Sick Copperband Butterfly

[--Sam--]

I have had a copperband in my tank for about 10 days now. He will not eat any food. I have tried mysid shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and live brine shrimp. He does pick a little bit at the live rock and sand, but doesn't appear to be eating. His sides are starting to appear bruised and his fins have some small black spots on them.

I have a 125 gal tank with 100lbs live rock and four other small/healthy fish.

My nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia are all at zero. Water temp is 80. Ph, salinity, calcium, and alkalinity were just tested and are all good too.

Any suggestions?

 

[steve-s]

His sides are starting to appear bruised and his fins have some small black spots on them.

Bruised as in brown or reddish in nature? Could be tubellarians or possibly trematodes. There's actually a few choices here so any additional info you could provide would be extremely helpful. Pic?

Do you have a QT? Do you recall what fish where housed with the Bfly while at the LFS?

As far as eating, Brendan on this site had success with his using cyclop-eeze and garlic.

Cheers
Steve

 

[--Sam--]

The copperband was quaratined for 5 days before putting him in the main tank. At the LFS he was with yellow tangs in a tank.

The bruises are more brownish-gray and his scales are turning dullish in color.

I'm working on getting a picture.

 

[macman7010]

Sam,

Im sorry the folks at the LFS didnt advise you of this but the Copperband Butterflyfish is one of the hardest to keep marine fish around. They are such specialized feeders that they need a near constant supply of Aiptasia anemones and other creatures to feed on, and many times will not take enough food in the aquarium to survive.

Chances are your fish's symptoms are a mix of stress induced disease - possibly an internal or external parasite - and the beginning signs of starvation. If possible I would return the fish for a full refund from the LFS. If that is not possible qt him again with a light solution of copper. I would try New Life Spectrum Marine Pellets soaked in Kent Freshwater Zoe given at a time when you have fed live brine shrimp.

 

[macman7010]

I

Kent Freshwater Zoe shrimp.

Sorry about that Sam, I meant Kent Marine Zoe. Zoe is a liquid vitamin supplement that works well at getting sick and undernourished fish back on thier feet.

 

[steve-s]

I agree on placing the Bfly back in the QT but I would not use copper. The evidence thus far doesn't support it's use. Once acclimated to the QT, lower the salinity some over the next few days down towards 20 ppt or so. This will have a "soothing" affect on the fish and reduce significant stress after all the shipping and moving around. As the fish regains osmotic balance, it can often times rekindle the feeding response.

Be very careful how you catch the Bfly as it will already be severely stressed. You don't want to compound that with being sick and push it over the edge. FWIW, in future allow all new arrivals to remain QT'd for no less than 4 weeks. This allows a proper adjustment period for the fish and you enough time and opportunity to react to potential threats to the main display and the fishs' health.

As far as what your fish does have, a pic may or may not be of any help but it sure could be a start. So far I'm leaning towards trematodes... any additional symptoms no matter how small would be of great help. In the meantime, I would look around today at a few LFS to see if any have prazipro or meds containing Praziquantel.

Cheers
Steve

Cheers
Steve

 

[Terry B]

Check the pH to see if it is low. The fish is probably very weak from starvation and can't resist bacterial infection. I would keep the fish in quarantine, reduce the salinity to 14ppt (SG about 1.009), treat with Nitrofurazone (Furacyn) and feed the poor thing some live or frozen blood worms. Anyone that has kept a copperband in a tank that contans feather dusters or other worms should know that copperbands love worms. Copperbands should be fed at least twice a day and four or five times is not too much for them. If it starts to eat the worms well then it will be easier to get it eating other foods.

Terry B