Sick Flame Angel

[KWN80]

I purchased 3 fish from my LFS on 2-08, a yellow tang, royal gramma and a flame angel. All was going well until today. All three were acclimated the same way, a slow drip while floating the bag for about an hour to an hour and a half. I fed them all last night and they all ate and were doing fine. This morning when I woke up the flame angel was floating upside down and breathing very slowly. I had to go to work but my wife has been monitoring him and there has been no change. My Ph, salinity and nitrates are all within acceptable ranges but I have no way to test the other chemicals until I can get back to the LFS. They have said they will take him back and give me full credit but I would like some input on what may have caused this.

[showfish]

It seems that something must be off. You need to check other water parameters. If these fish were eating, then they must have been ok after acclimation. I would have water tested ASAP. The flame can be very sensitive to water conditions.

[optical]

i had a flame angel and it did almost the same thing. all me levels were just about perfect. i think he was just really stressed out and eventually i just had to flush him. poor little guy.
did you check your ammonia?

[KWN80]

Everything was perfect my nitrates were a little high. The LFS tested the water again after he croaked but everything was good. I later found out that shipment didnt ship too well so that was probably what did it.

[Reefland]

They are delicate dwarf Angels so shipping could have definitely been the issue. Do you know how long they had it before you bought it?

[KWN80]

Not long, when I picked him up all the corals from that shipment were still floating in bags in their tanks. I think maybe he had just come in. The guy I normally deal with wasnt there that day and I have talked to him since and he told me that fish shouldn't have been for sale yet. Luckily he replaced the angel for me with a really nice colt coral but I still feel bad for the little guy. Now I only deal with two guys I really trust at that FS. Live and learn I guess.

[Reefland]

A good learning experience. What I like to do is have a store put a fish on hold for me. Most will do this for a down payment. You can pick out the fish you like, apply a down payment and have them hold it for 1-2 weeks so you can ensure it is eating well and at least settled after the initial shipment.