Goldflake Angel Stressed Out On Arrival

[captainandy]

Greetings

Recently received a goldflake via delta dash. 5 cm collected from Solomons without cyanide. On arrival used an hour of drip method but fish didn't perk up. Breathing rapidly on it's side. I then placed him in a 20 gal hospital tank (water from my reef with near perfect parameters and a temp of 79. Airstone and nothing else. Maintaining constant temps. 1st 36 hours continued to breath rapidly, lie on side with occasional bursts of uncoordinated swimming. No external signs of injury, disease. Gills, eyes, fins all look good. Normal color. After 36 hours added a general parasite/fungus cure. I'm now 72 hours into it with no change except respiratory rate is a bit slower. Doing 50% water changes per day. SPG 1.024. Any experience out there with this kind of shipping scenerio?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[flameangel88]

Hi Andy,

I hope your GF pulled through. One time I'd a shippment where a Jawfish and a YSM didn't look good at all and were on their side most of the time and one burst of movement every now and then. The YSM jumped out of the tank over the weekend and the Jawfish was fine after a week but everything else that came in was fine. It may take a couple of days for the angel to recover and it may have gone through a stressful shipping route.

Good luck with the angel!

 

[captainandy]

Thanks for the good thoughts. We are coming up to day 5 since I received her/him and still on it's side in a corner. Just continuing with the water changes and I might try some live brine shrimp.

Andy

 

[flameangel88]

Also try soaking nori in Selcon and Vitachem to improve their health. Sounds like not out of the hole yet but getting to day 5 sounds much better.

 

[LargeAngels]

Put some PVC pipes/tubing/elbows that it can hide in.

 

[captainandy]

Interesting idea!!! I'll give it a shot.

 

[ReefBuilderNJ]

yes, it should have hidding places. if the fish is eating, you may have a shot. good luck

 

[LargeAngels]

Does your parasite medication kill skin flukes? Where did you get the fish from? I've gotten many Goldflakes that have skin flukes. Copper doesn't kill it and they are virtually impossible to see unless they start to cover the eyes. If it was in better shape I would recommend a FW dip to see, but in this case I think it would be too much stress. Prazipro is a very good medication for skin flukes.

Read everything "just Dave" writes. It may not be applicable, but it contains some good information.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=728190&perpage=&pagenumber=1

 

[zemuron114]

pretty sure goldflakes are a christmas island endemic (where no cyanide is used anyway..) But the way people keep finding fish im sure they have a wider range! They found chevrons over in christmas and marshalls!!

Where in Boston are you??

 

[flameangel88]

Andy, any update?

 

[captainandy]

I feel absolutely awful but the Gold Flake passed away yesterday. No external signs of parasites and fins a gills still looked healthy. I suspect that the fish sustained some sort of severe stress during transit from Hawaii. Delta Dash is 100% reliable so it will remain a mystery. Thanks for asking.

Andy

 

[flameangel88]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Was your goldflake scratching at all? Any spots on the side? I don't know about past years but seems like this year tangs I received have ich and angels have flukes. Its one after another and I've read a lot on this forum.