Urgent! Please Help!

[S Herbert]

Please Help!

I'm not sure what's happening to my angel. Two hours ago he was fine, and now he's floating at the surface of the water gasping for air, swimming rapidly but not going anywhere, laying on his side on and off, and when swimming, swimming with his head bowed and his fins tucked in. He looks as if he's going to die. I don't know what to do!
He wouldn't eat properly for weeks (4) so I tried tempting him with garlic-soaked food (i.e. food in a glass of water with piece of garlic/garlic removed/water removed/food put in tank)...I am wondering if maybe he's ingested a v small piece of garlic or something. Also, it sounds wierd but he doesn't seem to be able to excrete anything (i.e he's had the same string of poo for a good few hours and he looks very bloated). It's happened all of a sudden, and he was ab fine before hand.
All three other angels and other fish are absolutely fine. Water parameters are all within normal range. I have the air bubbler on and the Eheim filter is rippling the surface as usual.
Please Help A.S.A.P What can I do???

 

[WILDER]

Stats would be good in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
Exactly how my tweety died all the same sytoms and didn't go to the toilet, organ failure.
Sorry he's dying and there nothing to be done really if his breathing gone, and not going to the toilet.
Shelled peas and epson salt bath.

Sorry he has gone to the toilet what did it look like.

 

[S Herbert]

Stats would be good in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
Exactly how my tweety died all the same sytoms and didn't go to the toilet, organ failure.
Sorry he's dying and there nothing to be done really if his breathing gone, and not going to the toilet.
Shelled peas and epson salt bath.

Sorry he has gone to the toilet what did it look like.

White, stringy, but with 'sausages' in between - if you catch my drift. He's still fighting at the top, and it generally maintaining upright. I tried shelled peas already and he didn't touch. I repeat it was very very sudden. Was that the same as your tweety?

 

[WILDER]

Fed tweety peas but it made no difference, wouldn't go to the toilet his organs had packed in.
To be honest it not sounding very hopeful, hes not eating either.
Only thing to do is a epson salt bath but his breathing gone so it could finish him off.
Tweety was like this for months tryed everything, salt, peas, bacterial meds nothing helped.

 

[S Herbert]

do you think it could be because he hasn't eaten for so long and now he's over-eaten? the fact he's at the surface - does that mean his breathing organs have failed?

 

[Tolak]

Waiting 4 weeks is a bit too long. What country are you from? Some meds are unavailable in different countries.

 

[WILDER]

When there breathing goes there dying the last stage, sorry.
It advanced to far now.
You could try a bacterial med but it dosn't sound to promising, though fish can surprise you at times.

 

[S Herbert]

I didnt wait 4 weeks, trust me I tried EVERYTHING I could in that time. Used Anti-Internal Parasite med, Flubinol 15 (which actually got him eating in the end - garlic merely spurned him on), general med...lots more - there is little else i could have done in that time.

 

[WILDER]

Ok same as me, to be honest he dying and there not anything left to do, been here so now how you feel, sorry.

 

[S Herbert]

Ok. Thank you Wilder. It sounds like I'm going to have to accept the inevitable.

 

[WILDER]

Ok good luck anyway bless him.

 

[Tolak]

This is a fairly common angel problem, it responds well to metronidazole. Problem is metro is unavailable for treating fish in the UK. If you contact a vet with some experience dealing with aquatics you could get dimetronidazole, which is very similar. If you plan on keeping angels this is something you should keep on hand.

 

[WILDER]

He's tryed an internal parasite med tolak Flubinol 15
http/www.flubenol.co.uk/

 

[Tolak]

Flubenol 15 is more of a wormer, you are dealing with internal protizoans. Mixing f-15 with food is not recommended, where mixing metro or dimetro with food has excellent results. A seperate tank is usually needed as you will want to get the temperature up, at least 32c, the closer to 37c the better. These drugs were originally designed for humans, and the higher temp increases metabolism, stimulating appetite.

Angels are one of the few fish that can handle temps that high, I wouldn't recommend it if I hadn't done it myself numerous times. I have a few blacks that are doing the same thing, they go in a med tank tonight.

 

[S Herbert]

Well - it looks as if my prayers might have been answered.

I stayed up as late as I could last night - kept the bubbler on as long as possible, and to be honest by the time I went to bed, I had very little hope for the poor chap. It was very upsetting to watch, and I was even considering euthanasia.
But I got up this morning for work, and miraculously he seems to have pulled through! Not only is he swimming normally around the tank, but he's eating too.
I can't understand it - he looked on death's door last night.

You dont think that maybe he swallowed a bit of garlic (I thought I'd taken it all out, but you never know) and it knocked his system for six? Otherwise I really cant explain it.

I'm not getting my hopes up too much - he may just be on the brink...but I'll keep you posted on Silver's situation.

PS. Tolak - I tried a product over here called AquaPet No.9 for internal parasites...when that didn't work after multiple doses I turned to the wormer.