Input for new regal angel arrival

ScooterV · Nov 6, 2018

I had a maldives regal angel (about 4" rough guess) delivered earlier today from DD. The gills appear really red and noticed it right away as soon as I started getting the layers of bags removed. It is now swimming around, but frequently laying on its side and every now and then almost upside down. Salinity was an exact match. It's not gasping at all, just appears weak and the apparent ammonia burn.

I added a teaspoon of MB for the burn and doubled the number of airstones from 2 to 4 in the little 10 gallon and cranked them up. Any ideas or thoughts on what else I can/should do other than keep fingers crossed? It's only been about 30 minutes. I'm also not sure if I should turn off the room lights as I usually do to let it settle, or keep them on to keep it moving around.

HotRocks · Nov 6, 2018

When you say laying on it's side, is it just swimming sideways? Or laying on the bottom of the tank.

Yellow fish can appear to have ammonia burn just because the natural redness of the gills shows through the yellow Gill plate.

These fish are very timid upon arrival. It's common for them to swim sideways etc. So long as they aren't laying on the bottom.

I would dim the lights and give the fish some stress free time.

ScooterV · Nov 6, 2018

It would do what I call laying on the bottom every now and then, but mostly it's swimming around and just doesn't appear to want to be vertical

Room lights are out now. I'll just peek quietly as often as I can. Thanks @HotRocks !!

ScooterV · Nov 6, 2018

LOL, it's already looking better. I guess costing so much had me on the edge of panic. To make it worse, the last regal I got appeared fine and is the one I broke my own rules on, it went into the DT early, and I ended up with insta-velvet

Lost not only the regal but all but a few others were also lost. A bit on edge this morning

ScooterV · Nov 6, 2018

Thanks again @HotRocks the regal is looking ok, other than me sneaking in the dark to look, lol. Makes me nervous, but Humblefish is back and I can pester him as well

I'll be MORE than happy once I get this fish though QT and return to adding tangs who may be buttheads but not so fragile

HotRocks · Nov 6, 2018

ScooterV said:
Thanks again @HotRocks the regal is looking ok, other than me sneaking in the dark to look, lol. Makes me nervous, but Humblefish is back and I can pester him as well I'll be MORE than happy once I get this fish though QT and return to adding tangs who may be buttheads but not so fragile

Good deal. They are definitely a tough fish to get through QT!!! I wish you the very best of luck and hope we can see some pics of it in your DT soon!

Mine is not at all a weakling. It gets right in there with my 8 tangs at feeding time! Such a beautiful fish.

ScooterV · Nov 6, 2018

HotRocks said:
Good deal. They are definitely a tough fish to get through QT!!! I wish you the very best of luck and hope we can see some pics of it in your DT soon!

Mine is not at all a weakling. It gets right in there with my 8 tangs at feeding time! Such a beautiful fish.

If it eats, I think I'll be ok and I'm stocked up on every food I can think of other than live black worms and I think I can get those not too far away. Outside of a regal, I'll be sticking with hardier fish, and moving the LAST regal to the DT early was a catastrophe. It was much larger though. It was also LA and not DD. Looked ok, then I lost most of my fish. I can usually recognize velvet, but never got hit with it in my DT before

I'm lucky my wife was ok with regal angel round two, lol.

But, help from you, Humbleshish, and 4FordFamily is priceless. I'll for SURE get a video once it makes it to the DT!!! Or, maybe Humblefish can swing by for a beer and just confirm it's still ok, lol.

HotRocks · Nov 6, 2018

ScooterV said:
If it eats, I think I'll be ok and I'm stocked up on every food I can think of other than live black worms and I think I can get those not too far away. Outside of a regal, I'll be sticking with hardier fish, and moving the LAST regal to the DT early was a catastrophe. It was much larger though. It was also LA and not DD. Looked ok, then I lost most of my fish. I can usually recognize velvet, but never got hit with it in my DT before I'm lucky my wife was ok with regal angel round two, lol.

But, help from you, Humbleshish, and 4FordFamily is priceless. I'll for SURE get a video once it makes it to the DT!!! Or, maybe Humblefish can swing by for a beer and just confirm it's still ok, lol.

I will be patiently waiting!

ScooterV · Nov 9, 2018

Well, it's still struggling

It did look better for a bit, but it went back to swimming sideways, then upside down but most of the time just wedged under PVC. I was surprised, but it actually picked at some frozen food last night. This morning though we thought it was dead but it turned out it was still breathing. No visual signs of anything. I did a FW dip and found no flukes and then moved it to a fresh 29g. It still spends a lot of time wedged in the corner, but is now doing a lap, upright, around the tank every now and then.

Since I found no flukes, but it seems the FW did some good, is it a reasonable assumption to assume velvet is likely? I have since gone overboard for aeration and it seems maybe even a little more active. I have six air stones, and AQ70, and some cheap little power head from long ago all going and the surface is roiling like a witches caldron.

Observe and hope it keeps improving, start CP now, other options? Is irritating it keeps returning to looking dead, yet otherwise nothing obvious about the issue other than oxygen seems to be playing a direct role right now.

ScooterV · Nov 9, 2018

Well, the temporary increase in activity didn't last long

Back laying partly curled on its side on the bottom

Still breathing.

thaveteran · Nov 9, 2018

I would slow down on all the treatments. Regals in small spaces tend to lay sideways and swim upside down which is common for them. I'd focus on getting it eating well. All the qt treatments can sometimes do more harm then good. My red sea angel swam sideways and hid most of the time in quarantine. I got it eating well and when I thought it was ready I added it to the DT. No more sideways swimming once it got open space.

ScooterV · Nov 9, 2018

I'll sit tight. At least in the 29 it has a little more room

It still looks dead, on its side in the middle of the tank, then I look again and see it swimming. The last regal was always up and about, so maybe I shouldn't compare. The only issue with the last one was thinking it was good, cut QT short, and turned out it had velvet

In the meantime, my wife is watching like a hawk and telling me each time it gets up and swims, and when it lays down and nothing but gills moving.

HotRocks · Nov 9, 2018

They are strange nervous fish in QT. However I do suspect some sort of parasite affliction like velvet.

They do swim sideways etc. Laying down on the bottom of the tank is not normal. Something is going on.

They are also very oxygen sensitive.

ScooterV · Nov 9, 2018

Yeah, and I HOPE it pulls through, but it literally looks dead if not for seeing the gills move right now

If it would at least go back to doing a lap now and then I'd feel better. No flukes though, and it DID seem to be better for a bit after the FW dip, it just didn't last long.

But, my wife keeps saying "It's a survivor, it gets up and fights! Remember the foxface you thought was dead and is ok now?". She's referring to when velvet hit and I thought there was ZERO chance it would survive. Besides velvet it was all scratched up on both sides. I kept @Humblefish busy for a good day while I moved everything through a FW dip, formalin, then into copper but I managed to obtain CP and shifted to that later. My wife is more optimistic than me, it doesn't look good

Just beyond me what to do. I don't want to stress it more and nothing obvious visually.

ScooterV · Nov 9, 2018

It finally did one little lap, then went to the bottom and slowly rolled onto its side again. But, it was closer to the glass. WITH a magnifying glass I can see spots on each pectoral fin. Mostly on the leading edge, but a couple here and there. I'd get a pic, but I have no macro lens and I can't see the spots with my bare eyes either. It also didn't give me long and it moved back into the PVC elbow. I'm thinking start the CP and hope it makes it long enough for it to even help?

I do have ruby reef rally on hand if that would do more help compared to the extra stress of another dip.

I know it's stressed, and I am too!!

ScooterV · Nov 9, 2018

It moved to the corner and on its tail so I managed a close up video in case someone sees something I'm missing. I also don't see what I thought I did earlier with the magnifying glass, so not sure if maybe it was just microbubbles or my bad eyes just aren't seeing it now.