Angelfish suffering from dorsal and anal fin deterioration and stringy substance on fins

[Lyon Aquascapes]

Hello Coop community,

First the tank details and info then below is my fishie issue:

South American Style heavily planted aquascape.

300 liters / 79 gallons

Filter: Oase 600 biomaster and eheim skimmer unit

Water parameters according to Coop test strips:

Nitrate: 0, Nitrite: 0, Hardness: 0, Buffer: 0, PH: 6,4, Chlorine: 0, Temp: 23 C / 73,4 F

CO2 injected at about 20 / 30 mg per liter via inline system (comes on 2 hours before lights and goes off 1 hour bf they go off).

10 hours of lighting per day.

Fertilizer: Dennerle fertilizer system.

Inhabitants

9 angels (Bulgarian Green Seal Point), 20 cardinals, 20 green neons, 16 corys (orange lazer and eversi), 7 panda garra, 1 whiptail cat, 2 flying foxes.

The water we have is really soft (Black Forrest, Germany) and it isnt RO its just mountain water. But almost all my species are south American originally or from areas that have soft water. I used to do 1 50-80% water change every 2 weeks but now I do it every week since the start of the month bc of my current issue (see below). Feeding 1-2 a day. 1 day of fasting / week.

Now here is my problem:

My angels are having some issues with their dorsal and anal fins (top and bottom ones). In the photos you will see they are slowly deteriorating on the top and have some slime on them. They are also attracting what seem to be the co2 bubbles. There seems to be some stringy substance coming from the fins.

To try to improve the problem I have upped my water changes to once a week and also added lots of catappa leaves to see if that would help. I am thinking of using a catappa concentrate (https://www.sera.de/en/product/freshwater-aquarium/sera-phyto-med-catappa/) starting tomorrow after a water change to see what that does. My fish are eating well, super active and the colors are very good atm. So I am really at a loss for what is going on. It is also only the angels that are currently having this fin problem. Other fish seem to be just great. Any thoughts or ideas would really be helpful. I want to get their fins healed up and be a good fish papa! Many thanks.

Will

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by Lyon Aquascapes

[Colu]

It's difficult to tell off your picture does it have a fuzzy appearance

[Lyon Aquascapes]

@Colu I added some more photos. Hopefully these are better. It doesn’t really seem to be fuzzy. More like slowly fraying. Some of their little ‘bones’ in their fins are sticking out as well. 

[Colu]

It looks like mild fin rot if you see no improvement with the increased water changes and the Sera phyto med  treatment and their fin start to get worse I would then do a course of Sera baktopur direct tables the active ingredient is nifurpirinol a broad spectrum antibiotic @Lyon Aquascapes

[Lyon Aquascapes]

@Colu Many thanks. Looks like we are of a similar mind set and I appreciate the feedback and recommendations. It is always nice to ask the 'hive mind' especially in relation to the nice people of the Coop world. I will keep the group updated in case anyone else might benefit.

 

[Lyon Aquascapes]

Just a little update:

The catappa concentrate label said it works well in conjunction with meds, so after a big water change I dosed it along with Sera Omnipur S (Composition: 9-amino  acridine  hydrochloride  105  mg,  acriflavine  chloride  600  mg, ethacridine lactate 3375 mg, malachite green oxalate 79 mg, aqua purificata ad 100 ml.), which I already had in my cabinet (opposed to baktopur). I added an airstone, turned off the co2, changed the lighting to 6 hours a day and stopped feeding. So far the fin rot seems to be stopping and the slime that had been coming from the fins is as far as I can tell not there anymore. I am also dosing some vitamins straight into the water in the evening when the lights are off. I am planning on observing until this coming Monday and then doing a big water change and reporting back. Fingers crossed this works...seems positive. 

[Colu]

Just a word of warning the active ingredient acriflavin is harmful to plants shrimp and snails

[Lyon Aquascapes]

I can only speak from my personal experience, but I have used Omnipur S about 5 times in the last 5 years in my aquascapes with plants, shrimp and snails with no deaths or injuries. Maybe I have been lucky but multiple German sources seem to support the idea that it is invertebrate safe. 

https://garnelen-tom.de/zwerggarnelen-shop/sera-omnipur-S-50-ml

Also per Sera's q&A related to Omnipur & Shrimp: "sera omnipur can be used in such cases since it is copper free..."

https://www.sera.de/en/service/faq/faq-detail/?tx_ggserafaq_detailview[faq]=405&cHash=4a3c1f914b9f855648d338e67fcca6d4

 

But there is not much in the way of invertebrates (some pond snails and culled neos) in that tank so at least in this case not much to worry about. I appreciate the heads up.

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Lyon Aquascapes

[Colu]

I have never used omnipur s but everything I have read about acriflavine say it's not safe to use with plants shrimp or snails maybe it has a lower  amount of the active ingredient in omnipur s this was on spruce pets

Edited October 20, 2021 by Colu

[FriendlyLoach]

Sounds like fin rot to me.