Translucent blotches On Fins of Flame Angel

[adiebel]

Hi,

I have have had my reef tank for about 3 months. I've waited until it cycled and added inhabitants/livestock slowly. Exactly one week ago I added a flame angel from a LFS. The fish appeared to be eating at the store and continues to eat and graze quite voraciously right now. However, today I noticed the fish scratching/flashing against live rock frequently. There doesn't appear to be any typical salt sized ich spots on the body of the fish, but there does appear to be two translucent blotches on the animal's tail and two blotches (I don't know how else to describe this) on one of its pectoral fins. Otherwise, there are no other symptoms (no labored breathing, tilting, clouding of eyes, loss of appetite, etc). However, I just noticed this today. There are also no other fish in the 40 gallon tank right now - only a coral banded shrimp and condylactis anemone. I've done repeated tests and have the following water parameters:

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
0 Nitrate
1.023 specific gravity
~8.5 PH
Temperature fluctuates between 76.8 degrees at night and peaks at about 79 degrees during the day.

I currently have 40 lbs of live rock, 60 pounds of live sand, a Filstar Canister Filter, aquamedic 5w UV sterilizer and CPR Bakpak2 skimmer going.

I'm really not sure what this is in order to qt and treat the fish, but in my experience blotches and scratching are never good things. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions about what to do here. Has anyone ever seen this before? If so, what was the outcome? Otherwise, am I just overreacting?

Thanks!

[adiebel]

Hi,

If anyone's out there, the white spots have manifested itself as fin rot. The angel's tail is steadily rotting away along with other fins. I'm guessing this bacterial. I've been doing daily water changes with aged RO water and feeding vitamin enriched food. Compared to other cases of fin rot, the deterioration is fairly gradual. I'm worried about QTing the fish and treating with an antibiotic since, in my experience, this does more harm than good due to the stress involved for the animal. The fish still has a healthy appetite and picks rocks along with vitamin soaked mysis shrimp I feed it. If anyone has any advice about this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[jenglish]

I have never had fin rot in any of my tanks so I can really only pass on secondary information. Fin rot is very likley bacterial and the standard treatment is antibiotics. Of course it is stressful to catch a fish. so it is always a gamble either way. Try to make hsi enviroment stress free and watch the extent of tissue loss. If the bacteria get to the base of the fin that fin will not grow back. What testing supplies do you use to test your water? Good luck

[jenglish]

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f2...ium-11387.html

here is an old article on garlic. It is mainly used as anti- protozoan but is discussed as having some antibacterial properties as well. I have used Melafix in FW aquariums w/ some results. I have never used it in a SW tank but it is listed as safe for SW. It is not an antibiotic but some sort of extract... smells like tea tree oil or menthol. You may want to look into this as well as a treatment possibly useful in your display tank.