Angelfish not eating

[Shark.Bait]

I just picked up a show sized queen angelfish about 4 days ago from my lfs. It was qt'd there and has been in their tank with copper for over 5 months. I saw it eat in the store and it has been eating for the last 3 days as well.

I woke up this morning and the queen was just hovering in one spot and won't move or eat anything. It's personality completely changed from following me around the tank all day to almost comatose. I can't figure out what's wrong with it. It's not being bullied at all, the water is well aerated, it looks to be in absolutely perfect health and beautiful. It just stopped eating and being lively all of a sudden.

I got an emperor and passer of smaller size at the same time and they are in perfect health. My ammonia and nitrates are 0, ph is 8.2, I have no idea what it could be and I really don't want to lose this fish. The ONLY thing that may be different is that I put a little metronidazole in their food. All of my other fish are responding well to it.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Why are you dosing anything like that in your display tank? Try Selcon or garlic in the food.

 

[Shark.Bait]

The food is prepared with selcon, zoecon, garlic and vitamin C. Does the metro explain this behavior though? I'm looking for what could be affecting my Queen Angel..

 

[Dkuhlmann]

And you didn't answer my question.

 

[Shark.Bait]

I've always had trace amounts in my food for preventative measures. I've stopped feeding it since then. Again, I'm looking for ways to help my fish. If metronidazole is not the cause of this, I feel no reason to focus on its use. Do you have any suggestion on what could be affecting it? It's become lethargic and has began to hide.

Thank you

 

[Deinonych]

Because this fish was not quarantined (QT at LFS does not count), disease is a possibility. It is also possible one of the other fish you added brought in a disease. Describe the fish's appearance and behavior, please. Any rapid breathing or flashing against objects in the aquarium?

 

[Shark.Bait]

Because this fish was not quarantined (QT at LFS does not count), disease is a possibility. It is also possible one of the other fish you added brought in a disease. Describe the fish's appearance and behavior, please. Any rapid breathing or flashing against objects in the aquarium?

I agree, I believe it may be disease. The fish looks to be in excellent condition, no cloudiness of the fins or eyes, no abrasions or lesions or spots, nothing I can see. It has been acting lethargic and has been hovering in one spot all day. Yesterday it tracked food but did not eat it.

Today it started hiding in the rock work. Possible rapid breathing, but not laying on its side gasping for air. Before this, it would act normally and eat everything. I'm about to do a large water change, besides that I'm lost.

 

[Shark.Bait]

Here's a picture

 

[Yellow Eyes]

How did you acclimate him? What was the stores salinity vs. your salinity? How long did you acclimate for?

I read about this a while ago on here (so maybe someone more experienced knows) but isn't 4-7 days the timeline for symptoms from being moved from low salinity to high salinity?

 

[nuxx]

Stress.

Had a Copperband Butterfly we QTed for 9 weeks and ate from day one like a pig.

After going into the display I think it was intimidated by the Black and Yellow Tangs. There wasn't any visible bullying, just I think knowing the tangs were there was enough.

Basically stayed in the corner of the tank, didn't eat and after being removed from the display after 3 days of this died.

Mostly my fault, should have used an acclimation box...

 

[Shark.Bait]

How did you acclimate him? What was the stores salinity vs. your salinity? How long did you acclimate for?

I read about this a while ago on here (so maybe someone more experienced knows) but isn't 4-7 days the timeline for symptoms from being moved from low salinity to high salinity?

I asked the store where there salinity was and it was 1.015. My tank is exactly the same salinity. I keep it this way because it's a FOWLR and I find it reduces acclimation stress.

The 3 fish I got were all acclimated over a 3 hour period via drip

 

[Shark.Bait]

Stress.

Had a Copperband Butterfly we QTed for 9 weeks and ate from day one like a pig.

After going into the display I think it was intimidated by the Black and Yellow Tangs. There wasn't any visible bullying, just I think knowing the tangs were there was enough.

Basically stayed in the corner of the tank, didn't eat and after being removed from the display after 3 days of this died.

Mostly my fault, should have used an acclimation box...

Should I not do the water change then? I don't see how it can be stress, he is by far the biggest fish in the tank and no other fish even looks at him. Is there anything I can do to reduce the stress besides leaving it alone?

 

[Shark.Bait]

Sorry for the triple post. Just updating it's status, didn't track food last night or attempt to eat whatsoever. Breathing more heavily as well. I believe it is a bit darker too, possibly indicating stress as discussed?

Most notably, a spot of something appeared on its side yesterday and is still there today. It's on the bottom streamer and appears to be in a bent shape. Ignore the passer in the way begging for attention. It doesn't look like crypto/ ick to me. Opinions?

 

[Shark.Bait]

The queen seemed to be getting better, started eating again and swimming out in the open. This afternoon it made a complete 180 and is laying on its side in the rocks, breathing very heavily, it looks as though it wont last 24 hours. I really don't want to lose this fish, does anybody have a suggestion?

 

[Shark.Bait]

It didn't make it through the night.

 

[nuxx]

It didn't make it through the night.

So sorry hate losing fish

 

[ThRoewer]

Sounds like velvet. Timeline, copper at the store and the heavy breathing all fit.
Copper may not kill it but just suppress it enough for the fish to look healthy to the untrained eye.
Also, velvet doesn't need to show on the skin to be deadly - not that most would actually note it anyway.

Keep a close eye on your current stock and if they show any signs treat the fish with CP.

Never put a new fish straight into your tank - there is hardly any store that does anything that is really worth being called quarantine, and even then I wouldn't trust their biosecurity protocols (sharing of nets and other equipment can all transfer infections).

Oh and about mixing "a little bit" of metronidazole into the food - stop that nonsense. Metronidazole is an antibiotic and you should either use it properly or not at all. Using non-therapeutic doses will just breed metronidazole resistant bacteria strains and the next time you really need it, it won't work.

 

[Shark.Bait]

Sounds like velvet. Timeline, copper at the store and the heavy breathing all fit.
Copper may not kill it but just suppress it enough for the fish to look healthy to the untrained eye.
Also, velvet doesn't need to show on the skin to be deadly - not that most would actually note it anyway.

Keep a close eye on your current stock and if they show any signs treat the fish with CP.

Never put a new fish straight into your tank - there is hardly any store that does anything that is really worth being called quarantine, and even then I wouldn't trust their biosecurity protocols (sharing of nets and other equipment can all transfer infections).

Oh and about mixing "a little bit" of metronidazole into the food - stop that nonsense. Metronidazole is an antibiotic and you should either use it properly or not at all. Using non-therapeutic doses will just breed metronidazole resistant bacteria strains and the next time you really need it, it won't work.

Thank you for the help. The fish did appear completely healthy, but then again I've never dealt with velvet. Upon death I noticed it looked very fat, almost swollen. Is this consistent with velvet? Would you recommend running CP as a precautionary measure at this point? This was exactly the help I was looking for, just a few days too late. Better late then never! At least I know for next time.

I've since stopped lacing the food with metro. Thank you for the advice and diagnosis.

 

[Shark.Bait]

So sorry hate losing fish

Thank you, I do as well. I find a lot of threads that have been abandoned mid treatment, which doesn't help users searching. I just wanted to update the thread so anyone with a similar condition can see the timeline of what happened.

 

[urbanrat84]

Something to consider is that the problem could have started somewhere along the way from wherever it was collected originally to your tank, especially if this fish is imported.