Butterflyfish help

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

Hello. I have a Spotband Butterflyfish, Chaetodon punctatofasciatus, that is not doing well. It is breathing heavy, and sitting on the bottom. Occasionally he will sort of swim to a different spot and do the same. This just started this morning. Last night everything was fine, ate at feeding time swimming and pecking at the rockwork like normal. I tested the main parameters this morning, salinity is 1.024, ammoia at 0, nitrate at 20, temp is 78. This is a FOWLR tank that's been running for about 5 years, and this fish has been in for about 5 months. Nothing else has been added since, except a new batch of cheato that I added Friday. There is no damage or spots or anything that I can see on the fish. Any suggestions? Thanks.

USMC 4 LIFE · Jan 21, 2018

Can you set up a QT for him? What meds do you have access to?

You can give him a FW dip and check for flukes, then place him in a QT for medication.

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

I don't have a QT setup, but do have a 20G that I've used as a 'hospital' tank. I've treated with copper in it. It's not setup, but I have more than 20G of water mixed ready to do water changes. I was trying to read about FW dip, but keep getting sidetracked with other threads. Will try to find how to do FW dip, get the 20G setup, and get him in. Don't really have any meds, just Prazipro, Coppersafe, and Cupramine. I'll probably use half freshly mixed SW and half tank water because of temp in the 20G.

USMC 4 LIFE · Jan 21, 2018

Ok great. Do you have a seeded sponge that you can use from your DT? If not then I would personally use 10 gallons of the DT water so I know the QT is cycled. Yes, you’re being part of the problem with you but it prevents ammonia from building up in the tank and mixing potentially toxic chemicals like prime and copper.

To do a FW dip
Get a black or dark bucket, fill it with RODI water that’s aerated with matching DT temperature, and leave the fish in there for 3-5 mins. The butterfly will lay on its side breathing heavy. If it starts to slow down considerably then I would pull him out and place him in the QT. After, observe for white/clear oval specks. Post pics for confirmation.

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

I have a darkish container of RODI water in the tank being aerated and getting to temp now. Will start emptying and refilling the 20G, but it'll take time for temp. I do have a sponge filter in my sump, always keep one there. Will probably be more than an hour before 20G is filled, up to temp and ready. So I'll wait for a while to do the FW dip.

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

The fish has been through the FW dip and is in the 20G. Temp is currently 76 and slowly rising, hope that is close enough. There were some opaque round things in the bottom of the dip container. I'll try to upload a couple pics.

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

Humblefish · Jan 21, 2018

I'm not 100% sure if those are dead flukes or not. @melypr1985 for a second opinion. Did any of them look like sesame seeds (pic below)?

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

Not really. To me it looks more like uneaten food in the pics.

melypr1985 · Jan 21, 2018

It looks like one or two came off there. Has his breathing evened out some since the dip?

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

Seemed about the same as before. The fish died while I was gone to the store.

Mark Gray · Jan 21, 2018

Tphill said:
Seemed about the same as before. The fish died while I was gone to the store.

Oh sorry about your loss

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

Thanks. That's the second one of these I've lost. Wondering if it's the Indonesia thing? Anyway, I now have more meds on hand. I got all the store had that was on Humblefish's thread 'Medications to keep on hand'. Kanaplex, MetroPlex, Focus and Prime.

Big G · Jan 21, 2018

What was the source of the chaeto? Did you dip, wash, or qt it?

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

It was bought from the selling forum here. I rinsed in some fresh SW.

Big G · Jan 21, 2018

Tphill said:
It was bought from the selling forum here. I rinsed in some fresh SW.

Here's some info on qt time for chaeto. Hate to say it but your DT that housed the butterfly may have ich or more likely due to the fast decline of your fish, velvet.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/qt-for-chaeto.327894/#post-4066719

cracker · Jan 21, 2018

Tphi, I lost 2 butterfly's in a row as well. So are Butterfly's considered delicate & prone to disease ? Any special care advised? Thanks

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

That would be bad. I read some of the symptoms, and the fish was doing none of that swimming into flow of powerheads or flashing or anything remotely similar, so hopefully not.

Tphill · Jan 21, 2018

I hope they aren't delicate or prone to disease, I've got a pearlscale in the same tank the spotband was in. They were aquired at the same time, did QT together and hung out together. The pearlscale is fine currently.

Big G · Jan 21, 2018

Unfortunately, these days the symptoms you listed at the start of the thread have become all too common these days with velvet. It's rampant in the industry these days. Little or no outward symptoms and the fish suddenly dies because the parasites have attacked the fish inside the gills where it's not visible to you doing extreme damage. Sorry for your loss.