Hello,
----BACKGROUND-----
I have a 25 gallon tank, first set up on Dec 2010.
It has aquarium sand and about half a dozen live plants, as well as a large artificial aquarium rock.
I change 20% once a week (more often if any problems), ammonia is always 0, nitrite is always 0, and nitrate ranges from 0-10 (was 5 when I checked 2 days ago). Temp is 26 - 27 Celsius. pH is quite high, usually 7.6 - 8.0.
Tank mates are: 1 x zebra angelfish, 3 x platies, 2 x dwarf honey gouramis, 1 siamese algae eater, 1 x 3-lined corydora.
They are fed a mixture of flake foods, frozen brine shrimp/daphnia/bloodworms, and algae wafers (not all at once of course).
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I have had the angelfish for a few months now, and she has always been very active with a voracious appetite, laying lots of eggs, etc.
She is still acting playful and healthy, but one day (about 2 weeks ago), I noticed a small round ulcer on the right side of her body (about 3mm by 3mm), just below the gill and near the front of her body. I thought that perhaps she just scraped herself on the rock and injured herself so upped my water changes and observed.
The ulcer began to grow in size and grow deeper (?) over the next few days, it started off white, but now revealed a pinkish layer underneath, and the angelfish began to hide and act a bit shy.
I began changing 20% water almost every other day, cleaned out the filter, upped the temperature by 1-2 degrees, and added generous amounts of API stress coat (I don't normally use it, bought it after I noticed the ulcer).
Over the next week, the angelfish seemed to recover her normal behaviour, and the ulcer appeared to be healing up, shrinking and becoming whitish again (instead of pink). But I noticed that now a large bulge was beginning to appear around and adjacent to the ulcer.
Additionally, a strange pink (fluffy?) sort of nodule appeared on her left side at the very base of the fin.
Now I have Melafix and Pimafix (have never used either, but bought them to have on standby), but am reluctant to use them without knowing what I'm dealing with. The angelfish seems very happy and lively, and the ulcer does seem to be healing a little better every day, but the bulge and the pink nodule seem to be remaining the same.
Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated, I love this fish and don't want to harm it by inaction or inappropriate action.
Thanks very much,
-detta
PS. I have attached 3 photos (I hope!), that should show: the ulcer on right side, the bulge on right side, and the pink nodule on left base of fin.
----BACKGROUND-----
I have a 25 gallon tank, first set up on Dec 2010.
It has aquarium sand and about half a dozen live plants, as well as a large artificial aquarium rock.
I change 20% once a week (more often if any problems), ammonia is always 0, nitrite is always 0, and nitrate ranges from 0-10 (was 5 when I checked 2 days ago). Temp is 26 - 27 Celsius. pH is quite high, usually 7.6 - 8.0.
Tank mates are: 1 x zebra angelfish, 3 x platies, 2 x dwarf honey gouramis, 1 siamese algae eater, 1 x 3-lined corydora.
They are fed a mixture of flake foods, frozen brine shrimp/daphnia/bloodworms, and algae wafers (not all at once of course).
-----------
I have had the angelfish for a few months now, and she has always been very active with a voracious appetite, laying lots of eggs, etc.
She is still acting playful and healthy, but one day (about 2 weeks ago), I noticed a small round ulcer on the right side of her body (about 3mm by 3mm), just below the gill and near the front of her body. I thought that perhaps she just scraped herself on the rock and injured herself so upped my water changes and observed.
The ulcer began to grow in size and grow deeper (?) over the next few days, it started off white, but now revealed a pinkish layer underneath, and the angelfish began to hide and act a bit shy.
I began changing 20% water almost every other day, cleaned out the filter, upped the temperature by 1-2 degrees, and added generous amounts of API stress coat (I don't normally use it, bought it after I noticed the ulcer).
Over the next week, the angelfish seemed to recover her normal behaviour, and the ulcer appeared to be healing up, shrinking and becoming whitish again (instead of pink). But I noticed that now a large bulge was beginning to appear around and adjacent to the ulcer.
Additionally, a strange pink (fluffy?) sort of nodule appeared on her left side at the very base of the fin.
Now I have Melafix and Pimafix (have never used either, but bought them to have on standby), but am reluctant to use them without knowing what I'm dealing with. The angelfish seems very happy and lively, and the ulcer does seem to be healing a little better every day, but the bulge and the pink nodule seem to be remaining the same.
Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated, I love this fish and don't want to harm it by inaction or inappropriate action.
Thanks very much,
-detta
PS. I have attached 3 photos (I hope!), that should show: the ulcer on right side, the bulge on right side, and the pink nodule on left base of fin.
