Please read fully, so you fully understand everything before commenting.

I have had my angels for about a year and a half, I raised them from eggs. The two I kept are black with one grey tiger stripe down their middle. Anyways, these are my fish, you know. My favorites, My boys. They know me, and I want to keep them. I Googled my ass off looking for help, but with the millions of people that owned a fish bowl 40 years and now they think they are experts; I can’t find two sites that say the same thing on the subject. (Found out on one site from the guy that has been breeding them for 20 years that they are live breeders and the male will kill the female after she gives birth. I was laughing so hard.) I should have started here….

Ok this happened a week ago on Friday the 7^th.

Morning feeding; noticed my two angels in the corner, fins clamped, swollen bellies, a protruding anis that is a little red, not bleeding, but irritated looking, and they were covered in a milky coating. They wouldn’t eat that morning, but kept darting for food but returning to the corner without eating. I pulled them out of the tank, and into my quarantine tank. This tank is empty, so they kept rubbing themselves on the glass bottom, then they would sit, fins clamped and pointed slightly up and twitching, sometimes launching forward super fast and then slowly they swim backwards to their sitting spot; which was usually by the filter intake or right next to the heater. So I Googled around and came up with a bacterial infection in their stomachs, which made sense because I fed them some frozen food the night before, but only the angels got sick, there are close to 5 other speices that ate the same frozen food; but also I came up with Velvet Disease and 90 other diseases; including, angelfish AIDS which broke out in 1986. Crazy.

Anyways this is what I have done so far. I change 35% to 50% of their water once day, Melafix (just cause I have some), antibiotics, aloe vera, and a tablespoon of salt per 10 gallons. I bumped the temp up to 82 and held it there for the week and I am now just starting to bring it back to their normal 76, and using less and less salt. (By having the fish in warmer water, their immune systems work better)

The first day they didn’t eat, just sat there near the heater or intake covered in slime, twitching, fins clamped, bellies swollen, anis protruding, darting every once in awhile, and rubbing themselves on the glass bottom or tank sides. (Sometimes they wouldn't use one of their side fins, it was just held flat against their body while the other went to town to keep them still & upright)

The second day, the coating was clearing up but not all gone, still twitching, bellies swollen, anis protruding and all the rubbing, darting. But they wanted to eat and were super excited to see me. I fed them very little flake food.

Skip a few days to today.

The coating all gone, they eat and act normal, still on restricted portions though. They swim around normal, and I don’t notice any twitching. As they swim their fins look normal, fully spread, not ripped, looking just like they did, but as soon as they stop swimming they clamp. They seem to be 100% like they were before this, personality wise, but their bellies are still swollen and the anis is still protruding. At first their poo was almost clear, now it is normal.

I'm thinking we may have beaten this, except the still swollen bellies, anis problems, and the clamped fins. I am thinking it is because it’s still warm in the tank and maybe the swelling will dissipate when they are in cooler waters? Or am I jumping the gun by thinking that my Angels are going to live? Any info would help, any at all. I know too much antibiotics for humans can cause upset stomach and blood in number 2's. As of today they are still on the antibiotics, but their bellies were swollen before antibiotics, so I know the antibiotics didnt cause the swelling, but is it keeping it from going away? If there is there still an infection in their bellies I dont want to take them off the antibiotics, I believe that the antibiotics are what are saving my fish so far.

Sorry for the long post, but I want you to understand exactly what’s going on so that there is a better chance of saving them. I should have taken pictures or a video but didnt think of it at the time.

Some more info: They look good, no sores, missing scales, rips in fins, they breathe at a normal pace, no gill redness or bleeding, eyes arent popping out, no ich, just swollen bellies and butt problems.