Flame Angel will not eat

[Ojos22]

I need some help here as I am an inexperienced reefer who has just gotten back into the hobby after having my tank down for 4-5 years. I bought a Flame Angel 3 days ago and have him in a QT tank and have been trying to feed him a couple of times a day and he has not eaten one bit as far as I can tell. He has been swimming around the tank like crazy all day long and looks completely healthy but will not eat for me.

I have not check my water since I bought the fish but check the parameters the day before and everything looked near zero (nitrite, nitrate, ammonia). PH 8.2 Tank is kept at 80.

My setup.

130 Gallon 6' X 18" X 23"
40 Gallon Custom sump
Kent Maringe Nautilus Protein Skimmer Mag 7
Two 300 Watt Heaters
Mag 12 Return pump
140 lbs of live rock


DT has been up and running now for 2 months.


QT is a 20 Gallon 2' X 12" X 16.5"
75 Watt Heater
And small filter rated at 30 gallons
QT tank is also at 80 degrees
Not sure if it is a bad more or good move but I just took 20 gallons from the main tank to fill up the QT tank and added copper to the QT tank and that is it.

I have tried to feed Mysis, frozen brine, pellets, and even tried live brine shrimp and nothing. After a few minutes of leaving the food in the tank and watching him swim by it over and over I just take the food back out except for the live brine which I left in the tank but nothing.

Not sure what other info is needed or if this is normal. The guys at the local fish store told me they can be tempermental for a few days.

Thank you.

 

[Andrew]

Flames are normally pigs but I would try and enrich his food with some garlic. If your lfs sells some RODS Food (fish crack) I would try that as well as I've never had a fish turn down that stuff. He's probably a little bit stressed still.

 

[prop-frags]

First of all, good job using the QT. That's a smart thing to do. Secondly, did you have a reason to add copper, or where you just using it as a preventative? Do you have a copper test kit? Copper is dangerous, and can definitely suppress appetite. When you're using copper, please ensure you are testing for and maintaining the correct levels. In the wild, these fish eat algae, so you can also try to give it some spirulina or maybe if you have some microalgae from a refugium...

 

[Lorenz725]

Give it a few more days before you worry to much. I had a flame and potters in QT took the flame 10 days to eat and the potters 4 weeks. I tired everything I guess sometimes it just takes time for them to get hungry enough to want to eat. Also try some nori it will give him something to pick on.

 

[albano]

my understanding is that angels do not do well with copper...unless there was a reason to use it, you should remove it!

 

[MrTuskfish]

^^^^^^TRUE!^^^^^
Flame Angels are one of the only fish that I would never treat with copper. Even a small amount (.15ppm, per LA). loss of appetite is the 1st sign of copper intolerance. Use some good carbon and WCs to remove copper ASAP.Copper is a great med, its also very toxic and exact measurement is vital. With FAs, that measurement should always be ''zero". Also, how was your QT cycled? Ammonia is a real problem if a QT doesn't have a mature bio-filter. You won't be able to use the most ammonia tests until the carbon is removed, but it should be done frequently in a QT.

 

[Ojos22]

Thank you for the responses. I tried some dried seaweed today and nothing. I bought some garlic solution from the lfs and will try enriching some mysis with it tomorrow.

As for the copper I add it as a preventative, didn't know that it would be a problem. The fish is still swimming around like crazy so maybe after starving for a few more days he will get hungry enough to eat.

I will take 50% of the water tomorrow and replace it with 50% of water without adding copper back. I took the carbon package out of the filter and it just has a sponge and a bio bag running with it. I figured the carbon would be just suck the copper out of the water.

Are there any other fish that should not be treated with copper? The lfs run copper in all of their fish only tanks and the flame angel seemed very happy and healthy there.

 

[prop-frags]

Rule of thumb: the more expensive the fish, the less tolerant of copper.
As stated most angel fishes are sensitive to copper and should not be treated with it. All scaleless fish must not be treated to copper (sharks, rays, eels), and puffers and box fish as well are not suited.

 

[MrTuskfish]

LFS run copper at a low level, much lower than a QT level for treating/preventing parasites; it will kill a few things, but not the parasites we worry about. What brand of copper are you using, what type of test kit, and what is the level of copper? Fish can go much longer than this without eating.
Just my opinion, and I'm a big fan of copper. If you haven't seen any signs of parasites, I'd remove the copper with good carbon or get the FA his own QT.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

When you use copper (many here use only Cupramine when treating with copper), you should wait until the fish is eating before adding the copper unless the fish is diseased. Also, copper will interfere with ammonia test kits so you have to be careful managing ammonia (best if your QT has a cycled biofilter) and use a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge as a monitor.

Do your 50% water change ASAP and then put your carbon in to remove the rest of the copper. Get the fish eating before you do anything else. It probably will take 3-4 days or more. Keep feeding a variety of foods, including mysis and live brine. Try both PE Mysis and Hikari mysis (some fish seem to like one but not the other based on size and probably odor). Try small bits of chopped shrimp and scallop from the grocery store. Rods was a good suggestion also. Try the foods with and without the garlic extract.

Also, monitor your QT closely for ammonia and manage it with water changes until your biofilter is established. Many keep a spare sponge and filter media for the HOP in our DT sump so we have a biofilter ready for the QT. You might need to put a piece of live rock in your QT once the copper is removed (say the end of today) to help seed your biofilter and do large water changes initially.