Angelfish not eating for a week!!!- any help would be appreciated

possible a course of levamisole would help

Colin's thread about the potential causes of stringy white poop is pinned in the emergencies section, suggests that another cause could be an internal protozoan infection. Not likely to be an internal bacterial infection, since apparently he would have passed away by now if it were. You could always look up the symptoms on wet web media too, they're pretty useful for sick fish issues.
I'm not used to angels, and maybe just his markings, or me being crazy, but do his eyes look larger than is usual to anyone else? How long have you had him, @Navfish ? Where did you get him from?
I do love his markings though, beautiful colours and stripes.

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Colin's thread about the potential causes of stringy white poop is pinned in the emergencies section, suggests that another cause could be an internal protozoan infection. Not likely to be an internal bacterial infection, since apparently he would have passed away by now if it were. You could always look up the symptoms on wet web media too, they're pretty useful for sick fish issues.
I'm not used to angels, and maybe just his markings, or me being crazy, but do his eyes look larger than is usual to anyone else? How long have you had him, @Navfish ? Where did you get him from?
I do love his markings though, beautiful colours and stripes.

Click to expand...

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Colin's thread about the potential causes of stringy white poop is pinned in the emergencies section, suggests that another cause could be an internal protozoan infection. Not likely to be an internal bacterial infection, since apparently he would have passed away by now if it were. You could always look up the symptoms on wet web media too, they're pretty useful for sick fish issues.
I'm not used to angels, and maybe just his markings, or me being crazy, but do his eyes look larger than is usual to anyone else? How long have you had him, @Navfish ? Where did you get him from?
I do love his markings though, beautiful colours and stripes.

Click to expand...

I got him on September 23rd of this year and he showed signs white poop and not eating on October 8th. I got him from a store called Pet Care (not a chain store) but not specifically from a fish store.

Down below is a pic of when I first got him and now to see if his eyes got any bigger.

I will also into the thread you mentioned and see if any applies to my angelfish.
Edit: I looked at what you said he may have but I already have tried paracleanse containing the main 2 ingredients in general cure. But it didn’t work at all.

Okay so the second pic is the day I got him.
The first pic is 6 days after I got him
And the third pic is 30 days after I got him (yesterday).

ALSO….I saw him scratching himself among the filter when I turned it off (specifically his gills are) and also him doing a spitting motion with his mouth sometimes rlly fast and it’s very worrying. Still lethargic, not eating anything, and Still seeing white poop

Maybe there are parasites in his gills?
edit: upon some research...it is possible he has gill flukes with the things I mentioned above.

Navfish said:

I tried the fluval bug bits and everything you could think of!! If he doesn’t have parasites I’m confused on what he does have.

He is also a juvenile, so yes he is small.

He is hiding most times…but I still see white poop..and him not eating so that’s why I’m assuming it’s parasites

Will stop bloodworms.

This is what he looks like:

Click to expand...

I know it is difficult to figure these things out which is why i did not comment on the other forum. I suspect it is a blockage or infection but not sure. To be honest my personal success rate in treating this sort of issue is not great - bacterial infections are easier to treat but you have to treat them very fast so as mentioned by @AdoraBelle Dearheart this is almost certainly not bacteria.

As for the eyes being larger that is usually an indication of a runt.

Not really an update but looks like he still is curious about things…he was very interested in this air bubble under a catappa leaf

I would treat with praziquantel if any redness in the gills, if you have access to it. I get pure praziquantel, but years ago i used to get cat tape worm tablets at the feed store. Praziquantel is not water soluble, I dissolve in a little vodka or other liquor, as little as possible, then mix into some tank water before adding to tank. I have the dosage around here somewhere

Little update: it has almost been a month since he stopped eating crazy I know!

Only little taking nibbles at things here and there.

Still living at least!
Still treating with PraziPro

It’s hard to tell if he’s improving but I am seeing white poop so that may mean he is expelling the parasites

Still in quarentine and still no external symptoms.
Here’s how he looks tdy:

I'm going to presume the white poop is more likely do to thin diet. Is there plant matter in the aquarium for him to nibble on? Also you have tried some ground flakes that have plant matter ?

anewbie said:

I'm going to presume the white poop is more likely do to thin diet. Is there plant matter in the aquarium for him to nibble on? Also you have tried some ground flakes that have plant matter ?

Click to expand...

ah okay! There was cattappa leaves previously but I took them out since it was hard to clean. I will add some live plants.

I have not tried ground flakes that have plant matter, only tropical fish flakes from tetra, tropical bug bits from fluval, dried daphnia/bloodworms/mysis, and frozen bloodworms.

I will look into the ground flakes!

I would look into some metronidazole, remove carbon from filter but keep filter running. If he is eating there is time for it to work. Used to be 3 doses - day 1, day 3 and day 5. At least around here I would routinely dose any South American Cichlid I bought because most of them were carrying hexamita. I don't buy cichlids anymore. Gave up Africans years ago but I dosed them too, after I started doing that in quarantine I didn't lose fish to hexamita anymore

Alice B said:

I would look into some metronidazole, remove carbon from filter but keep filter running. If he is eating there is time for it to work. Used to be 3 doses - day 1, day 3 and day 5. At least around here I would routinely dose any South American Cichlid I bought because most of them were carrying hexamita. I don't buy cichlids anymore. Gave up Africans years ago but I dosed them too, after I started doing that in quarantine I didn't lose fish to hexamita anymore

Click to expand...

Hes hardly eating anything....should I still try it? I forgot to mention that im treaitng with PraziPro right now.

Navfish said:

Hes hardly eating anything....should I still try it? I forgot to mention that im treaitng with PraziPro right now.

Click to expand...

you should not try it. Metronidazole doesn't mix well with most other meds. finish the prazi, remove with fresh carbon, remove the carbon and treat with metro. But always finish a medicine run so you don't help a bug become immune to the med. If it was gill flukes he would have been eating. I didn't think of that earlier, been busy. How many days on PraziPro?

Alice B said:

you should not try it. Metronidazole doesn't mix well with most other meds. finish the prazi, remove with fresh carbon, remove the carbon and treat with metro. But always finish a medicine run so you don't help a bug become immune to the med. If it was gill flukes he would have been eating. I didn't think of that earlier, been busy. How many days on PraziPro?

Click to expand...

15-16 days so far. I don't even know what to do at this point. But I think I will try the Metroplex by seachem after this treatment.

I'm doing everything I can to help my angelfish since I really like him but it seems like this is a lost cause.

Let me give you a rundown of everything that happened with medication and symptoms:

1. When I first noticed he was eating and was having white poop, I dosed Paracleanse for a week in the main tank (37g). The Paracleanse did NOT work. Then a day or so later, I moved him to a 10g quarantine tank where I am now dosing PraziPro. I noticed that he has white poop still after 15-16 days of Prazipro treatment. However, he did eat some bloodworms last week but now he stopped (only nibbling or not touching the food) and this is my BIGGEST concern.

-The directions for Prazipro say to dose for a month or so, doing a water change (50%) and dose every 3 days. (I do give him a rest day or so every week by doing a water change without medication).

I would discontinue PraziPro. I have no idea if it is any good. I use real praziquantel when I need it for gill flukes, I dissolve in alcohol, then dissolve that solution in a bit of tank water, I treat once. I wait a week before doing a water change and no gill flukes. Discontinue prazi pro, do a water change, use fresh carbon to remove the remaining meds. You should be able to get Metronidazole, Seachem has Metroplex (which I don't think is necessarily as good as what they used to have.)
API's General Cure has Metronidazole in it, along with prazi. Take your pick, be sure you don't have any ammonia or nitrite, you could just do a water change do the carbon and let the fish rest overnight. then try.

Also garlic oil will stimulate the appetite, you don't have to buy it for fish, you can get the oil gels at the drug store or grocery store, your fingers will smell like you are repelling vampires after you open the gel to get the oil in the water. Do it just before offering food. Or you can get Garlic Guard, by Seachem. It's not as messy.
whatever you use follow package directions. PraziPro sounds like a ripoff. I have never bought it - it being a relatively late invention and I discovered cat wormer pills about 20 years ago

One point - don't keep him in a bare, empty QT tank. It's very stressful for fish to be in a bare tank, and won't help him recover, battle off infection, or want to eat if he feels exposed and stressed. Use a black rubbish bag to tape on as a background even, that's a cheap temporary background and means he won't feel open on all sides. Add some plant matter - take some trimmings from your main tank that you don't mind throwing away after, more Indian Almond leaves, some floating plant, some fake decor you have tucked away in the cupboard and is easily cleaned and decontaminated - make it suitable for the fish, not what's easiest to clean.

If you're going to use meds, stick to the directions rather than adding your own rest days. If you're going to discontinue one and try another, large water changes and running some carbon to remove all of the old med before trying the next is essential. Give him a few rest days between the two medications if possible, and try other things to tempt his appetite. Once he's not in a bare tank, hopefully he'll have more of an appetite. Try collecting some life food, like mosquito larvae from a bucket outside, or get some from a starter culture or store, or put the word out to local hobbyists and see if they can spare some from their own cultures. If anything can get a fish to eat, live food is usually it. I got some live blood worms from a bucket outside that I'd been getting some mozzie larvae from the other day. Agree with @Alice B that garlic is also often used since fish seem to be more likely to eat with the garlic scented stuff. There are recipes out there for how to scent food with garlic yourself. I haven't yet done it personally, so can't suggest a method I'm afraid.

anewbie said:

I know it is difficult to figure these things out which is why i did not comment on the other forum. I suspect it is a blockage or infection but not sure. To be honest my personal success rate in treating this sort of issue is not great - bacterial infections are easier to treat but you have to treat them very fast so as mentioned by @AdoraBelle Dearheart this is almost certainly not bacteria.

As for the eyes being larger that is usually an indication of a runt.

Click to expand...

As I say, I'm not that familiar with angelfish, never had them myself - but have had a lot of experience with other animals, like trying to save waifs and strays, and runts. I seem to have a knack for it. But...

If the eyes are an indication of a potential runt, and @anewbie suspects it may be an internal blockage... I'll give a word of warning not to get your hopes too high. Fish like angels are prone to having some phyical issues, right? Breeders having to cull heavily due to deformities/fin problems etc? If there are a lot of external issues, then there are just as likely to be a lot of internal issues, ones that may be preventing him from wanting or being able to eat. There's no way for us to be able to tell without a necropsy. So while I'd also be continuing to try to treatment at this stage, I'd just caution you not to get your hopes too high and try to aim any treatment to a likely suspect, rather than spending a fortune on different medications and hoping for the best. That if it's a runt with some internal, failure to thrive issue, that you may be throwing good money after bad.

I'd try sending this to the people at Wet Web Media, see what they say.