Yellow longnose butterflyfish help!

[Rangerbob86]

I’ve had a yellow longnose butterflyfish for 3 weeks now. He’s currently in a 75 gallon quarantine tank with an Aquaclear 110 filter, a couple of airstones and a powerhead. When I first got him, he refused pellet food but ate mysis right up. I tried switching it up and feeding him Rods frozen 5 or 6 days ago, and he didn’t touch it. Ever since then, he barely eats anything. He will swim up to every piece of food floating around, but will only eat maybe 1 or 2 of them. I’ve tried a few drops of garlic extreme in the mysis, tried selcon, and tried krill and bloodworms as well. Today, I noticed it looks like his nose is cut, and he has completely stopped eating. Any idea what this could be, or what to do at this point? The temperature is 80, ph is 8.2, salinity is 1.024, and there is no ammonia. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Humblefish]

Looks like an injury. I'm wondering if he stuck his snout in that powerhead and it got cut by the impeller. Sticking their snouts in crevices looking for food is what they do in nature.

IMO; this species is a lot more delicate than is widely believed. Not as bad as a CBB but close. I bought one for my personal tank, ran it thru QT, was eating great the entire time. A few months after I put it in my DT, it just stopped eating/was hiding a lot and I found it dead the next day. I even dissected it but could find nothing wrong.

My next Longnose came to me as 1 of 3 fish I was experimenting on that had velvet. The other two were tangs and admittedly the Longnose had velvet the worst. The Longnose got a formalin bath, while both tangs got an acriflavine bath as part of their treatment. The tangs have completed treatment and are looking great, while the Longnose stopped eating & died.

Your best bet is to try feeding some live blackworms. The cut may require antibiotic treatment if it starts looking worse.

 

[Aquaph8]

I've had very similar experiences with this fish, like the CBB, they have a real hard time competing for food.

 

[Rangerbob86]

Looks like an injury. I'm wondering if he stuck his snout in that powerhead and it got cut by the impeller. Sticking their snouts in crevices looking for food is what they do in nature.

IMO; this species is a lot more delicate than is widely believed. Not as bad as a CBB but close. I bought one for my personal tank, ran it thru QT, was eating great the entire time. A few months after I put it in my DT, it just stopped eating/was hiding a lot and I found it dead the next day. I even dissected it but could find nothing wrong.

My next Longnose came to me as 1 of 3 fish I was experimenting on that had velvet. The other two were tangs and admittedly the Longnose had velvet the worst. The Longnose got a formalin bath, while both tangs got an acriflavine bath as part of their treatment. The tangs have completed treatment and are looking great, while the Longnose stopped eating & died.

Your best bet is to try feeding some live blackworms. The cut may require antibiotic treatment if it starts looking worse.

Thanks for the reply. I will remove the powerhead in case that was the issue. I'm also picking up some live blackworms today, so I'm really hoping that helps. Any suggestions on antibiotic treatments in case he doesn't approve? All I have on hand at the moment is Prazipro, Cupramine, ParaGuard, Maracyn 2, and Furan-2. I'd likely have to order something...

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks for the reply. I will remove the powerhead in case that was the issue. I'm also picking up some live blackworms today, so I'm really hoping that helps. Any suggestions on antibiotic treatments in case he doesn't approve? All I have on hand at the moment is Prazipro, Cupramine, ParaGuard, Maracyn 2, and Furan-2. I'd likely have to order something...

Furan-2 would work, but if you could get your hands on some Kanaplex that would be better for this situation IMO. The active ingredient (kanamycin) is readily absorbed by the fish's skin, making it more useful in treating internal infections. With most other antibiotics, you have to soak it in food to treat internally but that's not an option anyway since the fish is not eating.

In short, if Kanaplex + feeding live blackworms doesn't work, I think you're in trouble with this fish. Keep trying different foods though. All my CBB with velvet would ever eat on a consistent basis was spirulina brine shrimp. He also picked at LRS Reef Frenzy and cyclopeeze (the frozen kind.)

 

[Humblefish]

Would be a shot in the dark, but if you think this fish might have flukes or possibly velvet... a FW dip might prove useful:

Freshwater Dip: Provides temporary relief for Brooklynella, Flukes, Marine Velvet disease (Amyloodinium); possibly even Ich & Uronema marinum (both unproven). Can be used to confirm the presence of Flukes.

How To Treat - Fill a bucket with RODI water, and use a heater to match the temperature to the water the fish is coming from. Aerate the water heavily for at least 30 minutes prior to doing the dip, then discontinue aeration while performing the dip. Fish aren’t overly pH sensitive for short durations like this, but you can squirt a little tank water into the dip just before the fish goes in to help bring it up.

Place the fish in the freshwater (FW) dip and observe closely. It is not unusual for them to freak out a little at first. Also, tangs are notorious for “playing dead” during a FW dip. The important thing is to watch their gills; they should be breathing heavily at all times during the dip. If breathing slows, it’s time to exit the dip. Dip the fish for no longer than 5 minutes. Multiple dips may be done, but it’s important to give your fish a day to recuperate in-between dips.

For flukes, use a dark (preferably black) bucket so you can see if tiny white worms fall out of the fish (especially out of the gills) at around the 3-4 minute mark. The worms will settle to the bottom, so you can use a flashlight to look for them there as well.

Pros - Provides temporary relief for a wide range of diseases in a chemical free environment. Can “buy you more time” until a proper treatment can be done.

Cons/Side Effects - Not a permanent “fix” for any disease, as FW dips are not potent enough to eradicate all of the parasites/worms afflicting the fish. Some fish can have an adverse reaction to a FW dip by appearing unable to maintain their equilibrium once returned to the aquarium. If this happens, hold the fish upright (using latex, nitrile or rubber gloves), and gently glide him through the water (to get saltwater flowing through the gills again). It is also a good idea to place the fish in an acclimation box until he appears “normal”.

 

[Rangerbob86]

Would be a shot in the dark, but if you think this fish might have flukes or possibly velvet... a FW dip might prove useful:

Freshwater Dip: Provides temporary relief for Brooklynella, Flukes, Marine Velvet disease (Amyloodinium); possibly even Ich & Uronema marinum (both unproven). Can be used to confirm the presence of Flukes.

How To Treat - Fill a bucket with RODI water, and use a heater to match the temperature to the water the fish is coming from. Aerate the water heavily for at least 30 minutes prior to doing the dip, then discontinue aeration while performing the dip. Fish aren’t overly pH sensitive for short durations like this, but you can squirt a little tank water into the dip just before the fish goes in to help bring it up.

Place the fish in the freshwater (FW) dip and observe closely. It is not unusual for them to freak out a little at first. Also, tangs are notorious for “playing dead” during a FW dip. The important thing is to watch their gills; they should be breathing heavily at all times during the dip. If breathing slows, it’s time to exit the dip. Dip the fish for no longer than 5 minutes. Multiple dips may be done, but it’s important to give your fish a day to recuperate in-between dips.

For flukes, use a dark (preferably black) bucket so you can see if tiny white worms fall out of the fish (especially out of the gills) at around the 3-4 minute mark. The worms will settle to the bottom, so you can use a flashlight to look for them there as well.

Pros - Provides temporary relief for a wide range of diseases in a chemical free environment. Can “buy you more time” until a proper treatment can be done.

Cons/Side Effects - Not a permanent “fix” for any disease, as FW dips are not potent enough to eradicate all of the parasites/worms afflicting the fish. Some fish can have an adverse reaction to a FW dip by appearing unable to maintain their equilibrium once returned to the aquarium. If this happens, hold the fish upright (using latex, nitrile or rubber gloves), and gently glide him through the water (to get saltwater flowing through the gills again). It is also a good idea to place the fish in an acclimation box until he appears “normal”.

Thanks again for all of the advice. I will try Kanaplex and see how it goes. I've been told it can safely be combined with Furan-2 as well, so maybe I'll try that if there are no signs of improvement. Would you recommend a freshwater dip even if I can't identify what is going on? Or could that make it worse...

 

[Rangerbob86]

Furan-2 would work, but if you could get your hands on some Kanaplex that would be better for this situation IMO. The active ingredient (kanamycin) is readily absorbed by the fish's skin, making it more useful in treating internal infections. With most other antibiotics, you have to soak it in food to treat internally but that's not an option anyway since the fish is not eating.

In short, if Kanaplex + feeding live blackworms doesn't work, I think you're in trouble with this fish. Keep trying different foods though. All my CBB with velvet would ever eat on a consistent basis was spirulina brine shrimp. He also picked at LRS Reef Frenzy and cyclopeeze (the frozen kind.)

Unfortunately, he wasn't very interested in the live blackworms . I picked up a few medications. I picked up API General Cure (Metronidazole and Praziquantel), Seachem KanaPlex, and API Furan‑2 since these were the three I was recommended from all my posts. I've read that all three of these can be combined? Any advice on dosages/a treatment plan would be very appreciated...thanks!

 

[Paul B]

There is nothing wrong with that fish, they don't like bare quarantine tanks. He is extremely stressed. They also won't eat pellets or any dry food (usually) They need places to hide and not in a PVC elbow. They normally cruise around a reef sticking their nose into coral crevices looking for tiny inverts and worms. That fish should be fed live blackworms every day and clams. I took this in Bora Bora.
He got himself injured because he can't hide and is trying to get behind whatever he finds.


They are a little more delicate than most fish, but if you feed them correctly, and put them in a reef tank, they are fine.

 

[Rangerbob86]

There is nothing wrong with that fish, they don't like bare quarantine tanks. He is extremely stressed. They also won't eat pellets or any dry food (usually) They need places to hide and not in a PVC elbow. They normally cruise around a reef sticking their nose into coral crevices looking for tiny inverts and worms. That fish should be fed live blackworms every day and clams. I took this in Bora Bora.
He got himself injured because he can't hide and is trying to get behind whatever he finds.


They are a little more delicate than most fish, but if you feed them correctly, and put them in a reef tank, they are fine.

Thanks for the reply! Any suggestions on how to get him to eat backworms, and how to reduce stress in the QT? Add more hiding places?

 

[Humblefish]

You can mix Furan-2+Kanaplex+General Cure, but the problem with dumping all of those medications on him at once is it will just further suppress his appetite. Kanaplex is relatively mild so that's where I would start. Paul has a good idea about trying a clam. I buy littleneck clams from the grocery store. Maybe also try a black mussel. You can also try adding a small piece of LR from the display to see if he'll pick at that. I've had pretty good luck getting CBBs & other butterflies to eat out of one of these:

 

[Paul B]

Thanks for the reply! Any suggestions on how to get him to eat backworms, and how to reduce stress in the QT? Add more hiding places?

They like to squeeze into tight places where they feel secure. I would use local (clean) rocks or even clean bricks. They need hiding places and they really hate PVC as it actually makes them stand out when they are trying to blend in to the surroundings. I would also add some non calcium gravel so he can't see his reflection on the bottom. He is very stressed and won't eat like that. He will just waste away in there like that.