spsfreak100
Active Member
Last Friday, after waiting almost three months for one, I finally picked up one of the healthiest red sea regal angelfish I've seen. He was around 2 1/2" long, had extremely nice coloration, and was very healthy. Literally, after seconds of being added to the tank, he was nipping at the rockwork and eating the zoanthids. After three minutes, it was accepting all sorts of flake foods and frozen foods. Within several hours, he was swimming throughout the tanks and directly into the open. I couldn't be happier.
The next morning, I awoke to find that the fish had gotten sucked into the strainer of the Amp Master 3000. Fortunately, the fish was okay. After the fish swam away with no injury, I tried to find a way to cover the overflow. My first attempt was to put rocks completely around the strainer. Luckily, the fish was still eating like a pig - although he was slightly more cautious than before. Well, "What can go wrong will go wrong." Of course, the next morning, the fish was again stuck in the strainer. I was in shock that such a thing could happen -- again. Again, I turned off the amp master and got the fish out. Now, the fish had a large wound on the side that was laying on the strainer. He wouldn't eat. He could barley swim. Normally, I would QT the fish within an instant. However, the fish had wedged itself within the rocks so that the only way I can get to him to be to break apart two colonies from the rockwork, remove 30lbs of rock, and hope that I could put the rock back together. Instead, I lowered the salinity slightly (From 1.026 to 1.025 within 6 hours) and added some garlic. The next morning, the fish passed away and I removed it from the tank. Now I'm extremely disappointed -- after waiting three months for a red sea regal, one finally comes along and then decides to be sucked into the strainer.
So, I decide to fix the source of the problem. I completely take apart the right side of the aquarium to try and get a good view of the strainer. I ended up making a DIY strainer guard by using Wire to contruct a cone shape and putting window mesh around it. This worked -- and worked quite well. Nothing could get any closer than 5" from the strainer. I then tested it out with flat pieces of light plastic to see if they get sucked into the mesh -- no they did not, so I put the rockwork back together and everything seemed back to normal.
So, I go back to the wholesalers and looked around. I found a second regal in one of the tanks -- this seemed healthy as I saw no external damage, breathing was alright, no pale coloration, and the fish had showed interest in some foods. Normally, I would never purchase a "replacement," although, becuase the fish has been so scarce, I decided to take a chance. The fact that the first regal died because of a strainer accident, rather than a aquarium problem (IE: Poor water quality, etc.), made me feel better about the purchase. To repeat myself, I would normally never purchase a "Replacement" to anything that had just died.
So, I then get home, acclimate the regal for four hours, and add him into the tank. After around an hour, it started to mildly accept some mysid shrimp (but was also demolishing the zoanthid colonies and sponges in my tank), although nothing like the first. So, about 24 hours go by before I notice a strange "twitch" that the regal had. I was suspecting that the regal had some kind of internal parasite. Again, I would QT this fish at the very start, although I felt with such a delicate fish such as this, it would be best going directly into the tank where it would be able to hide and nip on the rockwork. So, now that I see this occasional twitch, I know there's no way that I'm getting this fish out without removing all of the rocks. So, I still decide to leave him in there. I still soak all of the food in Garlic to prevent any diseases which may end up leeching on the fish. A few more days go by and the fish stays the same - although the twitch had worsened to a fully body spasm every few minutes. I also saw him spending most of the day around the cleaner shrimp. Just a few hours ago, I found the fish dead within the rockwork. I saw no disease - no sign of anything, other than what I observed. I was even more shocked that both fish had died. I then went back and checked every water parimeter I could check for -- all of them had been right on. No large swings in any parimeter. I'm thinking that this angel was doomed before it was bought.
I am still very upset about these losses. I highly doubt I'll ever purchase a third regal, unless it's being sold from another hobbiests tank who's had it for awhile. I just need to vent -- I feel very angry at myself for not covering up the strainer better once the fish was sucked in for the first time. I also am very upset at myself for not watching the second regal longer at the wholesalers. Perhaps I may have noticed this twitch and have passed on it.
I apologize for the lengthy thread. I just needed to vent.
Take Care,
Graham
The next morning, I awoke to find that the fish had gotten sucked into the strainer of the Amp Master 3000. Fortunately, the fish was okay. After the fish swam away with no injury, I tried to find a way to cover the overflow. My first attempt was to put rocks completely around the strainer. Luckily, the fish was still eating like a pig - although he was slightly more cautious than before. Well, "What can go wrong will go wrong." Of course, the next morning, the fish was again stuck in the strainer. I was in shock that such a thing could happen -- again. Again, I turned off the amp master and got the fish out. Now, the fish had a large wound on the side that was laying on the strainer. He wouldn't eat. He could barley swim. Normally, I would QT the fish within an instant. However, the fish had wedged itself within the rocks so that the only way I can get to him to be to break apart two colonies from the rockwork, remove 30lbs of rock, and hope that I could put the rock back together. Instead, I lowered the salinity slightly (From 1.026 to 1.025 within 6 hours) and added some garlic. The next morning, the fish passed away and I removed it from the tank. Now I'm extremely disappointed -- after waiting three months for a red sea regal, one finally comes along and then decides to be sucked into the strainer.
So, I decide to fix the source of the problem. I completely take apart the right side of the aquarium to try and get a good view of the strainer. I ended up making a DIY strainer guard by using Wire to contruct a cone shape and putting window mesh around it. This worked -- and worked quite well. Nothing could get any closer than 5" from the strainer. I then tested it out with flat pieces of light plastic to see if they get sucked into the mesh -- no they did not, so I put the rockwork back together and everything seemed back to normal.
So, I go back to the wholesalers and looked around. I found a second regal in one of the tanks -- this seemed healthy as I saw no external damage, breathing was alright, no pale coloration, and the fish had showed interest in some foods. Normally, I would never purchase a "replacement," although, becuase the fish has been so scarce, I decided to take a chance. The fact that the first regal died because of a strainer accident, rather than a aquarium problem (IE: Poor water quality, etc.), made me feel better about the purchase. To repeat myself, I would normally never purchase a "Replacement" to anything that had just died.
So, I then get home, acclimate the regal for four hours, and add him into the tank. After around an hour, it started to mildly accept some mysid shrimp (but was also demolishing the zoanthid colonies and sponges in my tank), although nothing like the first. So, about 24 hours go by before I notice a strange "twitch" that the regal had. I was suspecting that the regal had some kind of internal parasite. Again, I would QT this fish at the very start, although I felt with such a delicate fish such as this, it would be best going directly into the tank where it would be able to hide and nip on the rockwork. So, now that I see this occasional twitch, I know there's no way that I'm getting this fish out without removing all of the rocks. So, I still decide to leave him in there. I still soak all of the food in Garlic to prevent any diseases which may end up leeching on the fish. A few more days go by and the fish stays the same - although the twitch had worsened to a fully body spasm every few minutes. I also saw him spending most of the day around the cleaner shrimp. Just a few hours ago, I found the fish dead within the rockwork. I saw no disease - no sign of anything, other than what I observed. I was even more shocked that both fish had died. I then went back and checked every water parimeter I could check for -- all of them had been right on. No large swings in any parimeter. I'm thinking that this angel was doomed before it was bought.
I am still very upset about these losses. I highly doubt I'll ever purchase a third regal, unless it's being sold from another hobbiests tank who's had it for awhile. I just need to vent -- I feel very angry at myself for not covering up the strainer better once the fish was sucked in for the first time. I also am very upset at myself for not watching the second regal longer at the wholesalers. Perhaps I may have noticed this twitch and have passed on it.
I apologize for the lengthy thread. I just needed to vent.
Take Care,
Graham
