What can I do for this Flame Angel? (Heavy breathing and on bottom of tank)

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

I’m away and have a housesitter watching my tanks.

My observation tank has 3 Cardinals, a flame angel fish, a 6-line wrasse and a cleaner shrimp. I fully cycled the tank until it was processing ammonia nicely and when I left (5 days ago) ammonia and nitrates were near zero.

Everyone is fine except….My flame angel is laying down and breathing heavy. That said, he has no spots or other signs of illness. I saw him on FaceTime today and other than the odd behavior he looks good.

I don’t want to inconvenience the sitter and ask them to test all the parameters, but I’m not sure what else can be done.

Should I just leave the fish and hope he makes it?

Should I coach them through drip acclimating and moving the cleaner shrimp to my display tank so he stops bothering the angel fish so he can hopefully recover in peace?

s1oliver · Jul 5, 2022

Easiest thing to do right away is to get an air stone in that tank to add more oxygen to the water. Another easy check for them is to check the water temperature and if the heater is working or not.

Cali Reef Life · Jul 5, 2022

I would ask for a water change to be preformed if it is a disease/parasite you don't want to break qt protocol since there is a reason you put fish in qt.

JumboShrimp · Jul 5, 2022

Taking a shot in the dark here— can you 1) add an air stone or point an extra powerhead at the surface, until you can get home and better access the situation, and b) drop in some divider if you think the Shrimp is making the fish miserable in the meantime?

DavidinGA · Jul 5, 2022

Might be velvet. I've had velvet take out angels with no typical external symptoms...

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

s1oliver said:
Easiest thing to do right away is to get an air stone in that tank to add more oxygen to the water. Another easy check for them is to check the water temperature and if the heater is working or not.

I’ve got an air stone in the AOI back panel area. Should I have her move it to the main tank area?

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

s1oliver said:
Easiest thing to do right away is to get an air stone in that tank to add more oxygen to the water. Another easy check for them is to check the water temperature and if the heater is working or not.

Heater is at 79 and there’s an air stone on the other side of the AIO divider.

I think maybe I’ll have it moved to the main part of the tank, thanks for the input!

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

DavidinGA said:
Might be velvet. I've had velvet take out angels with no typical external symptoms...

Weird! Would it only impact one fish? Also if there’s no symptoms how can you determine if it is velvet? Is there a test kit?

vetteguy53081 · Jul 5, 2022

SharkRacer said:
I’m away and have a housesitter watching my tanks.

My observation tank has 3 Cardinals, a flame angel fish, a 6-line wrasse and a cleaner shrimp. I fully cycled the tank until it was processing ammonia nicely and when I left (5 days ago) ammonia and nitrates were near zero.

Everyone is fine except….My flame angel is laying down and breathing heavy. That said, he has no spots or other signs of illness. I saw him on FaceTime today and other than the odd behavior he looks good.

I don’t want to inconvenience the sitter and ask them to test all the parameters, but I’m not sure what else can be done.

Should I just leave the fish and hope he makes it?

Should I coach them through drip acclimating and moving the cleaner shrimp to my display tank so he stops bothering the angel fish so he can hopefully recover in peace?

Looking at its eyes and your description suggests this fish is moribund which breaks down to a fish in distress and may or may not make it.
Although inconvenient, a water chance would increase survival chance. The thing to determine is if ammonia and nitrate levels are elevated and a need for water change.
If it has stopped eating and is breathing heavy as you stated, this may be a Bad sign as much as i hate to say

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

JumboShrimp said:
Taking a shot in the dark here— can you 1) add an air stone or point an extra powerhead at the surface, until you can get home and better access the situation, and b) drop in some divider if you think the Shrimp is making the fish miserable in the meantime?

Good idea on the divider. I’ll try that!

JumboShrimp · Jul 5, 2022

Definitely don't transfer anything 'Wet' from that QT into your DT until you have ruled out disease; Flame Angels unfortunately often take a hit when you get them home, and the effects of the 'cesspool' of Ich-y, Velvet-y waters of the LFS make themselves known. Bummer it was a bad time for you to be away.

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

I should mention that the flame angel has looked perfectly fine in that tank for 2 weeks. The only other thing that changed when I left is I am not turning on the light during the day.

Is there any way that is negatively impacting the flame angel or stressing him out in some way?

doubleshot00 · Jul 5, 2022

If it was me I would ask the sitter to see if they can get the fish out at least and cut my losses with the fish. Maybe put it in a 5 gallon bucket with some fresh salt and an air stone and a heater if you have one. Your in a tough spot here.

JumboShrimp · Jul 5, 2022

To @doubleshot00 's point, the more experienced your fish-sitter is, the more options you may have.

Spare time · Jul 5, 2022

Are you running any meds in the tank?

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

No meds, I just started this as a QT but thought I'd try it non-medicated on my first round.

Here's a pic from last week:

Spare time said:
Are you running any meds in the tank?

SharkRacer · Jul 5, 2022

OH - I almost forgot! The sitter says the water is a bit cloudy. What could be causing this?

Also, I just did a 20% water change before I left.

For all of you fish problem sleuths helping me, I thought maybe some of these details might help.

Thanks for all the input!