# Silver white patch on angelfish



## Ajm200 (28 Jan 2016)

This am one of my angelfish has a large silvery white patch on its side.  This has appeared overnight.  It wasn't there at lights off yesterday. It just seems to have started and spread very quickly.

I'm assuming it is a fungal infection. Do you agree?

I'm going to dose the tank with protozin unless someone can suggest a good cost effective medication for a 500l tank

The water is clean, no nitrite or ammonia.  Nitrate is minimal as I did a 50% water change yesterday


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## Ajm200 (28 Jan 2016)




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## Ajm200 (28 Jan 2016)

From certain angles it looks quite shimmery so my husband thinks it is just the colour of the fish that we hadn't noticed before.  They have had shinier patches amongst the black but I've never noticed silver before


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## Mick.Dk (28 Jan 2016)

I am 99% sure that is a "skin-scratch" (sorry, english is not my native tongue).
My angels (and I have many, since I breed them !!) look exactly like this, if they have been stuck a little inbetween things ( =rock/glasswall, filter/glasswall, rock/rock......or the unlucky; fishing net/glasswall).
It is usually a very minor damage. Fungi will ofcourse try to attack this, but usually fish is strong enough, to fight it off and heal itself.
Keep an eye on it, though - if white "cotton-like" things appear action has to be taken as is the case, if wound doesn't heal (= silver colour disappear and black colour returns) within about a week.
- if only this silver dis-colouration is present.....I would really give the fish a little time to heal itself. Most medication is really not benefitial to overall health of the tank.


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## Mick.Dk (28 Jan 2016)

P.S.
Angels are notorious "easily scared" - especially at lights on/off - which make them do very fast "jump forward" no matter what they hit or come inbetween. This is how they escape predators in the wild.
Knowing this, makes a "scratch" even more likely, as you say it occured "overnight".
It is not clear to me if saying it spreads fast, relates to having appeared at actual size very fast (=overnight) or the size of wound is still growing bigger....
I also  must say, that the "full black" angel is not the strongest of colour types, easier attracting all kinds of sickness than  many other colour types (they lay fewer eggs, larvae are smaller and they grow slower too).
 I still would give it time to heal itself naturally, though


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## alto (28 Jan 2016)

Ajm200 said:


> unless someone can suggest a good cost effective medication for a 500l tank


angels always respond very well (OK I'll say "best" as that was my unedited thought ) to daily water changes (even when tank conditions are excellent) - if possible do at least 25% daily water change for the next week or so ... 50% is better

If tank was plant free, I'd suggest salt as well - do you have a hospital/quarantine tank (but needs to be 60 - 90 litres for large angels) - much easier to do large daily water changes here than the main tank ... though you may need to re-introduce recovered angel back into main tank with a bit of "trickery" (or none at all ... depending on your group)


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## Ajm200 (28 Jan 2016)

Mick.Dk said:


> P.S.
> Angels are notorious "easily scared" - especially at lights on/off - which make them do very fast "jump forward" no matter what they hit or come inbetween.



We have a staged on/off for the lights to make it a bit easier for the fish

A 3ft blue T8 at the back of the tank comes on 30 mins before lights on/off (not much light in 500l) I do this so that the light fades in/out more gradually than sudden bright light from the big T5s.

It is not clear to me if saying it spreads fast, relates to having appeared at actual size very fast (=overnight) or the size of wound is still growing bigger....

It went from nothing to that size in 8 hours overnight.  It is about the size of a 1p coin.

I've seen small marks and cuts on the fish before but nothing that size.  I was concerned that if it was an infection it was a nasty one to reach that size so fast. 

The tank usually gets two 50% changes a week.  One midweek and one at the weekend.  Sometimes there are extra 10-15% changes if the catfish has uprooted plants and I need to reach the substrate for some reason.

Thank you.  I will wait and see how it does.  I have Indian almond leaves and have made up some extract to add to the tank for the next week as it is supposed to have a anti-fungal properties.  I normally add some at water change but will add some daily this week. The water here is so hard that adding extra will not affect the ph

Thank you


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## Ajm200 (28 Jan 2016)

alto said:


> angels always respond very well (OK I'll say "best" as that was my unedited thought ) to daily water changes (even when tank conditions are excellent) - if possible do at least 25% daily water change for the next week or so ... 50% is better.




I'll try to do extra water changes over the next few days.   It may not be a full 50% as that would be 250l per day.
i did have a large quarantine tank but my husband let the children put goldfish in it.    They will be evicted in a couple of months when we can build a pond for them (The goldfish that is..  not the husband and children  )

This particular Angel is a mean little so and so. He nips the other fish and my hands and he is a feisty as ever tonight so I'm hoping he's strong enough to stay healthy.

Thanks for the advice


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