Emperor Anglefish Dying?

[menno]

hey all - hate to post this but I came home from a business trip, only to find my two week old Anglefish struggling to breathe at the bottom of my tank, lying sideways.

I don't have a QT tank, and have not tested my water but all my other fish are happy.

I drip acclimated the fish, and it's been grazing food from rocks (although never really ventured out to eat the mysis)

Help?

[menno]

I'll add that there are no visible markings of any sorts... Just struggling to breathe it seems like?

[George]

I think it's dying of starvation. An emperor angelfish can't survive by just picking on liverocks.

[menno]

How can I quickly get it to start eating then? Or am I too late now...

And if I need to learn something new... How do I ensure this doesn't happen again and make sure that new fish take to eating mysis?

[Aquattro]

Too late now, if it's on it's side gasping, it's probably done. It certainly won't eat in that condition

[Coral Hoarder]

You can try soaking in garlic but I always have the lfs staff show me a fish eats befor buying it I only made the fish doesn't eat and I bought it mistake once

[George]

How can I quickly get it to start eating then? Or am I too late now...

And if I need to learn something new... How do I ensure this doesn't happen again and make sure that new fish take to eating mysis?

It's probably too late now.
There are a few things you can do differently next time:
1. Make sure the fish eats in the fish store and healthy.
2. If it's possible, ask the fish store to hold the fish for you if the fish is new arrival and not eating.
3. Consdier setting up a quanrintine tank. Not only it helps with treating of parasites, it also helps with training your fish to eat prepare foods and fattening it up to prepare for the bullying in the display tank.
Also it's ok to pass on the fish if it's not eating in the store. 99.9% of the fish you see in the fish store will show up again. No reason to rush and buy an unhealthy and not eating fish.