Pearlscale Butterfly not looking great...

[Farmer1759]

Good evening,

I have a relatively new 40 gallon tank that I began back at the end of Jan of this year. Got it up and running and introduced 2 clowns, a couple of hermits, 1 emerald crab, and most recently a pearlscale butterfly about 8 weeks ago. I'll start by saying he was extremely skittish for the first two weeks, but seemed to settle down. During daily feedings with the clowns he does not come around, but I have seen him pick at leftovers floating around in the tank as well as the algae on the rockwork; being totally blunt I have never been able to feed him directly. I had just purchased some garlic drops to entice direct feeding and attempted that for the first time tonight with a frozen cube of "Marine Cuisine". As I was putting it in the tank I noticed him in the corner fully sitting on the sand bed upright which was odd, about 5 minutes later he moved over to below the heater and is now lying flat on the sand bed. He is still breathing, but I'm guessing he is a goner at this point? I don't see anything visible on his body so I guess it's from starvation? Any help or advice would be appreciated... first time reefer here.

Pictures of the fish (Scarface), tank, and my most recent parameter check.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good evening,

I have a relatively new 40 gallon tank that I began back at the end of Jan of this year. Got it up and running and introduced 2 clowns, a couple of hermits, 1 emerald crab, and most recently a pearlscale butterfly about 8 weeks ago. I'll start by saying he was extremely skittish for the first two weeks, but seemed to settle down. During daily feedings with the clowns he does not come around, but I have seen him pick at leftovers floating around in the tank as well as the algae on the rockwork; being totally blunt I have never been able to feed him directly. I had just purchased some garlic drops to entice direct feeding and attempted that for the first time tonight with a frozen cube of "Marine Cuisine". As I was putting it in the tank I noticed him in the corner fully sitting on the sand bed upright which was odd, about 5 minutes later he moved over to below the heater and is now lying flat on the sand bed. He is still breathing, but I'm guessing he is a goner at this point? I don't see anything visible on his body so I guess it's from starvation? Any help or advice would be appreciated... first time reefer here.

Pictures of the fish (Scarface), tank, and my most recent parameter check.

Hate to say, but this fish appears moribund and is likely not to eat or swim normal from this point forward. Have I seen a fish rebound from this, yes but very rare. Cause can be impact injury, internal issue and they are susceptible to uronema for which this fish shows absolutely no signs of such
Have the clowns ever antagonized it?

 

[Farmer1759]

Ugh... I guess I'll have to wait and see with him. Checked the tank this AM and he had moved from his position to the other side of the tank, he actually swam relatively normally for about 30 seconds before going back down and lying horizontal on the sand bed.

Not that I have ever seen, those first two weeks he stuck close by the clowns and they seemed to not mind his company. Since then he has kinda minded his own space, but occasionally still swims over near the clowns.

 

[Farmer1759]

An update for anyone interested in this thread is that unfortunately he passed yesterday afternoon. Didn't have high hopes he would make it, but sucks nonetheless. Such a good looking fish, but I guess I'll replace him with something a little bit easier to manage.