So disappointed-Dead flame angel

[christinna77]

You can’t ever let the copper concentration fall below your target at any time, even for a few minutes.

Just a quick note: this is false and seems to be a commonly repeated myth. Copper dropping below 2 ppm for an hour or two, for example down to 1 ppm, shouldn't be an issue.

I asked Jay about this during his recent R2R live show because I keep seeing it repeated as fact, even though it doesn't really make sense scientifically (around 15 min mark):

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Copper is a known poison to the long term health of the fish. Treat only if have symptoms - 30 days of medication free isolation is the standard nowadays.

That information isn’t correct. There is no evidence of long term toxicity from copper in marine fish. Some species, including flame angels, are sensitive to ionic copper, but that is an immediate, acute toxicity issue.

The OP correctly used amine-chelated copper, it was not the cause of this fish dying.

Additionally, observation-only quarantine is NOT a standard, but if done, needs to be for a minimum of 45 days.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I thought I did everything right. Set up a quarantine tank , monitored levels to the best of my ability. Flame angel went thru 5 weeks of copper treatment in quarantine.

Bought an acclimation box and segregated it for 2 1/2 days in the display tank. Woke up in the middle of the night and released it into the tank. It was doing great for about 3 days. Eating, swimming all around the tank. Checked on him throughout the day via my webcam and couldn’t see him. When I got home a few minutes ago I found him dead.

Not sure what happened. Any advice and words of encouragement are appreciated.

You can rule out water quality issues, or issues with your quarantine process, or how you handled the fish (assuming it wasn’t injured in any of the moves?)

My guess is either direct or indirect aggression: the former would show as ripped fins on the angel though. Indirect aggression is when a fish gets scared or chased and runs into something in the tank, causing injury or death.

Anything unusual about how the dead angel looked? Any discoloration, open mouth, flared gills?

 

[BryanM]

Sorry to hear, seems like you did the right things, I suspect one of your current fish did not like the new addition :(