Coral Beauty Fin Decay?

Discussion in 'Diseases' started by BrianH123, Feb 26, 2009.

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  1. BrianH123

    BrianH123 Astrea Snail

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    I have had this Coral Beauty for almost three months now (in a 5 month old tank) and over the last 5 days or so i have been noticing his back three fins are looking pretty torn up. He is by far the biggest fish in the tank (a 29 gal bio cube) and i have never seen any other fish act aggressive toward him so I don’t believe he is being nipped at. I have two clown fish a six line, two cleaner shrimp and urchin.

    Ammonia 0
    Nitrate 0
    Nitrite 0
    PH 8.1 - 8.2

    Up until now his top/bottom/back fins have always looked very 'crisp' with a different shade of blue for an outline. His yellow side fins still look great, no signs of 'decay'

    I don’t dose anything and maintain a regular 10 % water change each week. The last piece of live stock added was a cleaner shrimp approx 1 month ago. All other fish/coral appear fine. The coral beauty’s behaviour seems somewhat normal, he is eating frozen and flake, however has been hiding a little more than usual over the last three days.

     

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  3. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    What exactly are you feeding? Algae? Meaty? Both?
    Angels have a specific diet requirement in which they do much better when fed with a frozen food specifically target for angels that is fortified with sponges. They also need the regular veggie/meaty mix, and adding garlic never hurt anything ;)
     
  4. BrianH123

    BrianH123 Astrea Snail

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    Thanks for the quick feedback
    I feed mysis and brine frozen with algae.....Do you have an additional brand recommendation on the veggie/meaty mix? And due to the size of the tank target feeding might be a little difficult, any suggestions or is there a 'angel' food suitable for the other inhabitants?
     
  5. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    You can just throw it in with the regular food, it wont hurt the other fish. I think mine is Ocean Nutrition's angel formula. But there's quite a few that will work for angels, just make sure its fortified with sponges.
    Mysis and brine are ok for the meaty mix. See if you can get any others. Or you can make your own ;) It a lot cheaper that way. I mix up some scallops, clams, squid, and shrimp in a food processor then freeze it. All the fish go nuts for it and you can literally make nearly two pounds of it for the same price as a single packet of frozen food ;)
     
  6. {Nano}Reefer

    {Nano}Reefer Dragon Wrasse

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    I feed Rod's Food and love it, so do my fish ;D but not too sure on the requirements of angels. I would try some of those algae sheets and see what he does.
     
  7. BrianH123

    BrianH123 Astrea Snail

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    I know the pictures are not the clearest however do the fins look alarming? and why would this happen after three months of perfectly healthy activity?
     
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  9. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    The fins don't look too bad to me. They do look a little chunked out, but not too bad, nothing to get to overly worried.
    It could have happened numerous ways. Could be that it decided to sleep real deep in the rocks and did it to himself. My hippo tang tore off an entire fin and nearly didn't make it by doing just that. Could have been one of the other fish got nippy and you missed it. Could be you hit a mini cycle and it caused a slight fin rot.
    The biggest thing you can do is maintain good water quality, and feed a highly nutritious diet. Since your params look good and you keep up with water changes, that's why I asked about food. But good water quality, good food, and time will help fish through a lot of things. Those fins should be healed in a week or two.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2009
  10. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    I am with Pack. It's the food. Definitely get some Angel type food. Get a couple different types, change it up. Don't overfeed, but he should rebound. I used to use Formula 1 frozen food thawed via shot glass with tank water. I think you have time to turn it around.
     
  11. BrianH123

    BrianH123 Astrea Snail

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    I went to my LFS and they didnt have any angel specific food, however they recommended i use a supplement with my food - selcon concentrate, which is basically vitamin C and B, which i should soak the brine in prior to throwing in the tank, i picked it up and will give this a shot.

    Any experience with this or related products?

    As far as the health of the fish, he again appears fine however has detoriting fins, does any one know what other health issues might occur in this situation?
     
  12. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    I use selcon in my home made food. Its good stuff. It is, however, not vitamin C and B. It is a HUFA supplement (highly unsaturated fatty acids). But they do offer vitamin c supplements as well. I also add garlic to my food.
    I would check with other stores as well or see if the one can get angel food. It is a popular food, and should be readily available. I think even petco and petsmart sells it around here. No amount of liquid supplement is going to make up for the lack of sponges. But it will definitely help.