Flame Angel color fade

[bohlke]

My flame angel's color seems to be fading. The stripes are now not as distict. The fish is happy and eats well and has been in the tank since August, is there anything I can do to restore the color?

 

[Lev F.]

Try feeding it a wide variety of foods. Also, try angelfish foods containing sponge. Good Luck!

 

[sarahdae]

I do agree good food is a must. I started giving my fish a wider variety of foods (zooplankton, formula 1 pellets, etc...) and the fish look better. I had a maroon clown with brooklynella (clownfish disease) and couldn't catch the dang thing...so I gave up, and just started feeding him better foods, and bam he cured right up, after suffering for months. The formula 1 sure seemed to help him but I agree, do a search on best foods for angelfish/flame angels, that should give you some ideas.
I have a flame angel myself, but it's pretty new...so I'm still experimenting w/different foods. I may look into the angelfish food containing sponges...sounds like it would brighten their color. Good luck!

 

[bohlke]

Currently I feed them emerald entree and marie cusine from http://www.sfbb.com/frozen.asp# so I should add a supplement for the angel as well?

 

[Angel*Fish]

You might try some of their other foods, too like omega enriched & sprirulina enriched brine as well as the angel diet - If it were me I'd obtain some frozen cyclopeeze . Flames are also known to eat feather caulerpa in the wild, FWIW

I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to greens.. but I would use something other than the Emerald Entree as it has more spinach & lettuce than seaweed

Actaully what you describe in your post"The stripes are now not as distict. " can simply be the natural progress of a male flame reaching maturity -- it's hard to give info without a color accurate photo

PS Not sure, but the SFB Red Calanus Plankton sounds pretty good if you don't get Cyclopeeze in your area

 

[steve the plumb]

I use the ocean nutrician brand my flame loves it.

 

[bohlke]

I have a before pic and I can get an after one. I just bough more emerald entree, I guess I will look for something better

 

[tanker]

My flame is almost 3 years old and have not lost any color. I feed it nori, formula 1 & 2, mysis shrimp, prime reef and krill.

IMO he is still very colorful!!

 

[bohlke]

Ok so I dont have a good after pic right now, Ill get one later. Here is the fish back in August. It had been in the tank for a week or two.

Now there is no more blue on the fins, its all black. The head is more of a dull orange and the verticle stripes are fading except for the one closest to the head. I will try to get a better pic but its hard as the flame really doesnt like to be photographed.

 

[bohlke]

Here is the fish now, the picture is terrible but its the best I can get right now. You can see that the verticle stripes are almost gone.

 

[JENnKerry]

Feed it everything tanker said plus Angel Formula.

 

[Angel*Fish]

The reason i suggested those enriched brine cubes was because somehow I had the idea you were restricted to that brand - I reread your post & don't know where I got that idea...
Anyway, as mentioned, the foods tanker recommended are good - Though i still say find some cyclopeeze...If your tank is really clean as in "sterile" you might consider allowing some diatom growth on the rocks

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

Get him some more veggies (Nori, Formula 2), IMO...

 

[Hvy_Dty]

I agree with everyone else as to feeding a variety of foods. I also soak frozen foods like mysis, brine shrimp, bloodworms, etc in Kent garlic, zoe and zoecon to enhance color and keep the fish healthy. All of my fish, including my flame are very colorful. I've never seen a flame angel discolor like your picture show. The only other thing I could think may be an issue is the quality of your water. Are you keeping up with frequent water changes?

Good luck!
Jeff

 

[bohlke]

The discoloration might be exaggerated by the state of the glass on the tank. I need to do a water change this weekend and the glass is a little coated. So I read the ingredients on the emerald entree and its not at all what I expected. I went to a different LFS and picked up formula 1 and formula 2 and prime reef. I am going to start feeding 3 times a day instead of two and alternating those 3 with the mysis shrimp.

Also this LFS asked if there were any cloudy spots on the fish and there is kind of a white coating on the head of the fish. They said this is most likely an infection and suggested a treatment of erythromycin. I only have live rock and 9 fish in the tank so I am assuming that the ammonia spikes that may show up with an erythromycin treatment would not be as bad?

I am going to pick up a new test kit (i havent had to test the water in a while) and some more treatment before I start this process. The water quality in the tank has been real good for quite some time.

 

[Angel*Fish]

When I have fed my fish antibiotics, I've never had an ammonia spike -- just try & make sure that only the sick fish gets the anitbiotic food & siphon up any of it that's uneaten

FWIW IME if a fish needs antibiotics, they work very well & rather quickly

It might be a good idea to post in the fish disease treatment forum.. Hope your fish gets better soon

 

[brian3]

Fish could have been cyanide caught. They just seem to waste away since many times they can't get nutrition no matter how much they eat as their digestive system can get damaged.

 

[bohlke]

Thanks Hvy_Dty - I stopped testing my water weekly a while back as I had it under control and it had become boring. I found that not only did I have a powerhead fail (and lots of gunk in it) but my nitrates were through the roof. To be sure I didnt have a problem with my water system I tested my tap and everything looked great (nitrate close to 0). I did a 25% water change and then added the treatment. Current water conditions are:

Salinity 1.22
Nitrate close to 160ppm (mg/l)
Nitrite < .5 ppm (mg/l)
Alkalinity ppm >180 < 300
ph 7.8
temp 78

I am going to do another water change after the second treatment and then one more before I am done. I am amazed that the Nitrate got so high and the fish survived, I feel lucky so far.

 

[The steven liu]

I agree variety of food source can provide vivid color. Try both dry and frozen food. Another possibility is your angel is actually a hybrid angel of flame and something else. Hybrids could change color abit as they mature..... I am just guessing, don't quote me.

 

[Hvy_Dty]

I'm glad I could help. I would suggest you keep doing water changes frequently until you get your params back under control. Good, clean water does make a huge difference in the health and appearance of your fish. I would also suggest soaking frozen food in zoe and/or zoecon. Keep an eye on him and make sure his symptoms don't get worse. I don't think he'll get his colors back overnight, but you should see improvements in the next few weeks. Good luck!