Sick pearl scale butterfly

[dromo2189]

Hello I bought this fish about a month ago. Everything seemed to be doing fine. Then all of sudden I came home and he was dead. I been doing. 25 percent weekly water change. My nitrate has been around 20 ever since I had my tank. When you pulled him out he had slim all over him. Any idea what it could be?

 

[Sniperhank]

Was it eating? Were there any changes in behavior? Any aggression in the system?
Can you tell us more about the system itself?

 

[dromo2189]

He was eating frozen mysis shrimp. No change in behavior at all. I have a 65 gallon tank with a protein skimmer and a hob filter. Two power heads and about 40 pounds of live rock

 

[Sniperhank]

How about current parameters?
What other livestock are in the system?

 

[dromo2189]

I just have two clown fish
And two starfish

Right is nitrate is still 20
Nitrite is 0
Ph is about 7-7.5

 

[bribo12]

pH is super low but I'd put this more on improper capture techniques and a very delicate species. Butterflies are not easy fish especially if they were possibly cyanide caught

 

[dromo2189]

Would that really matter though considering it was in the tank for so long?

 

[dromo2189]

Do you think there can be a problem with petco saltwater tank. I had a flame angel and the same thing happened. Was eating and acting fine then all of a sudden dead

 

[Sniperhank]

How were the fish acclimated to the system?

 

[dromo2189]

In a small tank over a 4 hour process. With a drip unit

 

[dromo2189]

When I buy from my local salt water store I never had a problem. Seems like the last two from petco has died

 

[Sniperhank]

There is a long chain of stress that wild collected fish go through.

 

[dromo2189]

So do you think how petco handles them can be the problem? Cause nothing else has died on me besides the two fish from there

 

[Sniperhank]

Every store is different, even the big box stores. I couldn't even start to speculate with how many causes of stress there are in the chain of custody before it enters your home.

 

[dromo2189]

Okay thanks I was just curious if it was my tank or maybe the pet store. I'm trying to do this tank proper and take my time

 

[Sniperhank]

If that is the case, then I would hold off on anything and simply observe your system.

 

[dromo2189]

Is online ordering okay for fish? Cause I like the website petsolution just wondering how they are

 

[Sniperhank]

It once again depends from supplier to supplier. I have done all of my stocking from online without many major issues.