Angel fish gash on head

[BSBARTON]

Hi,

I have bee lurking and relearning about reefs. Thank you all that post your knowledge and experiences!

I think I have a problem in my 29 gallon tank. It contains 4 fish 2 shrimp and an anemone. All levels are good except nitrates are a little high.

Problem, my Angel developed a small white spot on its head at the ridge about 2-3 millimeters behind the eye. he/she does not appear affected by this and eats well. The sore has gotten bigger (about 2mm). It looks like a gash from running into a rock edge. I have search and read about lateral head disease. however cannot find a treatment(s) to help the little guy.

I did talk to someone that recommended Reef Plus.

Any Ideas...

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!! Hope you enjoy your time here As for your fish, sorry to hear it:doubt: SteveS would be the best person to talk to about it and hopefully he will chime in soon, if not, he has his own section here that is dedicated to fish diseases etc which you can maybe start a thread there, but we'll see how it goes. Any chance to get a pic? That may help identify the problem much easier.

 

[steve-s]

Could be MHLLE or the angel has opened the area from flashing and may have become infected. You best option is setting up a quarantine tank at a reduced salinity (20-21 ppt) and treating with a good gram negative antibiotic. Maracyn II for SW is usually readily available and easy to use. Once your set up I can fill you in further on what to do. Do not perform this treatment in the main system.

If the wound is of any real size, the lowered salinity will help with osmoregulation difficulties and stress. The antibiotic should do the rest. It also wouldn't hurt to add either Kent's Pro-tech Marine or Seachems Stressguard. Both will help the wound heal faster once the infection is alleviated.

You should also begin a series of large water changes with well aged/aerated SW on your display tank. You do not mention how high the nitrates are (?) but anything significant will fuel on the bad bacteria in the tank and aggravate/speed up the infection further. The lower you can get the NO3 the better off the tank will be. Considering the invertebrates you have, they would appreciate it as well. There is a very slim chance the water changes could help now but I very much doubt it will do anything but slow it down.

Reef plus is by no means helpful here.

 

[jakleen]

if it is hole in the head ,beside good water quality, nutrition is an important factor too. try to soak frozen foods(foods that do no have gelatin bonding ) and pellets in selcon or in kent's zoe. you have to be more vigilant about your water quality when you use these products since there will be some kind of film sitting on top on you water. my opinion. good luck. jakleen