potter's angel sick/died

mattk

Member
This was a very robust fish until 2 days ago. He was eating everything I gave him from frozen pygmy angel to tetra marine flakes. He had a lot of live rock with many nooks and caves whcih he actively explored. He continullay grazed off of the rock and glass for algae. I also fed dried spirulina.
Water parameters were pH 8.2 NO2=0 NO3=5, NH3=0.25(NH3appears to be background for the test since freshly prepared water is same). On Saturday he was less active but did eat and also began to fade in out of his vibrant coloring (light to normal and back). On sunday he was even less active but still ate and this morning he was in his cave on his side breathing heavy. There were no obvious skin disturbnces so I am guessing an internal parasite or gill problem. He also displayed rapid respiration on sunday and today.
We had him for 6 weeks.
We buried him today. Any thoughts on cause of symptoms. He ruled the tank over two much smaller damsels (mesa and nigrori)
Matt:(
 

mattk

Member
Thank for the respnse/info. The tank is immature (2 months) and I made the mistake of not researching the fish before buying and of course after searching the web and realizing I should have waited I thought I would try to make a go of it. I have 35 lbs of florida aquaculture rock and I kept a close eye on the parameters with weekly 30% water changes. He really did seem to thrive except for the last few days.
I am going to set up a quarantine tank from now on and we'll wait a few months before adding anythin else.
Matt
 

mattk

Member
Thanks Terry. We will stick with the two damsels we have and let everything mature from here for a few months. From jwtrojan44's post above I dont think I'll ever attempt a potter's angel again. We're starting to get lots of coralline algae growth on the glass and all the inverts on the rock we got(lots of mussels, sea squirts crabs snails etc) seem to be doing well.
matt
 
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