Dwarf Coral Beauty Angelfish keeps swimming into upper corner of tank on its side?

Seno2k

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My Dwarf Coral Beauty from Live Aquaria has been acting strange since I introduced him to my quarantine tank Tuesday afternoon. Before adding him to the quarantine tank, I slowly acclimated him using the floating method described here: https://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=665. However, as you can see in the following video I took Wednesday morning (), he's kept to the upper left corner of the tank since day one, gently swimming into the corner at a 45 degree angle on his side. He hasn't been responding to feeding. I started cupramine and general cure treatment on Tuesday, gave a 20% water change last night, and administered second doses of cupramine and general cure this morning. Still no change.

My first thought was ammonia spike or lack of oxygen. The ammonia level was a bit high (.2), so I did an ammo lock treatment Tuesday night and then a 25% water change on Wednesday evening. I've had constant flow across the top of the water from a wave maker and my filter's return. So it water agitation doesn't seem to be the issue. Just in case ammonia / PH was still causing problems, I gradually dropped the water temperature to 73 degrees F from 78 degrees F last evening. I used Tetra AquaSafe Plus Water Conditioner / Dechlorinator and then brought the salinity up to a specific density of 1.026.

Any thoughts or advice as to what might be going on with the little guy? Live Aquaria didn't describe him as a deep water Coral Beauty, so it doesn't seem like decompression would be to blame. I've read about bloated stomach from internal parasites. But I'm not sure if these are the right symptoms or not. Also, if that were the case, I would think that I'd see a difference after dosing the general cure and cupramine, unless of course it's too late. I get that he's probably stressed, but don't see how that would explain the symptoms without something else going on.
 

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JamesRPaquette

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A few things going on here to look into.

How long has the QT tank been set up? Has it cycled? You cannot run GC and Cupramine at the same time from what I think. I would also try and get the temp back up 75-78.

Has it eaten?
 
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Seno2k

Seno2k

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A few things going on here to look into.

How long has the QT tank been set up? Has it cycled?
The QT isn't cycled yet. I'm using seeded media from my main tank to try to kick start the process. I also used some of the water and live sand from my main tank. I know even with these it will still take weeks. So I've been trying to monitor the levels closely.

Has it eaten?
He has not eaten.

You cannot run GC and Cupramine at the same time from what I think.
Why not? I haven't read anything online that suggests you shouldn't do them together.

I would also try and get the temp back up 75-78.

Done. I raised the temperature back to 75 F. Last night I boiled five gallons of water so that I could do a water change this morning without having to rely on water conditioners, as I know that conditioners can increase your ammonia levels slightly. After doing a change this morning, the ammonia levels are back down to zero again. So I'm now gradually increasing the temperature to 75 F.
 
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Seno2k

Seno2k

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Why 73F ?

I dropped the temperature to 73F to guard against ammonia toxicity in the event that the water change and ammo lock didn't reduce ammonia levels properly. My PH levels have stayed around 7.4. My thinking was that if ammonia was still an issue, then dropping the temp down to 73 F would decrease the likelihood of toxicity. https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html.

Is this QT tank cycled?

It is not. I'm using seeded media from my main tank to try to kick start the process. I also used some of the water and live sand from my main tank. I know even with these it will still take weeks. So I've been trying to monitor the levels closely.
 

JamesRPaquette

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Okay, so I'm assuming your not mixing the GC into its food and adding it directly to the QT tank.

What size is the tank? Are you adding Metro? I'm not sure possible bacterial bloom in addition to the other products being added to the QT tank.

I would suggest possibly try creating more gas exchange?

I would work on trying to getting it to eat and stabilizing the tank, I would not treat with GC again until it is eating as there is no need to rush it at this point. I would think it is stress induced. What have you attempted to feed it?
 

threebuoys

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Several months ago I purchased a CB from Live Aquaria. After acclimation, I added him to the tank. He immediately went to the bottom to find cover. Heavy breathing, laying on his side. Clearly in shock. Felt sure death was imminent. Left all of the lights off. By the end of the next day, I had not been able to find him in the tank, but, that evening, he reappeared. By the next morning, he had recovered and was behaving normally. ( I keep water temp at 80.)

I hope you have the same experience. If your water parameters are good, give him a place to hide and turn out the lights. I hope everything works out.
 

Tamberav

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Does he have somewhere safe to hide?

He looks stressed. Angelfish like lots of hiding spots/rockwork I use fake plants and bricks or clay pots. White PVC does not seem to be liked or perceived as natural to fish.
 

Jay Hemdal

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Folks - notwithstanding this fish's behavior, - hidden in the OP was a clue - they are using Cupramine and then they used ammo lock. If ammo lock is is a standard ammonia neutralizer, it can release the bond with the copper-amine molecule, causing free copper to leech out into the water, causing toxicity issues.

I'm not sure why LA suggests using the standard bag method for acclimating shipped fish - in longer shipments, the ammonia builds up in the water and the pH decreases. The low pH makes the ammonia non-toxic. During bag acclimation though, the pH rises faster than the ammonia is being diluted and becomes more toxic. In severe cases, the fish can die right in the bag.

One possibility for the fish's behavior - many pygmy angels are "needled" when they are collected at depth, to release excess gas in their swim bladder. This can cause infections later on. During shipping, the pressure in the plane is a bit lower. This can cause the swim bladder to expand. Then, when the fish arrives at its destination, they tend to float. This sometimes resolves on its own after time.


Jay
 
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Seno2k

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Thanks everyone! He seems to be doing much better. I'm not sure what ultimately did the trick. I noticed a change in his behavior for the better shortly after decreasing the water salinity from 1.025 to closer to 1.020, adding some additional large rocks in the tank so he had some places to hide, and bumping the temp up to 75 degrees. So far, he's been swimming all around the tank and has been eating okay. As far as food, I've tried a few different things, including thawed mysis, new life spectrum marine fish pellets, hikari seaweed extreme, and julian sprung's sea veggies (purple seaweed). The only thing he's taken is the hikari seaweed pellets. Going forward, I think I'm going to lay off any more meds unless he shows symptoms and just focus on maintaining good water quality. No need to stress him out unnecessarily.
 

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