Got my "show fish"

[Alberta-newb]

Since starting my 120 reef tank I always wanted to get that one special "show fish" that's a little different than what you find at your LFS. Wednesday night I got the call that he arrived..boy was I thrilled!

A Goldflake Angel (Apolemichthys xanthopunctatus):






He's doing very well and has already started sampling mysis shrimp after watching my streamlined rabbitfish and scopas wolfing them down(...guess he was wondering what the hubbub was) I broke my quarantine rule this time as my QT tank heater had failed and was ice cold when I got the call. I think it was a good call as he immediately started picking on the live rock and making himself at home.

Big thanks to Red Coral in Calgary for tracking down and getting me this rare fish. Don't know how you did it Kevin, I think he might have been the only one available in North America at the time!

[Leah]

Wow, sweet fishy, keep your eye on him, I just learned a valuable lesson on adding angels with out QTing first. Ouch the lesson was flukes, eh ewh. Thanks to a post I read on here, by chance made me see the light. Did you fresh water dip him first?

[justinl]

mmm, Ive always liked goldflakes. nice specimen. how big is he?

as mentioned, I would keep a close eye out for parasites in general, just in case. My general rule is that if it eats, it will tough it out.

[fishoholic]

Nice, I love angels!

[Alberta-newb]

Parasites are one thing I am concerned about but with how difficult it is to get one of these I didn't want to risk stressing him any further after his journey by medicating or giving him a FW dip (reportedly they don't ship well) Osmotic shock was already a big worry for me as his shipping water was at 1.0119 and my tank is at 1.0126. Took almost 3 hours to drip acclimate before I felt it was close enough to tank conditions. I will be watching him very closely over the next few days and once he is eating well I'll be treating him for parasites using a med I picked up. It has the same ingredient as PraziPro (plus 2 additional anti-parasite drugs) but is designed to be fed directly to the fish rather than treating the water.

[Alberta-newb]

Originally Posted by justinl

mmm, Ive always liked goldflakes. nice specimen. how big is he?

About 5"

[hillegom]

What is the name of that drug, have been looking for something good to use when I might need it

[Trigger Man]

Tagging along because I would like to know the name of that drug and who makes it as well. Also where did you buy it?

[Alberta-newb]

The product is called "Gel-Tek Ultra Cure PX". and is made by Aquarium Products. Here's a link: http://www.aq-products.com/GelTek/ultracurepx.htm

Stumbled across this by accident while I was looking for a different product (anti-parasite medicated food made by Jungle labs). The only place I've found it is at Petland.

I originally went hunting for it when getting ready to purchase my rabbitfish as they supposedly are prone to internal parasites. An article in the 2008 Reefkeeping Annual recommended using praziquantel, flubenol and metronidazole as a multi-pronged approach. Fortunately, this product has all three. Although they advertise that it has fish pheremones to enhance feeding, my fish won't touch it on it's own. I mix it with mysis the night before and then skip my morning feeding. By late afternoon the fish are pretty hungry and gulp down every piece. That way I reduce the risk of harming any inverts with the meds...so far no problems, not sure on how effective though either as none of my fish have had parasites that I could see.

[Myka]

Gorgeous fish! Will he not bother your corals?


I wonder how effective this food is. I haven't had much luck with medicated foods in my 15+ years of fishkeeping, and I definately wouldn't use it as a dip replacemet. Let us know if you see any signs that it works.