majestic angelfish not eating

[majestic987]

first i wanna say im new to this message board and i think it is awesome. besides that i was wondering if anyone could help me. I got a beautiful majestic angelfish from saltwaterfish.com last wednesday, it is now monday and the fish will not eat. The only time I've seen him eat anything was when he nipped at the LR but it was not for long and he only ate very little. He also is extremely shy and stays in the caves within the LR almost at all times, and when he does come out he hovers about 4 inches off the sand angled with his head facing downward and his tail facing upward. Ive offered him quite a variety of food (Formula 1, formula 2, angel formula all frozen, i also offered Dainchi marine pellets reccomended specifically for large angels, a vggie clip with green marine algae, and formula 1 and 2 flakes) but he ignores all of it. What could i do to persuade him to eat something?
I also noticed a few small parasites under and on his side fins normally i have cleaner shrimp in there too, however one of my blue tangs has been eating the antennas of all the shrimp, and without the antennas they die unless i take them out and put them in the refugium to let them grow back the tentacles. until the shrimps died they were cleaning the angelfish a couple times a day. I am planning on getting at least one tommorow, I am just wondering if there is anything other than taking the blue tang out to get him to stop eating the antennas of the shrimp?
I should also mention what I have if that may help in trying to fix my problems. The tank is a 140 gallon oceanic 4' x 2' x 3' it contains 2 medium sized blue tangs, a powder brown tang, 2 false percula clown fish, a yellow tang, a juvi emperor angelfish (which has not bothered the majestic), a neon goby, and a mandarin dragonet, and also of course the new majestic angelfish. There are also four emerald crabs, 5 turbo snails, 150 lbs of livesand, 180 lbs of LR (Fiji, and Tonga branch), and 2 anemones one long tentacled and one carribean rock. The filtration is made up of a 30 gallon sump,with a fission protein skimmer rated for 300 gallons, a 10 gallon refugium with reef mud and lots of macroalgae. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate all read 0, (api tests) ph is fine, salinity is around 1.022 or 1.023. Thanks for everyones help

 

[hlcroghan]

You may want to post in the disease forum. A pic would help greatly to see what the disease is that you are seeing on your fish. Also did you qt him first to see if he was healthy? You didn't see him eat because you got him online but if he did eat something in your tank it is likely that he is sick instead of just not eating. A qt would help greatly because along with allowing the fish to eat without being disturbed, it would also allow you to see if they are ill in any way.

 

[majestic987]

the problem with putting this angel in my QT is that the QT is much too small for the fish to be in the fish is about 6" long and the QT is a 20 gallon tank, if large angels are constricted they have a much higher risk of not acclimating. It was kept in the QT for 2 days in which it did the same thing its doing in the main display however there were no parasites but didnt eat anything in QT so I read up on them and i read that they require 120 gallons to feel comfortable and they need to be comfortable before they will start eating properly. His parasites are very few and ive encountered them in the past few years on and off, however they have never been a serious problem. I havent seen them in almost 6 mos but they would dissapear with neon gobies and cleaner shrimp in only having the shrimp or gobies for a day or two. However in the past experience with the parasites the fish would still eat they never stopped eating, and even if i unintelligently put a new fish in even seeing the parasites (we all learn from stupid mistakes) the new fish would acclimate and eat (3 successes), however when i lost a naso tang due to my stupidity I learned to make sure they were rid before putting anything in there. But this parasite doesnt spread easy and will get taken care of by neon gobies and cleaner shrimp, they seem to thrive on this particular parasite, so the parasite isn't really what has concerned me the most. I am mainly concerned that he wont eat, because even the naso tang ate before that trajedy, and the other 3 fish are still alive and ate normally the wholetime that they had the parasite. I am more wondering if anyone knows anything special that they prefer over the foods I have listed in the original thread. Or maybe some tips on ways to get him to start eating

 

[nicetry]

Describe this "parasite" you're seeing. What does it look like?
IME, the angel should have been eating by now. It may be intimidated by the other fish. It may be sick as well. What condition is the fish in? Full bodied or pinched/thin? Fins in good shape? Clear eyes?
You can try some finely minced mussel or clam. Angels I keep devour these foods. If the fish is grazing on the rock, it is getting some nourishment but it sounds as though you're not seeing this to often. Majestics are shy by nature and acclimate slowly to a tank with other large fish. You may have a problem as if it doesn't feel it is the alpha fish, it may not thrive. It's also a fairly good sized specimen, and often these don't aclimate as well as smaller fish (3-4 inches).
Try some other foods. If it doesn't start eating I would place it in a quarantine tank with subdued lighting and watch closely for illness. Often parasite problems are accompanied by secondary bacterial infections. If these are internal, a fish may have no appetite and waste away.

 

[redman1221]

Try garlic to entice him to eat and a picture would help.

 

[majestic987]

the parasites have diminished drastically overnight, and i just went and got a new cleaner shrimp along with another neon goby, the shrimp has already began to clean the emperor and the powder brown and i know its just a matter of time till he makes his way over to the majestic angelfish. however even though the parasites are diminishing the angels behavior has not changed. he continues to hide and ignores all food. He does not look unhealthy, he is very fat not thin or pinched in, his eyes are clear and visible, and his breathing has remained constant, there is garlic in some of the flakes ive tried but i have yet to try just plain clams, thats next, i will do that for the next few days toentice him and let everyone know how it turns out. Thanks for all the advice

 

[majestic987]

one thing i forgot to ask is to anyone who has had past experience with this angel, were they always shy, and hiding from you. I have read that, but I have not read if they usually hover above the sandbed with their heads facing down. has this behavior been witnessed by anyone else? He is out when no one is home but as soon as we walk in he will not come out at all, unless were sitting at least ten feet away without moving, but he still does not stay out, and when he comes out he does not swim around the tank he more hovers and looks around.