Should I get this Regal Angel?

[Waxxiemann]

Hi people,

I have sort of a delima (not really but kind of). I am friends with my LFS owner. He has a BEAUTIFUL regal that has been at his store for about 5 weeks. I thought it would die but it has done extremely well. It is taking pellet food (new life). It is about 4.5 - 5" long and gorgeous.

He said that he will give me this fish at a VERY (very) good price BUT he wants me to take it before he goes away on holidays on July 1. I don't know why this is. I didn't ask.

Here is where it gets tricky. My tank has only been running for 3 months. It has 40 lbs of live rock in it right now but I plan to add about 60 lbs more. It is only housing a longnose hawk and an ocellaris (who has ich I might mention).

I will remove the ocellaris to hospital this weekend (setting up QT tank as I type).

I know these fish are difficult to keep and hard to get to eat but this one takes pellets! I really want this fish but at the same time I don't want to hurt (or kill) it. Would you take it if you were me?

Here is the skinny on my tank.

Amonia, nitrate and nitrite are 0. Thats all I test for right now. PH is around 8.1


90 gallon display, 60 gallon sump.
AquaC EV240 skimmer
refugium with cheato
5" DSB
40 LBS LR

[Waxxiemann]

... anyone?

[john37]

if you're planning on adding 60lbs more i'd stay away from any fish b/c unless all 60 lbs is fully cured(ie...it was cooking for 2 months or from established tank) you're gonna have a spike again and end up killing your fish.

if you want to add more rock i'd add about 10lbs every 3 weeks or so to avoid a bio overload.

maybe you can get a qt tank set up before july 1 and QT the regal for a couple months since it's eating pellets. just make sure you have enough bio filtration for a semi large angel. good luck.. i love these fish.

[Waxxiemann]

I was kind of planning to add the rock slowly. I figure that I can cure the rock (which is already been cooking for about 6 weeks @ the LFS) in my QT when there is nothing occupying it.

I'm a little scared to QT the angel, thats why I was going to put the clown in there. I don't want to stress it out a ton by doing the transfer 2 times. Plus the QT tank I have is a 20 gallon tall, so it is not the roomiest of all QT tanks.

Since there isn't much going on in my display right now, I'd prefer to add him directly to that. I will definatly have to think about this a lot. The clown has to come out tommorow for sure. Your advice is really appreciated, I'm going to do as much research and deliberation about this as I can before I decide to go for this.

I live in a pretty small city and we only have 2 good salt water stores so you don't see specimens of this quality every day, that is why I am so eager.

[falconut]

How long has the clown had ick? If it's been in your display for alittle while, the ick may be in your tank, not just on your fish.

I had a case of Marine Velvet, which I had to put all of my fish out and QT everything for 6 weeks.

If you take out the clown, you could try the Regal in the display. Since it only will have 1 other fish, it may act as a QT tank.

[falconut]

Also, is the clown covered with ick or just a few spots?

[Waxxiemann]

He's not covered but he does definatly have a few spots. I was treating with No Sick Fish, but it didn't work :( .

Sometimes you can't see the spots.

[falconut]

That may be a good sign. If he's only got a few spots and he hasn't been in there long, your display might not be infected. I would move him out ASAP for treatment. But, I'm certainly no expert in fish diease. Just my opinions.

[Waxxiemann]

Should I worry about the hawk?

[Waxxiemann]

I know that they are pretty resiliant. I really don't want to give this angel ich. That would suck. :thumbdown

[falconut]

If you really like the fish and since there was only a few spots of ick on the clown, if it were me, I would consider getting it. But, you haven't said how long the clown's been in there though.

Just keep an eye on the Hawk. From what I've heard, most healthy unstressed fish can fight off diease pretty well, as long as it's not really bad. Also, make sure that the water quality is really good.

Just take out the clown and treat it in QT. If anybody else has an opinion, speak up. I'd feel better being a suggestion, not the only suggestion.

[LargeAngels]

If your system has ich, one spot or a million doesn't matter, your whole system is infected and I do not recommend getting such a delicate animal, especially one that is eating, unless you plan on removing all fish from the tank, treating them with copper, leaving the main tank fishless for 6 weeks and then after no more signs of ich returning them to your tank.

[Mark]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7566393#post7566393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LargeAngels
If your system has ich, one spot or a million doesn't matter, your whole system is infected and I do not recommend getting such a delicate animal, especially one that is eating, unless you plan on removing all fish from the tank, treating them with copper, leaving the main tank fishless for 6 weeks and then after no more signs of ich returning them to your tank.


That's how I feel. If you want this fish, put it in the q-tank along with the hawk and clown. Make them all go through a 6 week regimen of hypo and copper. In the meantime, add the remaining liverock to the display and let it cure in the fishless tank. After 6 weeks, your display should be ick free and the live rock cured.

This is the only way I see you keeping this fish. Trust me, the clown is probably building an immunity in the tank, but those couple of spots are enough to perpetuate the ich. Once you add the stressed angel, he'll be covered in no time. And he will die.

How large is your q-tank?

[falconut]

LargeAngels & Mark - I though you weren't supposed to treat Angels with copper or is that just for Dwarf Angels?

[LargeAngels]

Some angels, such as multicolors, are "hypersensitive" to copper. But I have found that Cupramine is an excellent copper medication for even the most sensitive dwarf angels and is the least toxic of all copper medications. Personally over all the years I have been doing this I have only seen one occassion in which an angel had an issue with copper and that was a multicolor dwarf with Copper safe. No problems with Cupramine.

[Waxxiemann]

I think I would prefer to do a hypo treatment instead of using copper. Do I have to use copper when doing hypo salanity?

The QT is only a 20 gallon tall, the fish may not be comfortable in there for 6 weeks. What do you guys think? He's in a pretty small tank at the store right now with about 15 or 20 more fish (sad really).

I surely don't mind Qt'ing all 3 fish but I certainly don't want to RAISE my chances of killing him by doing so.

[Waxxiemann]

oh, the clown has been in there for about 3 weeks. I'm sure that the tank is probably infected.

I have heard conflicting opinions on this, but will the ich host on my conches or snails? I also have 1 hermit and an emerald crab.

Also I should mention that I am not dead set on getting this fish. I want to do whats best for the fish. I don't think that it will live for an extended period of time at the LFS. He just has WAY to many fish to care for to give this animal the proper attention.

[Waxxiemann]

oh also, I really appreciate all of your advice.

[bskiba]

I would find someone with a big 200 gallon to hold him for a month for you. or if the store has a display tank I am sure they could hold it in there if it is payed for.

[Waxxiemann]

thats a good idea. I am for sure taking the clown and hawk out probably tonight or tommorow to the hospital tank. I need to check the levels in there first.

I'm going to try and keep my display fish free for about 5 or 6 weeks to make sure there is no ich in there. What I should have done is set up my QT a long time ago. Hindsight is always 20/20 though right?

I wish I didn't sell my 33, that would have been the perfect QT tank.

[rmougey]

I'll add my two cents....

If your tank isn't ready, you may have a potential ich outbreak to deal with and your quarantine tank is a bit small for the regal.... leave it at the fish store. Another regal that eats pellets will show up. It isn't he last one that will be pulled out of the ocean. But if you bring it home, it may be more than your systems are currently ready for. Leave the angel at the store for now.

I will also second the use of Cupramine from SeaChem. I love angels, boh dwarf and large. I have successfully used it in quarantine for many years on many angels incuding multicolor, interruptus, regals, chrysarus and others.

Hyposalinity is an effective treatment, however you MUST use a refractrometer to check salinity. It will take 4-6 weeks of hypo to successfully cure the ich. The addition of UV, high wattage, low flow, can help. Be aware though that hypo may be more stressful to certain fish than copper.

There will be another regal...... get your tank stable and then wait. That's the real challenge of the hobby!

-Rob

[LargeAngels]

Don't hypo and use copper at the same time. As Rob says a refrac. is a MUST for hypo. Hypo also only works on ich and not velvet. Here is some good reading.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/treatments.html

[Waxxiemann]

rmougey- I think I'll take your advice and leave it at the store. I'm to eager I think. If this hobby has taught me anything it's that you have to have patience or learn quick.

Thanks again people, I'll updatr you when I finally do get a regal.

Waxx