Flame Angel - white areas

[markalot]

Howdy,

I had a small, and luckily I caught it, ammonia spike in my 40 gallon reef aquarium. Ammonia just barely not yellow on the API kit, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate. Inexcusable mistake of adding one too many fish at the same time and overloading the biofilter (the rocks?).

I was prepared with a 10% fresh saltwater change and Prime, but after the water change and dosing with Prime my Flame Angel has some white areas around the mouth and under one of the gills. The fish kept on acting normal, cruising the rocks, pecking for food, and eating some pellets I added. The white coloration faded after 30 minutes or so.

In addition to above I changed out my carbon and added Polyfilter.

This morning all look relaxed, no nervousness or pacing, just regular activities. Any idea what this reaction might be? Temperature issue, an issue with Prime?

Thanks.

[markalot]

... in addition, I did reposition my circulation pumps early in the evening before running my tests. I moved them more to the center of the tank aimed at each other, to reduce some of my dead spots for a new yellow leather coral ... which is doing quite well.

[Aiserock]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like ich. Maybe the ammonia spike caused some stress in your angel allowing the ich to effect the fish. Sorry for the cryptic response, but read the sticky about ich and it will explain it more clearly. Good luck.

[markalot]

Sorry, bad description on my part. This white area was large, more like the size of a pebble, not a parasitic type white dot. I've never seen Ich in a SW aquarium, just freshwater, but I assume it looks similar.

[cloak]

If the coloration comes & goes than I would think it would be related to stress more than anything else. I believe yellow tangs will exhibit a white bar down the side of their body when there stressed. As long as the fish is behaving normally and eating well I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[markalot]

Thanks. I took a video with my tablet, so not the best. The Angel is back to its brilliant colors and all the fish seem to be behaving normally.

video: http://youtu.be/VJ8vEmiGDMU

[markalot]

This came back, with what appeared to be pop eye. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate all read 0. The pop eye vanished a day after it appeared, but a white area remains near the tail. Picture a mostly circular area, just a little shy of 1/4 inch, that is white without color. Nothing sticking out, no bumps, no scrapes.

The fish continues to feed and act normally. Picking at rock, enthusiastically munching down on any food I add to the tank. No nervous pacing or hiding in a corner. I'm stumped.

[chad316]

Originally Posted by markalot

The fish continues to feed and act normally. Picking at rock, enthusiastically munching down on any food I add to the tank. No nervous pacing or hiding in a corner. I'm stumped.

^^ This is a good sign...I think. I'm not sure there's enough information here to diagnose the problem (if there is one) with the information provided. I thought my Foxface had ick once until I looked more closely and found it was just bubbles...he likes trying to eat them LOL.

[Squidmotron]

When my Flame Angel first came from BlueZoo (in the mail) he had a white area around his mouth and was breathing from the surface. I believe his environment had become toxic or not enough oxygen during shipping. With acclimation, his breathing became normal. Awhile later, the white around his mouth returned to normal.

[ken55]

There is a disease sub-forum. The folks there are spot on (no pun intended) with diagnostics and treatments. If you post your questions and pictures there I'm sure they can tell you if you have a problem and how to deal with it if you do.

HTH