Do I put my flame out of it's misery?

[ahullsb]

This is day 3 of my flame angel swimming around sideways and upside down. It hasn't done well with the hypo I've been running. Do I sit and watch him die slowly or what? I don't want to kill it if there is a chance it can recover. And while I'm on this topic, my orange tipped elegance coral is one of the "diseased" ones apparently. I've also learned recently that elegance are something that is almost impossible to keep. So do I get rid of it too? Or can it recover?

 

[Sk8r]

Try increasing salinity to 1.025 very gradually, over a period of a day, and see if that makes any difference. It probably won't, but it's worth trying.
The elegance should not be put in with other corals.

 

[bertoni]

I'm very sorry to hear about your angel.

The elegance coral disease isn't contagious to other corals, I think, but I'd get rid of it now, if it were mine and I was certain about the infection. I don't know of any treatment for the disease.

 

[RedSoxReefer]

Is this fish in the main display or a qt tank? my vote goes to flushing him man...i have never had a fish recover from that he is in the last phase and there is really nothing more that you can do for him..

 

[luke33]

He's done...unfortunately. Don't flush him, to cruel. The only and best way to uthenize a fish is to take a ziplock bag, dump 1/3 with ammonia, dump fish. Dead within 5 seconds everytime. The best way to euthanize. Sad but true. If you flush, he's going to struggle for another 20min to an hour, but hey, its your fish and no worries, i just get a bad feeling if i do. I can eat a pig or cow but to kill a fish , oh so inhumane! lol

 

[ahullsb]

thanks guys. I'll do that. As far as the elegance? Should I dispose of it too? I keep hearing now that elegance are getting more and more impossible to keep.

 

[bertoni]

I'd vote for putting the fish into a cup of water and then into the freezer. It should die relatively painlessly when the temperature drops.

I'd probably wait for the elegance to show signs of decline before pitching. Uninfected animals can do pretty well, although your odds do seem to be bad.

 

[kismetsh]

If a fish needs to be put out of its misery IMO this is the most humane way: Euthanase

KC

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Have you been checking your PH? If its low, thats the Flames problem. Are you doing regular water changes? I do daily changes during any kind of treatment..I have had a couple fish in really bad shape and I was able to pull them through..make sure he's hopeless before putting him down

 

[akaatomic]

Agreed. I know a guy who takes home the really bad fish from LFS and nurses them back to health. He's brought things back from hopeless conditions. You'll actually be best to move him to a QT with a salinity around 1.017. High salinity stresses fish and most good and bad organisms in your tank grow better at higher salinity. In this case, disease will only get worse at high levels. Check your LFS for Quick Cure. It's an all around medication that's worked very well for me in the past. Just don't put it in your display.

 

[luke33]

It should be the fishes choice, either a firing squad, lethal injection, or a hanging. Sorry : )

 

[illal]

just put him in the quarentine and leave him u never know

 

[clownchic]

May be worth trying

May be worth trying

I don't want to get flamed by anyone, but you may want to try this with your elegance. I read this somewhere and I did this with my own elegance after I'd had it about 3 weeks (it was showing some signs of puffing and shortened tentacles). I've had mine for 4 months now and it's looking really good.

Using some sort of rod or stick or tank tong - gently swirl the sand all the way around your coral (assuming it's on the sand, if not - I assume this won't apply) creating a fine "dust/sand storm". Go all the way around the coral once and then stop. The article said something about beneficial "critters" in the sand bed. Anyway, if you've tried everything else maybe this will work. I did it once a day for a week.

I am by no means an expert at all!!! It just seemed to work for me. I still keep my fingers crossed that my elegance will continue to thrive. Good luck!

 

[ahullsb]

Interesting ideas. I have been checking ph and have been changing water every few days. 15 gallon changes out of the 50 gallon container. The elegance still has me confused. It's going on a week now since it's been looking healthy. No one really seems to have any answers about it. I guess I'm going to give it a little more time before I make any decisions.