Bicolor angel not eating

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes, very rapid breathing.

Ugh, that is not a typical symptom of cyanide poisoning, there could be multiple issues going on here.
Jay

 

[ErikVR]

I would be so surprised if that was the cause. It's such a reputable vendor. They have a massive reputation to maintain. They quarantine every fish that comes in. They refuse to sell fish to new customers before they are certain that the customers know what they are doing and that they have the correct tank for the fish.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I would be so surprised if that was the cause. It's such a reputable vendor. They have a massive reputation to maintain. They quarantine every fish that comes in. They refuse to sell fish to new customers before they are certain that the customers know what they are doing and that they have the correct tank for the fish.

But the vendor has no control over how the fish was collected, unless they know for certain that the fish came from a region where cyanide isn’t employed. It is also possible for people to lie to dealers - saying a fish came from Australia, for example, when it didn’t.

As I said though, there is something else causing the rapid breathing. Gill disease or water quality issues. Gill disease could be protozoan, flukes or rarely bacterial.

Jay

 

[ErikVR]

The rapid breathing only started after scooping him out of the DT. The QT is filled with a batch of brand new salt water that I made two days ago and has no other inhabitants so the water quality has to be near perfect. I really hope he makes it but I don't think he'll make it through the night

 

[ErikVR]

Unfortunately we just lost him. I've lost plenty of fresh water fish over the last 15 years in the hobby but somehow this loss feels pretty dang bad. I feel like I've let him down. Maybe it's because he's the first salt water fish I've lost... Even though I'm pretty sure I did everything right.

Thanks for your insights @Jay Hemdal.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The rapid breathing only started after scooping him out of the DT. The QT is filled with a batch of brand new salt water that I made two days ago and has no other inhabitants so the water quality has to be near perfect. I really hope he makes it but I don't think he'll make it through the night

Ammonia can build up pretty quickly in a new aquarium with no biofilter. 1 ppm in 24 hours isn unheard of. Did the QT have good aeration?
Jay

 

[LaloJ]

The rapid breathing only started after scooping him out of the DT. The QT is filled with a batch of brand new salt water that I made two days ago and has no other inhabitants so the water quality has to be near perfect. I really hope he makes it but I don't think he'll make it through the night

Did you test the new water to check for ammonia? the new water was in constant movement? If not, it seems that the ammonia finally finished defeating the weak bicolor angel, I have carried out an ammonia test in new water that has run out of movement one day after and the ammonia is quite high, enough to kill a fish in less 24 hours.

 

[ErikVR]

It's a running QT with an established canister filter and a large air stone. Housed all my new fish over the past 3 months without issues. Did a near 100% water change before putting in the angel. My water container has a heater that keeps it at 24c (same as the QT and DT). And a large powerhead running all the time.

 

[ErikVR]

For peace of mind, I just did an ammonia test on the QT and it's somewhere between 0 and 0.2 on the red sea test kit.
I'm getting a bit sick of trying to read these slight color differences... I think it's time to invest in digital testers.