Cant get my emperor to eat

[alex656]

I have a emperor angel about the size of your hand that has been very sick, he came in to us sick but just kept getting worse. I pulled him out of our main system and put him in QT treating with copper for the last 5 days. He looks so much better, however he just will not eat. We have had him going on two weeks and he just wont eat. I have tried everything, all types of frozen, krill, live black worms and he is not remotely interested. I have tried so hard to nurse him back to health I dont want to loose him from lack of nutrition, any ideas? I have also the last couple of days been adding several drops of garlic to try to stimulate his appetite, nothing yet. HELP!!!!!

[Jerry W]

Will it eat any algae? Try some nori on a clip. I feed my angels finely chopped mussel and clam as part of their diet.

[WuHT]

clams on half shells are worth a try

[saltyESQ]

when my regal angel wouldn't eat I started with all 3 kinds of algae (red, purple and green) and he finally ate the red.

[mfin77]

try giving him some reef nutrition copepods. they work really well and will entice your fish to eat.

[Recty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13135024#post13135024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WuHT
clams on half shells are worth a try What he said. Half a fresh clam on the substrate is hard for most meat eating fish to resist.

[LargeAngels]

Do a FW dip and see if he also has flukes.

[suta4242]

Is it in adult colours?

If so it probably won't be able to resist fresh sponge.

Not sure how long the sponge will last though if you've got copper in his tank. Be careful as decaying sponge can foul the water and release toxins...


good luck

[LisaD]

Have you treated long enough to take the copper out? The med could be responsible.

You might also try adult brine shrimp soaked in selcon/vitamins to get him eating. Mysis shrimp is often pretty irresistible.

Does the fish appear alert, and swimming normally? Are the colors good? How is the water quality in the QT?

It would be really good if you could give it a sponge/macro-encrusted live rock to pick at.

[dones20]

clams on a half shell