in the head disease. The link mistergreen gave you is an excellent one. Get a better brand of food for your other fish, as it is commonly a diet issue. Also, if you are using carbon, stop. I have read many articles showing a correlation.

[AzFishKid]

Poor guy.

Hope you can cure him.

[wkndracer]

If you can get him to eat there's a chance, but looking pretty advanced.
Feeding anti-bacterial flake every other day for 5 days. For secondary fungus feeding / treating with Metronidazole is an option.

3% topical hydrogen peroxide will kill the bacteria in the wounds but the fish may be too stressed to survive this treatment. I used it on an angel with only three wounds showing.

Treatment of 10mL per gallon is the dose used to kill algae and practically all bacteria and parasites, protozoans, etc. Established treatment at this dosage is to isolate the filter (shut it down) allow for circulation with a power head or air stone. 3-5 hour stand time on the treatment then do a 50% water change followed by a 25% water change after 24 hours. The filter can be restarted after the 50% water change. Delicate plants can melt but in a quarantine tank that would not be an issue.

This is the highest dosing of HP recommended by fish breeders on my other favorite website. I've used this dosing level twice to good result and followed the water changing recommendation.

Follow up treatment I was directed to do was add the hydrogen peroxide at 2.5ml / 2gallons of tank water (half teaspoon per 2 x Gallon) every other day for a total of 3 to 6 times. Do a 25% water change in between peroxide treatments.

Maintaining the temperature between 80 and 84F helps also.

HP is a weak acid and has strong oxidizing properties. It is a powerful bleaching agent. The oxidizing capacity of hydrogen peroxide is so strong that it is considered a highly reactive oxygen. (Wikipedia)