Emergency!!!

[possolutions]

Hey guys,

i just walked into my office and saw my Yellow long nosed butterfly on the bottom of the tank barely breathing. I took him out and placed him into a small container with aquarium water. I can see his gills flapping and his mouth moving but he is on the bottom of the container sideways, but he is still breathing. Is there any hope? What should I do? Please hurry!

 

[mike47517]

what size was his tank?

 

[possolutions]

40 gallon, he was happy and swimming fine for 1 month

 

[mike47517]

how big is he currently? how many other fish are in his tank? how big are they?

 

[mike47517]

Hey look at this sight it shows you other sights and has a ton of info.
saltaquarium.about.com

 

[possolutions]

butterfly is 3 inches, 4 fish and 1 shrimp, 2 small damsels, 1 small clown, and one 6 inch ****** trigger.

 

[mike47517]

look under that sight. sorry im not a saltwater person but was just tryin to help sorry. that is a good sight so look at it.

 

[CaptainAhab]

That's Niger my friend, Niger trigger

have you tested the water params lately? changed anything? Done a PWC lately?

LR? LS? all the usual suspects.....

 

[possolutions]

Last test was exactly 1 month ago.

pH 8.3
ammo 0
nitrite 1
nitrate 1

There is 40 pounds of LR and 50 pounds of sand.
last pwc was 2 weeks ago, i will do one today also.

 

[CaptainAhab]

BTW: Neither that trigger or butterfly belong in a tank that small IMO. The 6" trigger is probably already unable to stretch out. This may be the beginning of your issues. Consider upgrading or trading out specimens soon.

 

[CaptainAhab]

a solid 1.0 of nitrite is a problem. how long has the tank been up? do you age your PWC water before changing? What your SG?. Did your tank fully cycle? 1.0 is not good

 

[CaptainAhab]

test them again now please if you can

 

[Innovator]

Does the fish look to be beaten with ragged fins, reddened areas, etc? How are the other fish behaving?

 

[possolutions]

Maybe the tank is too small or fish too aggressive......Is there anything I can do do shock back into life? add chemicals, salt, anything??!?!

 

[possolutions]

My test kit is out i will go buy a new one today.

Tank has been up 3 months.

The butterfly back fin is a little torn up, but they dont show any aggression when I see them either from far or near.

Other fish are fine.

 

[Innovator]

They would not be showing aggression at this point in time, but I have a feeling there was aggression at some point if the back fin is a tad torn. You need a larger tank for the trigger. By chance, is your NO2 (nitrite) measurement in ppm? Just curious since NO2, in ppm, does not pose a threat to marine fish unless within the 100's+ and even invertebrate larvaes are able to withstand 10's of it before succumbing. If anything you can perform a 25% water change, wait a couple hours, and then another 25% water change. Placing some cover around the animal may also help...can you get a pic of the animal?

 

[possolutions]

The butterfly died

I did a 30% water change Nitrate was 70ppm. Ammo and Nitrite were, 0 pH was 8.2, and SG was at 1.024

 

[Innovator]

By chance, does your office get cleaned by morning cleanup crews? Thinking along the lines of chemicals used to clean windows, desks, etc? I don't think NO2 and NO3 were problematic enough to cause death and most likely picked upon or possibly internal injury evading. Just my .02...sorry for the loss

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with Innovator here. It could very easily been something from the office cleaning crew that got into the tank.

Captain is correct as well you may want to fine the trigger a new home.