Regal Angel - Flukes(GC or Eating first)

[UncleSalty]

Hello!

I have a beautiful Regal Angel. He was eating at the store, and he was Prazi dipped before heading my way. He's in a QT right now and refusing to eat (went in QT on Friday). I can see he's got some white spots on his side that are likely still some flukes, maybe dead leaving the body, or not. His poop was white and stringy. I figure I have two options here.....

1. I can go ahead and dose GC and hope that it re-ignites his passion for eating.

2. Wait til I get him stable and eating again, and then dose GC.

He is quite fat, so I don't think he's starving and "maybe" he ate one or two shrimps, but I don't think so. I have a camera positioned on the QT tank so I normally leave him alone and spy on him So would you go with option 1 or 2?

#reefsquad

 

[alton]

Mine go through a freshwater dip for flukes and then Prazi bath. I added two on Friday and today are just looking at food, but not really eating with gusto. The do however have 60 lbs of live rock to pick on while they are transforming into aquarium life. Good luck with yours. If you think yours has flukes they will need a FW dip. Mel has a great video on here on doing just that.

 

[Big G]

Congrats on the beautiful fish. As mentioned above ^^^ a freshwater dip will help a bit for those pesky surface flukes. Then the first dose of General Cure. Wait 5-7 days, do a 25% water change and then do the second dose. Wait 5-7 days, do a 25% water change. Then observe. We've seen some prazi resistant flukes lately. Arggh.

Have you ever tried "Masstick" to help with picky eaters. Mix the Masstick product with food + a vitamin like Zoecon (it's specially formulated for angels) + Beta Glucan (a real boost to the fish's immune system - highly recommend. Below is a link about BG).

Feature Article: Beta Glucan As A Biological Defense Modulator: Helping Fish To Help Themselves

Wouldn’t it be great if there were one thing that we could give any sick fish that could help it? Aquarists dream of a “magic bullet” that could be used as a treatment for a plethora of problems.

www.advancedaquarist.com

 

[Maxx]

IME, Regal Angels take right about a year to eat with gusto in captivity.
Dither fish that are non aggressive, but are not finicky eaters are VERY helpful in "teaching" Regals to eat.
Regals dont seem to recognize food in captivity for what it is. Other fish will show them.

Once acclimated, they are fairly easy to keep.
If you're sure you have flukes, treat the flukes while adding some sort of non aggressive but healthy eater type of fish to the QT.

 

[UncleSalty]

IME, Regal Angels take right about a year to eat with gusto in captivity.
Dither fish that are non aggressive, but are not finicky eaters are VERY helpful in "teaching" Regals to eat.
Regals dont seem to recognize food in captivity for what it is. Other fish will show them.

Once acclimated, they are fairly easy to keep.
If you're sure you have flukes, treat the flukes while adding some sort of non aggressive but healthy eater type of fish to the QT.

I am running two simultaneous QT tanks - one has 3 bimaculatus anthias, and the other just the Regal. There are two female and one male bimaculatus, - should I move one of the females?

 

[Maxx]

IMO, no.
Anthias are fast swimmers and dash about. when you're trying to get a shy fish like a Regal acclimated, I would lean more towards things like Salt water Mollies, Fox faces or Rabbitfish, Chalk bass, that sort of thing. Slow-ish moving, deliberate eaters that are usually smaller and less threatening to a Regal.

I've used a small Doliatus rabbit, a tiny Tomini tang, and a Royal Gramma to acclimate Regals in the past.