Who is mauling my angelfish or is it a disease ?

[anewbie]

This is a bit outdated but close enough:
View attachment 157501

The plain male bn likes to hide in the back right corner (when i've seen him on the glass); i think his 'home' is somewhere under the mess on the right side but I've not been able to find is explicit cave.

Here is an updated picture just taken

 

[gilpi]

What a tank! Gorgeous. Do I see two black angels with the same issue?

 

[anewbie]

What a tank! Gorgeous. Do I see two black angels with the same issue?

All the angles have marks at this point but the one i photo i think is worse and the golds are very small and slight. I remove the bn this morning so we will see if new marks stop and if the old ones begin to heal.

 

[gilpi]

Ah, the small details, maybe I missed a post/reply, I thought it was just one angel. Interested to find out how this turns out. Good luck!

 

[itiwhetu]

I feel that more than likely the Angels are having a go at each other. Your tank is set up in such a way that they cannot escape from one another.
I would reduce the amount of plants so that the Angels can swim amongst them and find some refuge.

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

I feel that more than likely the Angels are having a go at each other. Your tank is set up in such a way that they cannot escape from one another.
I would reduce the amount of plants so that the Angels can swim amongst them and find some refuge.

+1

 

[anewbie]

I feel that more than likely the Angels are having a go at each other. Your tank is set up in such a way that they cannot escape from one another.
I would reduce the amount of plants so that the Angels can swim amongst them and find some refuge.

They go all the way on the right side behind the plants. I've watched them escape each other. The other spot is on the left between the glass and jungle val. Again they have gone there if things get rough among the angels. There is a third spot in the far right back corner. Having said that this group is relatively peaceful since i raised them together from frys. Yes there is some bickering but relative to other angles I have kept it is fairly minor.

 

[itiwhetu]

They go all the way on the right side behind the plants. I've watched them escape each other. The other spot is on the left between the glass and jungle val. Again they have gone there if things get rough among the angels. There is a third spot in the far right back corner. Having said that this group is relatively peaceful since i raised them together from frys. Yes there is some bickering but relative to other angles I have kept it is fairly minor.

Ok, I don't know how to help. To me it looks like these guys are living in a very small section of the tank.

 

[DoubleDutch]

The craterlike wounds look like Hexamita caused HITH wounds.

I seriously doubt the BN is causing this.
Though most people forget the protein / meaty part for these omnivores a hungry BN won't hide when other fish are fed in daylight. It will defintely show up and be more "agressive" in that case. Hungry BN's don't hide.

The wounds don't look equally shaped to me.

 

[gilpi]

The craterlike wounds look like Hexamita caused HITH wounds.

I seriously doubt the BN is causing this.
Though most people forget the protein / meaty part for these omnivores a hungry BN won't hide when other fish are fed in daylight. It will defintely show up and be more "agressive" in that case. Hungry BN's don't hide.

The wounds don't look equally shaped to me.

I did some research on Hexamita after having oscars with similar issues (hole in head), it's a pretty good observation and the wounds look like it. As the OP says it's all speculation but at this point trying different methods will eventually determine the cause.

 

[anewbie]

The craterlike wounds look like Hexamita caused HITH wounds.

I seriously doubt the BN is causing this.
Though most people forget the protein / meaty part for these omnivores a hungry BN won't hide when other fish are fed in daylight. It will defintely show up and be more "agressive" in that case. Hungry BN's don't hide.

The wounds don't look equally shaped to me.

And how would you treat without removing the fishes? Also wouldn't Hexamita wounds start small and grow as oppose to just showing up full size one morning ?

As for removing the BN - i had wanted to remove it for the past two years so it was sort of like killing two birds with one stone (though i don't know if it is related to the damage to the angels).

 

[gilpi]

Hexamita usually gets triggered by poor water condition/environment which I can bet is not the case with you. I personally am not one for using meds, I'm more of a water changes freak but others might chime in on the treatment. Curious to know if the BN removal will fix your problem .

 

[anewbie]

I believe the water quality is decent as I do two water changes a week (though the population is high). There are clown loaches in the tank and they are nearing 6 inches but all observations is that the clown loaches ignore the angles and the angels show no stress around them. The 2nd largest fish (other than angels and clown loaches) was the BN i removed yesterday.

 

[Scubasteve80]

In my opinion, it's your pleco. I've seen same on discus and other flat body fish. Maybe they're paired and defending eggs?

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

It’s hard to help when you don’t or won’t listen to others opinions. I’m saying that a few people think it is the pleco, but don’t believe everything. Do more research on the Bristlenose Pleco behaviors and feeding, because it seems like you are taking our information and advice blindly. That’s great that you are experimenting by taking the pleco out, but you have to understand that evidence-based (not saying @wasmewasntit is wrong) information is the best information. Majority vote goes to the Angels, which, as you said in post #52 is just adding to the evidence. “I've watched them escape each other”. You would infer that they have been aggressive to each other. It is a heavy coincidence that the dominant male in the social structure had no wounds. You are next to the tank probably 2% of the day, and just because your fish get along then doesn’t mean they don’t fight.

My fish (I have 4 bichirs) are territorial. They broke the spaces of the tank up into territories…but the heirarchy fish, a 14” Palmas, kept wanting to take over the other, smaller bichir, territories. Bichirs will not fight back to a fish larger than them, so their instinct is flight. However, I was never there to see it. Every time I would enter the room, they would all stop for 10 minutes or so. It wasn’t until I sat there for 30 minutes or so when I realized that the broken finlets on the smaller ones back weren’t caused by him getting stuck some where, but the largest one attacking, or showing everyone who’s boss. The cichlid social structure is similar to that of humans. There are popular (dominant) males or females, and then everybody in between. Maybe a few rowdy ones want to challenge the ruler, then they get put in their place, or the ruler gets put in his place.

It is most likely not HITH because it has not spread to other fish in the tank.