Altum Angel Sick

[MrKimKor]

Hi guys,

my altums angels are having the below symptoms:

1) twitching their head to the right at times
2) flicking of their 'feelers'
3) stretching - as in keeping their top and bottom fins and 'feelers' together and opening up again.
4) occasional flicking against object (very very seldom though)
5) Breathe slightly heavily

other than that feeding happily and swimming happy
Suspecting it's gill flukes, i tried a dose of prazi gold followed by Waterlife Sterazin. no use

PH 4.2
Heater on at 30c (introduced heater when they showed the symptoms)
daily 10% WC of aged same PH water
diet of tetrabits and occasional FBW

i have a pack of API tetracycline. should i?

i suspect is during the initial times i fed them with spoilt (darken red) blood worms. but i thought at low PH bad bacteria wont survive?

any solutions?

[David]

How many Altums and what size are they in how big a tank?

If it is gill fluke, you will see the gill flaps opened all the time and with slime being excreted. I will not jump into Antibiotic just yet and if you have a bare tank (Which I am guessing your are since you placed a heater), just run a UV Sterilizer first and perhaps run an airstone. This could also be signs of overcrowding and a lack of oxygen.

[MrKimKor]

Hi David

Thank you for the reply. I have been resisting hard not to put in the Furan 2 that i have just bought for standby. The following have been done which i have left out:

- Introduced Airstone
- Tested water with API 5 in 1 test strips which reads 0 ppm NO2 and 20ppm NO3
- Wash hanging filter weekly with tank water

The 4 altum are in a 2 ft bare tank. Around 2 months old. Now i have switched off the heater as i read heater will promote growth of bad bacteria.

[David]

I don't know what is the size of your Altums, but 4 in a 60cm tank may be too small. Heater speeds up the metabolic rate of you Altums which is good. It also speeds up the life cycle if protozoans as well.

You need not have to wash the filter every week. What is important is to use a anti chlorine and chlorimine.

I would momitor abit more and anti-biotic will be only the last resort. Do some research on aquarium salt treatment.

[MrKimKor]

Thanks David,

will continue to monitor. Thanks alot

[stormhawk]

Feeding fish with spoilt bloodworms will cause all sorts of issues for your fish. Even at low pH bacteria will find a way to survive and if they infest the gut of your altums then that might be bad news. If your fish are breathing heavily then they might be suffering from insufficient oxygenation. I'd suggest adding more aeration to your tank if possible.

If you are relying on a single hang-on-tank filter, make sure it has a lot of space for filter media. Altums like all angelfish are after all cichlids, and cichlids are huge waste producers due to their reliance on a protein-rich diet, so adequate filtration is a must for fish like these.

[MrKimKor]

Feeding fish with spoilt bloodworms will cause all sorts of issues for your fish. Even at low pH bacteria will find a way to survive and if they infest the gut of your altums then that might be bad news. If your fish are breathing heavily then they might be suffering from insufficient oxygenation. I'd suggest adding more aeration to your tank if possible.

If you are relying on a single hang-on-tank filter, make sure it has a lot of space for filter media. Altums like all angelfish are after all cichlids, and cichlids are huge waste producers due to their reliance on a protein-rich diet, so adequate filtration is a must for fish like these.

Top Tip..Thank you too Stormhawk