Help with goldflake angel

You should have seen abnormal swimming pattern when you bought it if it was a decompression issue.
If it only started relatively recently you can scratch decompression off the list.

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Still not eating. Spits pellet or any food out immediately I may have to force feed with syringe so he can get some nutrition and meds.
 
A syringe just in the mouth doesn't work. The food will just come out of the gills.
You would need to use a tube to get the food into the fish's stomach. And that is pretty tricky business.

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I wont even try the tube to the stomach....too many potential bad outcomes. While I understand that allot of the food will some out gills I will try to see if at least he swallows some of it and also will be trying to get some meds in there. He’s going to pass otherwise so might as well give it a try....thx. This is so disheartening and certainly demotivating part of the hobby....
 
I went through that with a Red Sea Regal Angel from Diver's Den. Despite never taking a bite it lasted 7 weeks. I decided to try force feeding but it took over 2 weeks to get everything I needed: syringes, small enough catheter tubing, liquid high energy food, anesthetics for fish, a couple of goldfish for practice,...
In the end it was all for nothing and the fish passed away. Quite likely my lack of fish intubation skills accelerated its demise. I might have better just given it an overdose of the anesthetics to end its suffering.

But as long as your fish is still looking for food or reacting to feedings not all hope is lost.

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Sorry about the loss of your regal. I have heard they are often tough to get eating and have never tried one myself. This GF is also from divers den. He was eating fine when I first got him. He stopped after being in DT with all the other tangs and angels and going thru about 3 weeks of copper. So we know he will eat in captivity. Now he is on his 2nd dose of GC. In 48 hours I’m suppose to do a 25% water change and then see. I’m just afraid he may starve before that....Fingers crossed as he is still very active...surfing and at least does show interest in eating until he spits it out or moves away at last minute when approaching the food. I did order some live food that s/b coming soon......thx for all your suggestions. We are certainly giving it all we got!
 
Sorry about the loss of your regal. I have heard they are often tough to get eating and have never tried one myself. This GF is also from divers den. He was eating fine when I first got him. He stopped after being in DT with all the other tangs and angels and going thru about 3 weeks of copper. So we know he will eat in captivity. Now he is on his 2nd dose of GC. In 48 hours I'm suppose to do a 25% water change and then see. I'm just afraid he may starve before that....Fingers crossed as he is still very active...surfing and at least does show interest in eating until he spits it out or moves away at last minute when approaching the food. I did order some live food that s/b coming soon......thx for all your suggestions. We are certainly giving it all we got!

Did you contact them right away when he started the glass-surfing while in QT?

Also, did you try live foods?
 
He was eating well and was very active so by time i contacted them it was after the 14 days.....no live foods yet...
 
I’ve has mixed results with divers den livestock. They’ve always stood behind their guarantee if something does manifest itself w/in the 14 days. When i received the GF I actually sent them a note raving about how well he looked and that he ate right away. Sometimes whatever might be the issue takes time to manifest. 2 things now appear possible ....he has bad case of internal parasites causing him real problems and/or the copper poisoned him and having trouble getting it out of his system....either way he’s being treated for both with a combo of GC/metro in the water colum and if he ever starts eating will add fbenazole to food.....still hasn’t eaten and cant find any live food anywhere. Mail order not till next wk.
 
Where was this fish collected?
The eating well at first and then stopping within a few weeks can be parasites but it can also be liver damage due to cyanide fishing, something that is unfortunately still going on in Indonesia.

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While I did ask that question days ago to confirm and have yet to get an answer, pretty sure it was Christmas Island. Live Aquaria Divers Den is not enamoring themselves in this case as I have had unanswered questions for days while I try to save the GF....no sense of urgency and little caring....
 
I did ask the question on where collected to verify but no answer and its been 4-5 days. However the GF is only known to be indigenous to Christmas Island off Australia. Good news is that he did eat American reef HPD tonight. Its a start!
 
I did ask the question on where collected to verify but no answer and its been 4-5 days. However the GF is only known to be indigenous to Christmas Island off Australia. Good news is that he did eat American reef HPD tonight. Its a start!

How is the fish doing now?

According to what I could find the Goldflake Angel is primarily found in the South Pacific Ocean: the Gilbert Islands to the Line Islands. Reported from Kapingamarangi Atoll (eastern Caroline Islands), Nauru, Canton (Phoenix Islands), Howland, Baker, and Fanning (Line Islands) Atolls.
Christmas Island is the westernmost point it is found, not the only place it occurs.
 
I did get a response from them finally and it was collected around Christmas Island in early January. It spent 2 weeks in California facility and then 3 weeks in Wisconsin facility. They do not know if it was part of a pair although they did say that if they noticed that they would have tried to collect both and keep them together. Then they said try Epson salt with GC treatment. Current status is that he is eating live shrimp ( i feed the shrimp selcon for 24 hours before feeding her as i know brime has very little nutritional value) and occasionally HPD..Won’t eat anything else he used to eat like mysis, sponge, pellets or even flake occasionally. I wouldn’t classify it as robust But she is eating Haven’t seen any feces yet so can’t say whether the parasites are getting better.
 
Just observed and he’s still surfing. I’m thinking of putting in a clownfish in there to calm him down and give some companionship and model robust eating....
 
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Put in a lightning maroon clownfish. They're getting along but still no improvement in glass surfing for gf. Still as bad as ever in that department. Cant figure it out.....
 
Still surfing this morning...if anything a bit worse especially his going backwards part. His feces is still long skinny and white/clear...ugh...
 
Still has internal parasites more than likely (didn’t read the thread entirely to see if you have treated with something other than copper) Copper is notoriously harsh on angels and I would go another treatment route if I were you.
 
Currently treating with general cure for parasites...not working and since he’s not eating anything that allows me to use f‘bendazole and metro kind of stuck........copper was for suspected velvet...
 
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