Two Dwarf Angels in QT - have me worried

[don_chuwish]

Two new fish in QT since 5/30 (about 12 days now) have me worried:

Flame Angelfish, Centropyge loricula, Small: up to 1.5
Herald's Angelfish, Centropyge heraldi, Medium: over 1-2"

1. How long have you had the fish? Do you know if it was wild caught, or tank raised?
Since 5/30, assume wild caught, Bluezoo didn't specify.

2. How long has the fish been in the tank? What are the tank mates? Any aggression?
Since 5/30. No aggression, the two just ignore each other.

3. Is the fish eating? If so what does it eat?
Herald's Angel has been very picky, not eating well is part of my worry. Ignored both red & green nori, Formula One Marine Pellets & table shrimp. Will take mysis but only one or two, watching the rest float by. Tiny bit of interest in basic Aqueon Marine flakes.
Flame Angel eats just about any of the above.

4. What are the water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, SPG?
pH (Salifert) - 8.0
Ammo (Salifert) - <0.25 (zero, but the card just says "<0.25")
Nitrite (API) - 0
Nitrate (API) - 10
SPG - was at 1.025 when I started to worry, have brought down to 1.020 in case I need to go Hypo in a hurry.

5. Is the fish showing any physical signs of disease, grain of salt size spots, discoloration, ragged fins, misting or spots on the fins, cuts, cloudy eyes, etc?
Herald's Angel face has some darkened area around fact, frayed pectoral fins, had a cloudy eye 2 days ago.
Neither has any spots.

6. Is the fish "flashing" (scratching or rubbing on rocks, decorations or substrate)?
Both have done some 'twitching' and slight rubbing, the Herald's more than the Flame.

7. How is the fish acting? Is it swimming around, or just hovering in one spot or corner of the tank?
Actively swimming usually.

8. Did you use quarantine? If so for how long and did you have a need to treat for any ailments? Is it in qt now? Are you currently treating with any medication(s)?
In QT since purchase. Have added StressGuard off and on. Melafix & PimaFix a couple of days ago - cloudy eye seems to have improved.

9. Describe in detail how the fish was acclimated.
Slow drip over a few hours, throwing away half as volume doubled. Netted and transferred.

10. What size system? What type of filtration do you use? Do you have any live rock or sand?
15G QT, PF10 HOB filter plus some LR, bare bottom. Chaeto ball in the tank (just a place to keep it alive). 5G water changes twice now. Considering a 10G change next.

The Heralds originally started to worry me with some twitching about a week ago. Plus the fact that it won't eat much, then the cloudy eye a couple of days ago. Flame Angel only started some possible twitching today, if that's what it is.

I'm thinking it's Ich, just not full body breakout yet. Should I bite the bullet and take them down to full hypo? Am I being a hypochondriac and worrying about nothing?

- D

 

[Hondatek]

I would just hypo any new fish it's not going to
hurt them. I didn't do that to my latest pick up and when I moved him to a bigger qt he broke out in ick so I did hypo. I would have saved a few weeks of qt if I did it from the start .

 

[don_chuwish]

Not a bad idea, I may never fully trust these fish otherwise. My QT is currently also a handy place to keep some LR & chaeto happy but they could go to a bucket for a while.

- D

 

[don_chuwish]

After a few water changes this week we're down to 1.012 in the QT. Still seeing flashing & scratching but no spots. Herald's Angel is eating mysis laced with Selcon & Garlic Guard, but won't touch much else. At least after a few good meals of that 'his' color has improved. Overall behavior seems better too. Guess they're in QT for the long hypo haul!

- D

 

[Hondatek]

Hypo can be done safely in a few hours time so since they are still flashing you might want to think about taking it down to full hypo sooner then later IMO . I did my hypo for my pink tail under an hour and like 3 hours the time before .Raising the salinity is when you need to go slowly. Good luck with treatment.

 

[don_chuwish]

Yep, I went very fast into it last time too. Just drip acclimated over a few hours. Decided to take it a little slower this time and they seem to be responding well. Tomorrow's WC will take it down to .009.

Thanks!
- D

 

[don_chuwish]

OK so they've been in full hypo now since Saturday. Doing very well. Even after only 24hrs of hypo I could see them settling down, seemed less agitated. Still haven't ever seen any spots but they do occasionally still rub on a decoration here & there. They'll sidle up to it and then quickly twist & flip away from it, usually making contact around the head area (so maybe ich in the gills only?).
Herald's Angel still only interested in mysis tho, with just a little pecking at Aqueon Marine Flakes.

- D