I think my angels have a bacteria of some sort

Question
Hi Karen,
I pray God is watching over you as always, as for me, I have a question about my angelfish, since you have Angels yourself, you might know what's going on..
on my Angels fins there seems to be something hanging off of it, also the entire fins are not complete, they look like part of it melted away or fell off and some white spots on the bottom part below the fins on both sides, they are still swimming, they are strong fish, I have them isolated right now and treating them with ICH Meds. am I doing the right thing?
Please help...             Thank You, Tony S Lee

Answer
Dear Tony, thank you, I hope you are doing well...I'm sorry though to hear about your Angelfish.

You explained your angels seemed to have something hanging off their fins. Is this perhaps a whitish color, is it stringy, fuzzy, or moldy-looking? These are all indicators of a fungus infection. Missing parts of the fins can be aggression from other more bossy angelfish, other fish or could even be finrot! How terrible. But typically fin rot is distinquished from other common fin problems like nipping by other fish when the edges of their fins are black and seem to be literally melting away day by day.
Finally, white spots can be the ICK parasite (Also known as the Ichthyophthirius parasite--ICH or ICK for short) This ever-so-common disease is easily treatable. But if left untreated, the poor fish who is inflicted with it will perish.

I hope you do not have three illnesses at once. This isn't common. Before you start full-blown with medications, be sure to accurately diagnose the disease(s) before to start any kind of potentially harmful meds. First you need to confirm if you indeed have fungus. It's hard to tell by just your descriptions and not actually seeing the fish.
I recommend you research the illnesses your angels could be afflicted with.. Here's the link to a great website with plenty of good pictures on fish disease--
"http://www.thefishpalace.org/disease.html"
This should help you out further.

Remember that stringy looking stuff on fishes fins or body can also be the result of being nipped or bitten by others and it actually scraped skin. This should heal in a day or two but if it does look cottony or moldy, it certainly is fungus and treatment could be a Melafix/Pimafix combination which are all-natural medications suitable for most sucessful treatments if the illness is caught early. More advanced cases will probably need stronger meds like MARDELS Maroxy. Or a similar medication.

Please remember also I am not the best EXPERT at judging a fishes certain ailment without actually seeing him/her. Your best bet is to thoroughly observe your fishes symptoms and investigate through pictures of fish with certain illnesses and compare them to your own. Even then, it can still be difficult.

But don't give up any hope. The fact that your wonderful angels are doing good now is a brilliant sign that they may certainly pull through. Treating with the right medications and making plenty of water changes plus a warm, consistant temperature all should prove sucessful treatment.

Try to find out what exactly your angels have. If you still need help, I'm here at your service.

I really hope this helps!
Best wishes and God bless you and your ill Angelfish! ;-)
Take care,
Karen~