Copperband issue

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

My copperband has been eating pretty well over the last 2 months or so, woke up today and it just wont eat!
Very lethargic around the tank when it does move.

I've added some fresh mussels for him to pick at today but he just doesnt pay any attention to them.

Anyone have any ideas on what I could do?

Big G · Jan 13, 2019

Their natural foods are sponges, feather dusters and worms.

Musovski · Jan 13, 2019

Get some blood worms, defrost and sort of lay them on a rock or sand.

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Musovski said:
Get some blood worms, defrost and sort of lay them on a rock or sand.

Yeah hes stopped eating blood worms today as well. I managed to place a few scattered around next to him and he totally ignored it.

Sort of stuck on what to do [emoji17]

Musovski · Jan 13, 2019

Do you got a video, or pic of him?

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Musovski said:
Do you got a video, or pic of him?

Would you say that's really thin?

Musovski · Jan 13, 2019

A little more black than should be, could be that something stressed him, or he got spooked by something. He will eat eventually, fish dont have much of a stomach to ignore food for too long.

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Musovski said:
A little more black than should be, could be that something stressed him, or he got spooked by something. He will eat eventually, fish dont have much of a stomach to ignore food for too long.

I really hope it starts to eat again soon and that it's not on a downward slope and then dies

Carterfish · Jan 13, 2019

Did you add anything new to the aquarium ?

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Carterfish said:
Did you add anything new to the aquarium ?

Nope. He was the last thing added a while ago now.
This morning he was just sitting in a corner behind the rock staring up but hes moved to the other side of tank now

LobsterOfJustice · Jan 13, 2019

Is the fish breathing normal? Either heavy or rapid breathing?

OrionN · Jan 13, 2019

He is extremely thin. It is very likely that he have not eat well for a long time. Does not have any obvious disease. If you don't get him to eat he will not live for long. I don't know what else you can do to help. Good luck.
Fresh clam or oyster on the half shell always works for me.

Instigate · Jan 13, 2019

I agree with Orion, that CBB's belly is very sunken in. You could try to make a grazing pad as shown below. Live blackworms, live brine shrimp or fresh clams frozen then thinly sliced are all things mine would not ignore. Mine also loved Fish Frenzy and spirulina brine shrimp. Are there any aggressive eaters in the tank that might be causing him to not eat? Was he QT'd and treated for internal parasites?

Mine was terrified of this PVC feeder I made but I've seen others have success with this type of feeder:

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Unfortunately I woke up today and it has died. All attempts of getting it to eat again failed.
Was weird though because it was always eating loads and I would over feed the tank for him

Instigate · Jan 13, 2019

Kial said:
Unfortunately I woke up today and it has died. All attempts of getting it to eat again failed.
Was weird though because it was always eating loads and I would over feed the tank for him

Was he QT'd? If so was he treated for internal parasites?

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Instigate said:
Was he QT'd? If so was he treated for internal parasites?

Not by me. The lfs I picked it up from said he came out of qt the day before I picked it up

Instigate · Jan 13, 2019

Kial said:
Not by me. The lfs I picked it up from said he came out of qt the day before I picked it up

So probably not I would assume.

Kial · Jan 13, 2019

Instigate said:
So probably not I would assume.

I would hope that they wouldn't lie about it [emoji17] but it's literally gone from being fine, to dead within a day so there must be another issue other than not eating

Instigate · Jan 13, 2019

Kial said:
I would hope that they wouldn't lie about it [emoji17] but it's literally gone from being fine, to dead within a day so there must be another issue other than not eating

Well, QT means different things to different people so I don't know if they outright lied about anything. Plenty of people only treat if they see something. If the fish was eating a lot but still wasted away I would assume internal parasites. Because he had a very sunken belly you can see he wasn't getting the nutrition he needed.