Flame angel on the brink of death

[Geebs19]

came home tonight and couldn’t find my flame. Looked and saw him in a cave with my blue leg hermit in him. Figured he was dead. Got him out and he was gasping. Put him back in the tank would swim for 10 seconds, stop, swim,stop. Got him out and put him in a bucket with tank water, heater and air stone. He isn’t moving much now. Nothing on him besides where the hermit was picking at him by his face. I idea what to do. Pretty sure I’m going to lose him.

Params
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0-.05
Nitrate 10
Ph 8.2
Phosphates .067
Salinity 1.025

#reef squad
@Brew12

 

[Geebs19]

 

[Brew12]

Poor guy. Such a beautiful fish. @HotRocks @4FordFamily

Unfortunately, my experience has been that when a fish is at this point, they are very challenging to save. Did you put this fish through any QT process? Any other fish in the system that may be showing symptoms?

 

[Geebs19]

He and 2 clowns went through prazipro and copper. They have been in the display for about 2 months. Clowns are doing fine. This guy just ate last night and saw him swimming this morning.

I figured at this point he is a goner.

 

[Brew12]

He and 2 clowns went through prazipro and copper. They have been in the display for about 2 months. Clowns are doing fine. This guy just ate last night and saw him swimming this morning.

I figured at this point he is a goner.

No swimming into the powerheads? Anything added to the tank a 7 to 14 days ago?

 

[Geebs19]

Power heads are pretty well protected and he doesn’t look beat up anywhere. Added a cleaner shrimp 2 days ago and that’s it. Shrimp is doing aweosme as well.

 

[Brew12]

Power heads are pretty well protected and he doesn’t look beat up anywhere. Added a cleaner shrimp 2 days ago and that’s it. Shrimp is doing aweosme as well.

And I'm guessing no signs of white stringy poo?

 

[Geebs19]

And I'm guessing no signs of white stringy poo?

Nope, had no indication this was coming. He was just starting to be out in the open more too, he used to be shy and stay in the rocks.

 

[4FordFamily]

Gee that’s frustrating. How long did you treat in copper? How was it measured?

Sometimes the flames just fail. They can be tough. Sorry for your loss

 

[Brew12]

At this point, the only guess I would have is an internal, gram negative bacterial infection. If he was mine, I would try adding Metroplex, Kanaplex and Furan 2 to the water while keeping it well aerated.

 

[Geebs19]

Gee that’s frustrating. How long did you treat in copper? How was it measured?

Sometimes the flames just fail. They can be tough. Sorry for your loss

I used cupramine with the seachem test kit. 21 days in cupramine.

 

[Geebs19]

At this point, the only guess I would have is an internal, gram negative bacterial infection. If he was mine, I would try adding Metroplex, Kanaplex and Furan 2 to the water while keeping it well aerated.

Need to get my arsenal loaded. Don’t have any of that sadly. Getting back into reefing. I would highly doubt any of that would work at this point.

 

[4FordFamily]

I used cupramine with the seachem test kit. 21 days in cupramine.

If not moved to a completely sterile quarantine afterward, that’s not enough time to be sure.

 

[Brew12]

Need to get my arsenal loaded. Don’t have any of that sadly. Getting back into reefing. I would highly doubt any of that would work at this point.

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you. I've seen some amazing recoveries but I doubt medications would help one way or another.

 

[DMG Reef]

I would be concerned about having a nitrite reading. Is your tank fully cycled? Might need to verify that reading since your clowns aren't affected yet.

 

[Brew12]

I would be concerned about having a nitrite reading. Is your tank fully cycled? Might need to verify that reading since your clowns aren't affected yet.

Nitrite isn't harmful to marine fish even at several hundred ppm. The 0 to 0.05ppm is not going to be a problem.

 

[jsker]

How long has the system been setup?

 

[HotRocks]

Sorry, I'm late to the party. Looks like you are pretty well covered.

My first question was going to be what @Brew12 already asked. I see white stringy poo most commonly in wrasse and dwarf angels.

The behaviors exhibited lead me to believe it's definitely something internal. How do you treat what you can't see? I hope the fish pulls through. At this point it's not promising.

 

[Geebs19]

Thanks all. Pretty sure he is done but my wife won’t let me touch him. She’s thinking it’s a miracle but I know he isn’t breathing anymore. He and my 2 clowns were the first into the tank. It was cycled.

I put .05 as nitrite bc I couldn’t tell if there was some pink or not, looked pretty clear to me. But that’s a low number and wasn’t concerned.

I agree I wanted to go longer in qt with copper but the larger clown was being a bully, never was in the DT.

I know dwarf angles can be touchy. Just money down the tube. It’s things like this that make you sit back and think is the hobby worth it, but yes, yes it is.

 

[Geebs19]

If not moved to a completely sterile quarantine afterward, that’s not enough time to be sure.

Would a full long copper treatment help with internal parasites?