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Copper Banded Butterfly changing appearance...
4/20/20 Help needed in the UK! Chelmon reading
03/18/10 Copperband Butterfly acting lethargic - 2/11/2006 Hello WWM Crew! First, let me thank you for your site and great information. I have been reading for the last 2 hours or so (not for the first time!) but haven't been able to spot the answer I'm looking for. So if I've overlooked it somewhere please do not think ill of me. <Mmm, no. And if you have ideas on how to arrange the content here, to make it more readily accessible, assimilable, please do speak up> I have a 75g tank w/a 30g sump that has been up for about 2.5 months with LR, and fish and inverts for about 6 weeks. I let the LR cure for two months prior to putting it into the tank, and it seemed to cycle during that period. Since setting up the tank, I had my original cycle and my NH3, NO2 and NO3 have all been staying pretty much at 0. Ca was low at about 320 ppm but I managed to increase it to 450 over the last 10 days. I add a small amount of Iodine (<5 ml) once a week. Same with Kent essential elements. I change out about 10 gallons per week with fresh saltwater. My SG=1.025, Ph=8.2, KH=11. I have about 75-80 # LR in the main tank, maybe another 15# in the sump, and am running UV and a protein skimmer. I run a 1200 gph pump from the tank through the sump and have a 2nd closed loop system w/a Squid and an 850 Eheim pump. total flow in the tank seems pretty good. I have one pearly Jawfish, one Sailfin blenny, 2 clowns, 1 blue tang, 1 Copperband butterfly, 2 Turbos, several Astreas, several Trochus, and about a dozen total hermits (blue, red and scarlet). I overfed a bit when starting out and have some algae growth and a little Cyano started in the areas out of the main current. I am getting these under control now but still am working on cleaning it up a little. Last week 2 emeralds died within a day of each other, and two Turbos mysteriously bit the dust. All the inverts and fish seem healthy with the exception of the butterfly. So I guess I have two questions. Any idea why the emeralds and snails would have died? <Mmm, possibly from some sort of "imbalance" from the addition of the supplements... though these should be discounted due to your water changes... or a biological agent/poisoning in situ> And now for the big question! My Copperband, who I love dearly, went from being perfectly normal and eating well one day, to laying on the bottom, gasping and not eating the next. <... am gravitating more to the latter stated cause> He was eating Mysis and then decided one day he would only eat live brine shrimp. (I guess even fish love McDonalds, eh?) <Don't supersize!> Anyway, I tried a variety of things to get him back on Mysis but he just wouldn't eat. Eventually he showed what I was told by my LFS is a Lymphocystis growth on his lower lip. <Environmental/stress related/direct> I was told to not worry about it as it would go away on its own in a month or so, <Yes, good advice> and it never seemed to bother him eating. So in an effort to keep him well fed while getting rid of his wart, I kept giving him brine shrimp though I added Zoe and Zoecon vitamins and a garlic elixir to the shrimp as well as feeding them to gut load then before feeding. Unfortunately he seems to now be in bad shape - drifting around the tank, wont eat, and even looks somewhat emaciated even though he ate as recently as last night. I haven't noticed any cysts on him and his color is good. He looks normal with the exception of his laying on the bottom on his side and slight pumping of his gills. Is it possible for him to starve to death eating brine shrimp? <Yes... not uncommon> Could he have some sort of parasite? <Yes> Would a freshwater dip help him? <Not likely> Also, it seems that I noticed the tang scratch the LR a couple of times when I first added him to the tank about 3 weeks ago but he is fine now, and he was fine at the LFS for the week they had him. <They do this...> Did I introduce a parasite to my tank with the tang? <Possibly... am sure you're aware of the benefits of quarantine> I know - I should have isolated him first but it seemed sort of foolish since I had just bought all the other fish from the same LFS the in the previous couple of weeks before. Sorry for the long note but I wanted to make sure you had as much info as I could remember to type! Thanks in advance - Rob <Mmm, I would add a unit/pad of Polyfilter in your filter flow path here... allow the calcium concentration to drift down into the upper 300 ppms... and suspend the addition of supplements for a while. Bob Fenner> My Copperband Butterfly Hi again Bob; Rick your reefing friend here. I acquired a Copperband about 10 days ago. He is currently residing in my 20 gallon quarantine tank. He is doing extremely well. He is eating and looks healthy except he has white cotton like growths on his fins. <Likely the viral bits termed Lymphocystis... brought on by "stress"... and likely not infectious... would place this fish, use a biological cleaner... the white gunk will "disappear" in time> I have been treating the tank with CopperSafe to eliminate an ick outbreak on a flame angel acquired at the same time. The ick seems to be gone but I am worried about the white growths on the Copperband. I read on your site that these growths may be due to excessive copper treatment so I have completed two 5 gallon water changes in two days. I will complete another water change tomorrow. Can you tell from my layman's description what this butterfly may have? <Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/lymphfaqs.htm> Please help as I have never had much success with this species and actually this is the first Copperband I have ever seen eating. Please help me to save this poor fellow. <We will do what we can. As stated, I would "just" place this fish. Bob Fenner> Thank you Rick Johnston QT Emergency I have had a Chelmon
rostratus in QT for 36 hours. Tank is 20G with Whisper
3000 power filter, 200gph power head, heater. Initially, it did
stay close to the pvc tee I have in the tank, but would come out
and 'cruise' the tank until I came into the room and it
saw me. Ammonia, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate <10ppm, SG 1.0243.
(honestly the ammonia is a best guess, as I CANNOT read these
@#$%!#$ color charts very well. The chart says clear for no
ammonia, but the water 'fogs' and it is very hard to see
color. I have checked the fresh RO/DI water and it is clear) But
the pH this morning is 7.88! (Lights on about 3 hours) The fish
is obviously stressed, mouth open, hiding, occasional head spasms
(side to side shake). <Sounds like some kind of osmotic shock
or other form of shock. Don't rule out disease or collection
traumas as well. Continue to observe him carefully.> Can I
bring the pH back up with water changes, and if so, how fast?
<I'd do some medium sized water changes here-no more than
say, 20% at a time. Did the pH drop suddenly, or was this a
gradual downward trend? The solution could simply be to change
water more often or to make sure that when you feed, nothing goes
uneaten. Unfortunately, in a bare aquarium, buffering can
sometimes be a challenge. Yes, there are products to assist in
buffering, but you need to test for anything that you add,
ok?> Or, do I need more drastic measures, i.e. baking soda? BTW
it did eat fairly well the am (The mix from CMA, shrimp clams,
Nori, Zoe) Thanks. <Keep a close eye on the fish and the water
chemistry. If any of your readings are amiss, or if the pH
fluctuate wildly, you will need to take more drastic measures,
such as more massive water changes, etc. Keep on top of things,
and your fish should be okay. Good luck! Regards, Scott
F>
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