Black spot on copperband

[Slickdonkey]

Hi Steve,

I have a copperbanded butterfly who has been in quarantine for 2 months. He eats like a pig and seems very healthy. I am about ready to put him in the display but I've noticed two very small raised black spots on him. I've attached some pictures but it's really hard to see them even with the naked eye so I'm not sure how much the pictures will help. I can only see two spots on the fish.

Is this something to be concerned about? He hasn't showed any other signs in two months of isolation. He's in a 10 gallon tank. No ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates are 5-10. pH is 8.0. Water changes are performed once or twice a week.

As long as I've got your attention, what is the ideal diet for this fish? I've tried feeding him a variety of frozen foods soaked in vitamins but he seems to prefer mysis and spirulina-enhanced brine over all else. He eats them like a pig but as you can see he still has a little bit of a "bony" appearance. Is this normal? I feed twice per day.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Well I noticed another black spot today and I'm thinking it might be black ich. Caught just in the nick of time after 10 weeks of QT.

I tried a freshwater dip, matching temperature and pH and the fish immediately looked like he was dead. In the bowl he did a belly-up and floated. "Oh s$*&" I thought, and immediately transferred him back to his tank. At which point he righted himself, swam off slowly, and started picking at some leftover food. Grrrr...:evil:

Well rather than stress him further I'll give it another shot tomorrow night. This time I'll be ready for his tricks.

 

[Paul B]

The best diet for copperbands is worms. That is what they eat in the sea. I feed mine live black worms every day along with a variety of other things like clams, oysters, mysis, plankton and bananas but most of them won't eat bananas and of course they don't need them.
I have had many of them and that diet will keep them alive and healthy for years.
Paul
I also give him a can of beer every night

 

[Slickdonkey]

Well I gave him a freshwater dip for three minutes and the only thing I seem to have succeeded in doing is pissing him off. Maybe not black ich after all? There's basically one raised black spot on him.

 

[leebca]

This Butterflyfish (one of my favs) eats pods in the wild. Stick to gut loaded brine, small plankton, Cyclopeze, clam, and finely chopped meaty foods (especially mussel, clam, and scallop). All foods should be supplemented with vitamins and fats.

This fish will usually not 'fatten up' much, remaining thin to get in those tight places to pick out the pods.

I don't think the mark is Black Ich. The sign of BI is usually small pin-point black spots of blood. It may be a blemish/injury of some sort. Did it appear or was it there when you received it? At this point in time, I wouldn't worry about it, since you haven't indicated any change in the appearance so far in the quarantine process.

How does its poop look? If there is any stringiness to it, you might want to consider de-worming the fish, just to be conservative.

I'm glad it is going through a quarantine process. Very wise!

 

[Slickdonkey]

Thanks Lee.

As far as I know the mark has been there for quite some time. I've had him in QT for two months but only noticed it maybe a few weeks ago. He seems to be healthy otherwise.

Haven't actually noticed the poop... I'll keep an eye on it.