my majestic angel is about to die!!!!!

[JKDMan]

i get up today look in my tank and my angel isnt moving i move the rocks around so i can see him ..looks terrible splotches all over him (looks like he scarped aginst rocks) ,barley moving,hasnt been eating for a while.
also it looks like his cheeks got pinched in on the sides like its sunk in a bit rigt behind his mouth
the fish isnt strong enough to swim away from the suction created by my powerheads(so i turned off) or even my overflow,hes just hiding out in the top corner of the tank,by the penductors
does this sound like it could be a infection of some kind ?

i thought about moving him to my quarntine tank but the tank is having a nitrate spike at the moment,also i thought the stress of moving him my be worse than just leaving him alone and observing him. unfortunatly i g2g to work soon and the will be no one to watch him while im gone
i put some cycle in the tank to try and de-nitrify the tank some if he lives. ill prolly put him in quarntine for a while

:?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, from the sounds of it there isn't much to do. If you have a Q tank I'd certainly try it, making sure the temp and SG, etc match the main tank.

 

[JKDMan]

ya i have a q tank but the nitrate is a 10ppm everthing else in there is good
since i wrote the post he seems th have taken a turn for the worse ,

its swimming(the little it was doing) and resperaton are slowing
if it makes it till tommrow illl prolly put it in the Q tank

 

[Anonymous]

The elevated nitrate in the Q tank is an issue, if you have the stuff change out a hefty percentage of the water today and retest it.

 

[Len]

JDK, sorry to hear that. Did it just happen overnight (was fine yesterday)? I don't know of any diseases that ravages that quickly The QT should be safe to use as fish aren't sensitive to nitrates (very low toxicity for even inverts). The problem is I don't know what to administer: formilin, antibiotics, or otherwise.

 

[Anonymous]

My only thought was to reduce any stress the nitrate might cause the fish, it sounds like it has enough issues without adding onto a problem and water is cheap. He posted a thread about it not eating as usual here:
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... t=#1217516

Perhaps there is a clue there Len, I've never kept angels so I have no good ideas on cause.

 

[S!mon]

the fish isnt strong enough to swim away from the suction created by my powerheads

Sounds like euthanasia might be more kind at this point.
Sorry, I know this was no help.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm very sorry to hear this...I know this doesn't help now, but going forward...

Fish of this genus, while not the most delicate in the hobby, still require you to treat them with the utmost care and consideration when introducing them into a new environment. You have to do everything possible to mitigate possible problems and give them every chance to acclimate and establish themselves in a system. This means practicing proper quarantine procedure when first getting them home, and in general, introducing them first (whether initially, or after a tank upgrade) as stated before so they can properly gain a foot (fin) hold.

Full acclimatization doesn't take place until weeks after all looks well and normal with the fish. Don't get complacent when moving the fish to another tank just because he's been healthy and thriving in your old tank. While you can net out a trigger and throw it into an adjacent tank with different temperature and salinity (not recommended) and whatever tank mates are handy and have it come through just fine, Pomocanthids are far more delicate and temperamental.

Do things a bit differently next time, and you'll have far better results with these fish. Only through experience have I gained this knowledge, and believe me I learned the hard way just like you a long time ago. :wink:

Regards
Jim

 

[JKDMan]

well unfortunatly my angel fish died tonight :x

im gonna just go and bury him in my garden

thanks for all the help and concern guys

 

[Mike612]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[hndakd]

sorry buddy :?

 

[Anonymous]

if you purchase another angel, make sure you dip it in freshwater with proziquantel,(more effective against a wider range of flukes, parasites, ich, than formalin) ph matched to the tank-ALL large angels should be treated this way-leave it in the fw dip for as long as the angel can take it (you may be surprised just how long that can be, heh)