Help me succeed with regal angel

lagatbezan · Mar 27, 2018

Hey, I have a regal in qt right now as well and just finished my second GC treatment and on day 12 of CP. The fish was scratching a lot initially but has now subsided. but mine does yawn periodically. I'm curious if yours does this as well? FW dip before the second GC showed nothing for me.

GoldeneyeRet · Mar 27, 2018

I will dip him again. He was dipped a couple days ago with no signs of flukes but you're probably right to recommend verifying that.

While the FW doesn't seem to bother him, the handling does. Since I will be moving him anyway should I administer something like mb or arcriflavin bath?

GoldeneyeRet · Mar 27, 2018

lagatbezan said:
Hey, I have a regal in qt right now as well and just finished my second GC treatment and on day 12 of CP. The fish was scratching a lot initially but has now subsided. but mine does yawn periodically. I'm curious if yours does this as well? FW dip before the second GC showed nothing for me.

Mine does not yawn. He was very shaky and twitchy initially but not anymore. Just the slight scratching yesterday. Good luck with yours, they certainly are beautiful!

Humblefish · Mar 27, 2018

GoldeneyeRet said:
While the FW doesn't seem to bother him, the handling does. Since I will be moving him anyway should I administer something like mb or arcriflavin bath?

A 90 min acriflavine bath might not be a bad idea post FW dip: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acriflavine.282887/

Just in case he has a lingering infection or wound bothering him.

GoldeneyeRet · Mar 27, 2018

He is in acriflavine right now.

I looked at him through a magnifying glass the entire time in fw dip and I am fairly certain there were no flukes.

That's why I went with the bath, figuring a gill irritation caused him to scratch yesterday. No scratching observed today. He also ate better than he has. Took a bite of frozen out of the water column and ate everything I could pack into a clamshell. Still won't look at a blackworm.

I grow ever more attatched and optimistic !

roberthu526 · Mar 27, 2018

I have four Regal in Hypo salinity right now. All four seem to be doing fine. They are from liveaquaria and arrived in clean condition. They all started eating on day one and today is the 5th day and they are competing for Hikari mysis in the water column. I have had success with Hypo so it is my go to method when I receive new fish.

GoldeneyeRet · Mar 27, 2018

Roberthu526

That's awesome! I've got my hands full with one, let alone 4. Mine is from LA as well, medium juvi. It was eating on day 2, just not as eagerly as I would like.

I have contemplated adding a dither fish, but as long as his eating continues to improve I'll leave him alone. I wonder if having 4 has helped them eat?

Anyway, so glad all 4 of yours are doing well, best of luck with them

GoldeneyeRet · Apr 4, 2018

Sadly, my regal is on the way out.

He developed a probable bacterial infection yesterday. Ragged fins first then an hour later red spots appeared. Moved him out of CP and into antibiotics immediately upon noticing the fins.

Today he is struggling, he won't make it to this evening.

So sad.

lagatbezan · Apr 4, 2018

Oh no, I'm sorry. hope it pulls through!

Humblefish · Apr 4, 2018

Which antibiotics are you using?

You can also administer an acriflavine bath for immediate relief: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acriflavine.282887/

GoldeneyeRet · Apr 4, 2018

Thanks for all the help.

He is in kanaplex, furan 2 metro. Had an acriflavine bath yesterday.

Red spots have become huge, covering most of the body. He is listless and unresponsive. There is no hope of a recovery now I'm sure.

Yesterday morning he was eating everything I fed and was acting perfectly and looked perfect. Not a mark on him. 24 hours later....

The only thing i can see I might have done differently is to treat with antibiotics after the flukes. I looked closely for infection but saw none. I hate to use ab prophylactically, but knowing regals are prone to infection perhaps I should have.

Sad as it is, I will continue to work on my skills, learn from my failures and my next regal will thrive.

Thanks all and happy reefkeeping!

Humblefish · Apr 4, 2018

Large angels & butterflies are prone to "red sore" infections. Assuming it's not uronema (which CP should have cleared), this ABX concoction is a pretty effective treatment: http://store.nationalfishpharm.com/NFP-products-Nitrofuracin-Green-59584.Item.html

Also with regards to uronema, an infected specimen should be fed food soaked with metronidazole because the disease can spread internally.

If you do lose him, I would take a skin scrape of the affected area to be sure it wasn't uronema: