Regal Angel has popcorn, need advice.

[McCrary]

I have a regal angel with popcorn. He's in a 110 reef tank and still eating, but the popcorn is spreading. It started as a small dot on one of his dorsal fins. QT seems like a long shot because I am not going to be able to maintain the same standards of water quality as I have in my reef tanks. Is there anything to be done or is this a hope and wait kind of thing?

 

[Rondelet]

By "popcorn" I suspect you mean lymphocystis. Can you post a picture? Lymphocystis is caused by an iridovirus and indicates that your fish is stressed for some reason, or is a carry over from being captured and moved into your system. Because it's caused by a virus there are no treatment options. Best thing to do is to work on improving your water quality and improve nutrition.

How long has it been in your system?
What are your water parameters?
What are you feeding it?
How is your tank set up (and how long), and what other fish are in it?

Answering these questions may help to identify and reduce sources of stress.

If I were you I wouldn't move it to a Q tank - this will only stress it more. Normally Lymphocystis is not pathogenic, but is unsightly. Many Regals have it, or it shows up when first introduced to display tanks. With good husbandry and nutrition it should resolve over time, but may take a while.

Regal Angels are tough fish to keep and can be very unforgiving if you don't provide the right environment and husbandry. Having said that, there is a lot of information on what works and what doesn't that may help to guide you. It's all contained in the Regal Angel thread. It's a long read but worth it.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=389107

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=758598

Hope this helps.

 

[McCrary]

Thank you Rondelet, I will try to post a picture of the fish. I don't have a digital camera so I will try to borrow a friends. The tank has been set up for over a year now. The water parameters are ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, pH 8.3. I am feeding him mysis, brine, chopped krill and chopped squid. He eats, but not as greedily as past angels I have had, this may be due to the fact that he has only been in the system for two months now. The only other fish in the tank is a PBT. The Regal had a small spot that was barely noticeable when he went into the system and I have been waiting for it to go away, but with no results. I am beginning to worry because it has spread considerably, although he isn't acting as if it affects him. Thank you for the link to the regal thread. What could I do to improve his nutrition? Should I be worried that it will spread to my PBT? Any information would be helpful.

 

[danorth]

Get that fish some butter and a movie!!!

All kidding aside, make sure the food it receives is high quality especially if every bite and feeding counts. Any fish in the tank that could be antagonizing it?

 

[McCrary]

The only other fish is the PBT and he has been a perfect resident. Is there any higher quality food that he should be eating? I try to provide variety, but any advice on a more nutritious food would be appreciated.

 

[danorth]

I would try some Spectrum pellets, flakes with plenty of veggies, cubes with high amounts of sponge...that is what I would start with at least.

 

[McCrary]

The spectrum pellets I have will end up just sinking to the bottom because the PBT takes a minute or so to realize there is food in the tank. Formula 2/ Angel (the ones with sponge) cubes just seem to mess the water and not get eaten. When the tank was more stocked the cubes were gone in seconds, but now the cubes just kind of make a mess. I don't feed flakes because I don't think they compare to frozen foods. I soak the frozen food in garlic and I was thinking of adding selcon, so we will see.

 

[Psionicdragon]

What I noticed today was pretty interesting...my cleaner wrasse ate the popcorn off my clown tang...

I don't suggest buying a cleaner wrasse, but it was just an interesting observation.

 

[Rondelet]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7261328#post7261328 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TurboSnail8898
What could I do to improve his nutrition? Should I be worried that it will spread to my PBT? Any information would be helpful.

TurboSnail,

I'm not sure how important it is, but is your Regal a Red Sea or Indo-Pacific Regal? There seems to be some indication that veggie material is an important component to Regal Angel diet, especially where Indo-Pacific's are concerned. Also, is there any aggression between the two fish? If so which way is it directed? Lymphocystis can be transmitted vertically in the water, although I suspect the risk to your Tang is minimal (if it doesn't already have it). Even if the white bumps go away, your fish will still be carrier. At this point I wouldn't worry about your Tang getting it. Rather, I would focus on ensuring that stress is kept to minimum for both fish. This would include stress from nutritional deficiencies and other sources (such as water quality and aggression, etc).

Looking at the list of foods you are using, I would be inclined to say that you need to expand the variety quite a bit. If I were you I would play around with options to entice it to eat some veggies regardless of the origin of the fish. But first, if you are feeding a lot of mysis and brine shrimp, you need to supplement both with vitamins and, if available, fish oil via Selcon, or other source of marine-based omega-3 fatty acids. In general, the nutritional profile of mysis is not great and for brine shrimp almost non-existent. I find frozen ON Formula II is very good, and my fish loves it. The trick I found was to chop it into small pieces and feed it before it thaws. Mine eats it this way and there is minimal mess. If this won't work for you, I would try the flake version of Formula II. I would also consider Angel Formula, again feeding it while still frozen to minimise the mess. It's possible that your fish simply needs some sponge in his diet, hard to say though. Given the information about the diet of Regal Angels in the wild, it's worth trying - even if just once a week.

Other things to try include Seaweed Selects and some macro algae (such as Caulerpa). With Seaweed Selects it may take a while for your fish to figure it out. After 8 months, mine is still pretty clueless even though my Hippo Tang and Yellowtail Angel rip it to shreds while Regal Angel watches. Nonetheless, its worth a try (just be persistent and patient). My Regal eats Caulerpa like it was his last meal, so I propagate it in another take just for him! Lastly, try a fresh mussel on the half shell to further mix things up. Your ultimate goal is to 1) get some greens into him; and 2) mix things up as much a possible. Variety is the key to ensuring your fish gets whatever micro or essential nutrients he may be lacking.

You should also check out leebca's thread on fish nutrition, which has some good info.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785228

Hope this helps.

 

[McCrary]

Again, thank you Rondelet. You are very knowledgeable. There is no aggression between the two fish, at least none that I have seen. Selcon has been a consideration and it seems like a good source of nutrients. Brine that is fed is supplemented with Omega-3's. The chopped formula 2 is a neat trick and I will try it with marine cuisine and angel formula as well. Caulerpa will be added to the tank as well. Should a sponge be placed in to help him along? I could get a orange branching sponge easily enough. Although I wouldn't want to add it and not have it eaten. Lastly, thank you for the thread to explore a little deeper into their dietary requirements, I am sure it will make for some informative reading.

 

[McCrary]

Psionicdragon, thank you for your post. My cleaner shrimp seem to keep busy, but as of yet they don't seem to be helping with the popcorn. What kind of wrasse do you have ?

 

[Rondelet]

TurboSnail.

Glad I could help.

Getting a sponge is an interesting idea - but expect it to be a very expense meal. Kinda like feeding your fish filet mignon, when a cheaper cut of steak would do. I did this a while back and my Regal Angel reduced a red ball sponge, which was the size of a grapefruit, by at least 1/2 in three months. However, I also found that keeping sponges is probably more difficult than keeping Regal Angels. I had a problem with a filter unit, which caused a small water quality problem. My fish didn't blink an eye, but in hindsight, I should have realised what was going on a lot sooner from the white patches that started to show up on the sponge (indicating it was dying). Once I did realised what was going on I moved the sponge to my Q tank, which I currently use for culturing Caulerpa, and it appears to have started to recover (I also addressed the issue in main tank). So the reduction in size was in part due to the Regal, but also due to water quality issues. So, even if your Regal doesn't go for it you will have your work cut out for you due to the difficulty keeping many of the colourful sponges species you see in shops.

On the cleaner-shrimp/wrasse comments.... Keep in mind that the bumps you see are tissue reactions to virus particles. Removing these, if the cleaners will do so, will potentially leave an open wound and will not address the issue. The virus is distributed throughout the tissues of the host and the white bumps will just keep coming back. You really need to address the root problem - reducing stress and improving nutrition. So I don't see these (cleaner shrimp/wrasse) as short or long term solutions.

 

[McCrary]

Rondelet, I will be adding more variety to the regals diet and hopefully I will see some improvement. Your comments have been very helpful.