Flame angel sick or stressed?

[ChrisBFish]

And is there much practical difference at this point?

He's been in qt for two weeks; yesterday afternoon the flame and bicolour angels were moved to the main tank - drip acclimatisation over an hour. Since then the bicolour has been out and about, but the flame has been fairly reclusive. He's swum about a bit at the back of the tank at one end, but this afternoon has just been hiding in the bottom of a cave. I can just about see him a bit of the time - he's either sitting on the bottom, hovering just above the bottom, or sometimes leaning right over on his side. Gill beats are very rapid. Is there anything specific I should do at this point?

Putting him back into qt is possible, but I'm concerned that if it's just (hah!) stress that this would only make matters worse - getting to where he is to catch him would involve dismantling all the rock at one end of the tank, and obviously the trauma of being netted and moved is not inconsiderable.

Is the best course of action for now just to wait and see? I'll do tests and post results ASAP.

[ChrisBFish]

Tests just done:

SG 1.0255 (refractometer)
Temp 26.5
pH 8.1
NH4 <0.25 (possibly 0 - I can't tell easily with these things!)
NO2 <0.1 (ditto)
NO3 5-10mg/l

I've just put in the evening feed of frozen food, and there's not a glimmer of interest from the flame even though in qt this was his preference.

[Wombat]

Oh yes, stress can be very short term and easy to resolve (i.e. remove the stressor and the animal will recover relatively quickly)

Disease will be caused by an infectious agent agent, metabolic problems or neoplasms and not only will you have to treat he disease, but it will also contribute some stress too.

So in a nutshell disease is worst than stress as you will have the problem to solve and the stress the problem causes to deal with.

But in this case it sound like acute stress (being caught, new environment, new hieararchies of fish, slightly different water conditions etc etc) so I'd guess you'd see an improvement in the next 24-48 hours. I'd suggest you turned the lights out early tonight and give it time.

[ChrisBFish]

Thanks wombat! Mr B is away for the next few days, so I'm not sure which of us was the more stressed earlier this evening - the flame or me! ;) I turned the lights out about 45 mins - 1 hr after feeding, and have resolutely stayed away from the tank all evening as if I'm in the same room I'll want to keep checking, which I know won't help... Fingers crossed that he looks better tomorrow.

[ChrisBFish]

Sadly not. It died yesterday evening. :sigh:

[Wombat]

Bummer that is a shame