Spot on my Angel

[TwinkE]

I just noticed a dark brown/black spot behind the front fin on each side of my Potter's Angel. One of his eyes may be clouding too, I'm not sure. It has one black eye and one purpleish eye. Any ideas?

 

Diet is mostly algae and Ocean Nutrition Green Marine algae. Nitrates are around 20, trying to get my skimmer working, phosphates are under .25.

 

[Der ABT]

hard to tell with the pic, look up flukes, if the eye is clouding see if you can see the outline of a flatworm, tons of pics online

usually just looks like discoloration, on an eye you can usually see the shape or little points so it doesn look like a full cloud,

otherwise im not sure

 

how long has the fish been inthere, any other new additions

done any recent waterchanges, moved rockwork etc

[gwweber]

Is he scratching?

what size tank and what is the issue with the skimmer

 

 

[TwinkE]

gwwebber, it's the Percula 90 I got from you, so 60+ gallons. I put a Tunze 9006 in there, I was getting occasional skim depending on the water level of the tank(it was hanging at an angle then) so I removed a shelf in the overflow so it can hang straight. Right now I'm getting a bunch of bubbles in the bottom of the neck to the collection cup, but they're not making it up there(it was cleaned last night).

 

No signs of scratching for the fish.

 

I did a 20% water change on Monday, and also swapped out an old powerhead for another maxijet. Also added a mushroom on monday, that was dipped in revive for 15 minutes before being put in the tank.

 

The Angel and Tang have both been in there for a little over 2 weeks. His behavior has changed from grazing on all the algae on the rocks to hiding in a cave and swimming around not quite franticly.

[Jon Lazar]

You posted that there's a discolored area behind the pectoral fins on both sides of the fish. Since it's happeneing on both sides of the fish, I would not consider parasites a primary diagnosis. Sure, it's worth looking at, but I wouldn't remove the fish for preventative treatment.

 

Are you sure the fish isn't just going through color changes as it matures? I think Potter's Anglelfish naturally develop a dark area that starts right behind the pectoral fin and runs to the tail. Fish sometimes also change their feeding and dominant/submissive status during physiological changes, which could explain her behavior.

[Coral Hind]

I think Jon makes a great point, they normally do develop a darker area behind and slightly above the pectoral fin as they mature. I can't tell from your pictures but maybe a google image search will show you pictures of other potters angels with the same markings you are seeing.

[TwinkE]

I think you're right. I was watching the fish for a while and it looks like the dark patch goes all the way back to the tail, and the color of the eye is a similar shade of purple as the rest of the body.

[Coral Hind]

I'm glad this had a happy ending!

[TwinkE]

Turns out it's not so happy. It had a bad case of popeye and I think a problem with the fins and tail so I set up the QT with some maracyn. I'm not sure if things are better now, but the eye is definitely different.