Emperor angel in my fish only tank

[Joe24wr]

My emperor that I just got yesterday isn't eating, I've tried frozen mysis, nori and krill, also half shell clams, he's been breathing faster than normal but he's swimming around nice, I have copper in the tank because he's got a couple spots of ich on his fins, the only thing I can think that's stressing him out would be that I checked the parameters on my tank this morning and the nitrate level was at 10. This was because i moved some rocks and Disrupted alot of sand. I've done a 20gallon water change. The tank is 125 gallon, do you think everything will be okay?

 

[FTMMWS]

Its only been one day,,but are you dosing copper in your DT?

 

[Joe24wr]

Yeah I find it less stressful to treat it in a big tank rather then a small little one, also helping the ich on the emperor not to spread to ther fish

 

[FTMMWS]

Your going to nuke your sand bed and LR..all your beneficial bacteria will likely die ...You will probably never be able to house any inverts now either...There is nothing more stressful for a new fish than to be plunged into a tank with established fish already and be picked on and backed into a corner and have to battle for food..
QTing is the most important step in this hobby IMHO and still don't understand why people don't do it....
Back to your concerns,,the emp will hopefully be fine and start eating soon..Do you have a copper test kit?Plus angels need pristine water ..I'd also work on getting the trates down.
Good luck,they are wonderful fish...

 

[Joe24wr]

I'm aware of all that stuff regarding the copper in my tank and I don't have live rock or sand, the fish are leaving him alone and everyones being peaceful, but hopefully **** calm down in the next couple of days and start to eat, and aside from the nitrates the water conditions are prestige and I do have a copper test kit, I love this fish I hope everything's gonna be okay

 

[Joe24wr]

He'll*

 

[FTMMWS]

There is sand in your pic??You said your trates are up because you moved rocks??
I'm not trying to be jerky here,,just trying to help..
Good luck

 

[Joe24wr]

No I don't have live sand* and yes that's why the trates popped up

 

[ccCapt]

The rocks and sand will absorb the copper and it will be hard, if not impossible to keep the copper at a theraputic level. Which copper treatment are you using, which test kit are you using to check the level and what level are you keeping the copper at?
As mentioned, you will never be able to keep any inverts in that tank once you dosed copper unless you trash all the rocks and sand.

 

[Joe24wr]

Yes I know this, I am using copermine and an API copper test kit, and yes It was difficult to get it to a therapeutic level

 

[ccCapt]

Assuming you mean Cupramine, that's the wrong test kit. The API test kits works with CopperSafe, which is a chelated form of copper. Cupramine is non chelated.

 

[Joe24wr]

Sorry my spellcheck changed the word and thank you for awarding me that it's the wrong test kit

 

[Joe24wr]

Day three and he is still doing the same thing, also now some signs of patches of discoloration but they aren't permanent they change places on her body, do you think she'll be okay?

 

[Joe24wr]

Should I put the carbon back in and get the copper out?

 

[ccCapt]

3 days of copper treatments without knowing what the actually levels are pretty much did nothing except kill your live rock and sand. You will probably never get all the copper out since it was absorbed by the rocks and sand, but you can try Poly Filters to get it out. At this point I would start doing 25% water changes every other day and hope for the best.

 

[Joe24wr]

Just put the carbon back in, and did a 20gallon water change, you think that could be stressing him?

 

[FTMMWS]

Yes,this angel is likely under a lot of stress,,this is the reason for all the blotches on her body...Hard to say what will happen..But i'm worried that with the copper dosing and bacteria die off going on in your tank it may crash

 

[Joe24wr]

I've treated the tank with copper before and it's been fine

 

[ErrolP]

Try feeding the angel sponge or soak the food in garlic or vita chem. Defintely do lots of water changes to get that copper out, next time set up a large qt tank and copper treat the fish in there instead of dosing your entire tank, that's going to cause more harm than good and can be harmful to the rest of the tank residents, but assuming by reading this thread, you already knew that.

 

[Yash]

I hope all goes well because that's a beautiful fish