My regal angel

Old thread here that I'm reviving but wanted to share an identical experience after doing a google search.

Same fish (Regal angel, Red Sea), same seller, same course of events. She seemed fine in the shipping bag and went right into my quarantine after appropriate acclimation. This is a full time QT with active biologic filtration and has undetectable NH4/NO2. I had done a 50% water change and adjusted specific gravity to 1.021 (same as shipping water) prior to arrival. NO3 was measured at 10 ppm. Temp is set at 75 degrees.

She looked good on arrival. But after two days she still would not eat anything, and I noticed some cloudiness on her fins. She was also swimming upside down and sideways much of the time, and tended to stay near the Aqueon filter at the top corner. At night she would sleep in a PVC pipe. I began cupramine treatment figuring she could have carried crypto or amyloodinium; I was told she had been at the seller's facility for two weeks, in copper, which would have her looking good but certainly not definitely free of parasite.

I slowly increased the cupramine dose per instructions, which she seemed to tolerate fine, and I never observed her flashing/scratching. But her swimming pattern worsened and last night she was on the bottom gasping/suffocating. I did everything I could to revive her - including dexamethasone and 'CPR' in front of a vortech for 30 minutes at the end - but to no avail, she passed :( She looked fairly clean at the time of death, so whatever it was must have damaged her gills to the point where gas exchange failed.

So I'm very sad this morning. She was an expensive fish - about $250 shipped with no guarantee other than live arrival - but it's certainly the emotional toll, not the money, that has me so upset. I'm a physician, so really in the dumps about not being able to save her. I think Regal Angels are among the most beautiful marine fish but not sure I will try another.
 
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...theres a local one here at a shop that runs methyl blue and copper on its water. Like some big QT store. The owner says theire healthy and i see they do look healthy and eat and ar active.
But im not sure how i feel about purchasing from such water. I would QT for sure regardless. He wants 75 for it...4-5 in big.

I can talk him down to 70 or 65....

Not ready for it.
 
In trying to create a pair and then a threesome I have purchased 6 Redsea Regals and have never lost a one. I acclimate, prazi pro dip for an hour and then FW dip for 10 to 20 minutes before going into QT that does not contain copper. One ate the same day while the longest to eat was 3 weeks. Two came from my LFS from Quality Marine, one came from the same LFS from another wholesaler, two from Petco, and one from NY Aquatics (a misbar juvy). I have lost two that where not Redsea and where juveniles, but the Redsea has been bullit proof. Not sure why there is an issue with some redsea regals from some vendors. Sorry you lost yours, please do not give up they are awesome fish. Which place did you get yours from?
 

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Kind of neat to see this thread had been revived back in November. Shortly after this thread died, I acquired a regal from an established system and she was with me until I got out of the hobby. An absolute stunner. I recently have gotten back in the hobby and I am hoping to find a nice specimen in a small size. I know first hand these fish are possible to keep.

The Regal Angel Primer is a good thread that I used to refer to back in the day, unfortunately it is way too large now and it kind of goes all over the place.
 
From your description and the look of the fish I would presume it had velvet/Amyloodinium.
The nasty thing with velvet is that it can adapt to copper so cupramine and other copper products may do little to nothing against it, especially if the copper is ramped up slowly. Even worse, copper is an immunosuppressant. As such it will only hasten the demise of the fish. I have stopped using this poison since the early 80s and never regretted it.

There are only two absolutely reliable treatments against velvet:
- Formalin dips with tank transfers
- Chloroquine Phosphate (NLS Ick-Shield Powder)

My SOP is to give every new fish a 45 to 50 minute formalin bath before it even goes into the QT. So far it worked to keep my tanks free from velvet and brook.

I currently have 3 regals:
Two perfect sized Philippine blue bellies (rescues from LFS) that are right at the transition from juvenile to adult and eat like pigs.
The third is a nearly 5 inch Red Sea regal (from DD) that so far only picks on my zoas. I'm still looking for a second Red Sea regal...
 
ThRoewer, what exactly is your formalin dip process? I've got two fish supposed to be delivered today from LA and have the formalin ready to go. Just wanted your input on it since you use it all the time.
 
1. drip acclimatization to QT water in a clear container/tank with a small fountain pump for circulation. I usually try to add 3 parts of QT water. In general I just use a 2 quart pet carrier container from Petco that I fill up to a 1 quart mark I added to it.
2. add formalin: 20 drops (1ml) per gallon. On a quart I usually add 5 to 6 drops.
3. 45 to 50 minutes after adding the formalin I transfer the fish without any water into the QT
 
1. drip acclimatization to QT water in a clear container/tank with a small fountain pump for circulation. I usually try to add 3 parts of QT water. In general I just use a 2 quart pet carrier container from Petco that I fill up to a 1 quart mark I added to it.
2. add formalin: 20 drops (1ml) per gallon. On a quart I usually add 5 to 6 drops.
3. 45 to 50 minutes after adding the formalin I transfer the fish without any water into the QT

Thank you sir :thumbsup:
 
These are the containers I use for acclimatization and formalin dips:
Petco Pet Keeper for Small Animals
They have a larger size that I use for bigger or multiple fish. And if that's still too small I use a 5 gallon tank.

With all of the above I usually use these pumps as they are cheap and adjustable:
PonicsPump PP04005: Submersible Pump, 40 GPH, 120 Volts AC, 5 Foot Cord (Compare to Jebao PP300LV)
With about $10 ea they are also perfect for TTM - I have a total of 5 so I don't need to sterilize during TTM.
 
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