Emperor angelfish sick

mbmax · Jul 4, 2023

I have an 6 inch emperor for about 5 years , since he was a small juvenile.
He is in one of my systems that is FOWLR . Have not introduce any new fish for several months . I only transferred a powder blue that I had on my reef tank since he became very aggressive that was around 2 months ago. The powder blue looks fine .
The emperor is kind of pale , eating very little and hiding in the rock most of the time.
I can’t see any spots or injuries . He is being like that for 2 weeks now. Still fat but the way he is eating not for long.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 4, 2023

mbmax said:
I have an 6 inch emperor for about 5 years , since he was a small juvenile.
He is in one of my systems that is FOWLR . Have not introduce any new fish for several months . I only transferred a powder blue that I had on my reef tank since he became very aggressive that was around 2 months ago. The powder blue looks fine .
The emperor is kind of pale , eating very little and hiding in the rock most of the time.
I can’t see any spots or injuries . He is being like that for 2 weeks now. Still fat but the way he is eating not for long.

Video is a little short at 12 seconds. I see what may be a dot or two above eye on emperor but also the powder blue can be intimidating to other fish which may be the case However the emperor is displaying rapid breathing which can be elevated temperature or salinity, elevated nitrates, and even flukes.
Assure none of what was mentioned applies. If not , other may be early signs of velvet or flukes and take a look at left size what looks like possible dots or mucus cones.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 5, 2023

I see it is “skip breathing” - one gill moving fast and the other not. Emperors do that sometimes, but nobody knows why. The fish’s eye is also cloudy.
I think this fish may have flukes. Some fish handle flukes better than others - perhaps the powder blue is a carrier but is just handling it better?

The lack of feeding response is bothersome though - flukes don’t do that until the fish is near the end.

If your tank is a true FOWLR, you could run it through hyposalinity. Otherwise, you might try Prazipro, with good aeration, dosed twice, 8 days apart.

Jay

mbmax · Jul 5, 2023

Yes I notice now that one eye is cloudy.
I will try hiposality in the whole tank since it is only fish and live rock.
The powder blue still looks healthy . I have him for few years now, that is where my confusion comes from.
Thanks for your help , I will keep you posted.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 5, 2023

mbmax said:
Yes I notice now that one eye is cloudy.
I will try hiposality in the whole tank since it is only fish and live rock.
The powder blue still looks healthy . I have him for few years now, that is where my confusion comes from.
Thanks for your help , I will keep you posted.

I misunderstood - I thought you had moved the powder blue into the tank a few months ago, I missed the part where you had owned it and had it in another tank for longer. That reduces the chances that this is flukes.

Here is another hypothesis: the cloudy eye and the gill not working are both on the same side of the fish. Could it have run into a rock and damaged itself?

I'd hold off on the hyposalinity for now......

Jay

mbmax · Jul 15, 2023

Just to keep you updated on the emperor . I did not do anything for few days but I saw him getting worse and worse to the point that both eyes got cloudy and the fins became kind of pale not transparent.
I decided to take a chance and do hyposalinity .
Within few days days his eyes and body looked like it was peeling and a couple days later it looks much better and eating and barking every time I go by the tank like he did before.
Not sure if it was ich or flukes and looks like the powder blue is a “healthy carrier “. Since I have him for years in a different system.

This is a video of him today after a week in hypo.

Uncle99 · Jul 15, 2023

mbmax said:
Just to keep you updated on the emperor . I did not do anything for few days but I saw him getting worse and worse to the point that both eyes got cloudy and the fins became kind of pale not transparent.
I decided to take a chance and do hyposalinity .
Within few days days his eyes and body looked like it was peeling and a couple days later it looks much better and eating and barking every time I go by the tank like he did before.
Not sure if it was ich or flukes and looks like the powder blue is a “healthy carrier “. Since I have him for years in a different system.

This is a video of him today after a week in hypo.

What a great update!
Congrats on your successful treatment.