Copperband Butterfly not eating

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ah yes...well, this saturday will be 2wks in the QT tank and still clear eyes and fins. 4 more wks to go. I plan on feeding mysis shrimp soaked in vitamins and zoecon for 4 more days, then plan on introducing new food. I am very happy and thankful.

Kirk
 
Very cool, congratulations! I wouldn't expect him to show interest in other foods, but if he did... even better! That's my only complaint about my CBB, a very limited diet. Mysis, with a side of mysis, and wash it all down with some mysis.
 
Lee (or anyone),

well, this saturday it will be 4 wks since I added the CBB to the QT. it is eating, but not with the vigor I would like and not enough as I would like. should I still keep it in the QT tank or wait until it is eating with vigor??

kirk
 
How many bites of food will it take before it stops eating? Does it pick at the rocks in the QT tank (grazing for food)?

Personally, I think 4 weeks in the QT is long enough unless you're concerned that it might waste away in your display. I think there's more (pods) for it to eat in there and it's easy to keep the water quality up. These fish need pristine water parameters, I learned the hard way.
 
my CBB was a pick here pick there eater, the only thing he pigged on was tubeflex worms till my carpet anemone caught him. He didn't pig out like a tang or clown.
 
Regal Feeding Strike

sorry tried to start new thread, please disregard
 
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If it's any conselation, Kirk, my role model CBB isn't ravenous, either, and he's fat. He eats well, but looks like a sluggard with the only other fish in the tank being a 2" baby sailfin tang and 4 lyretail anthias. My typical feeding routine is to stick a frozen cube of mysis onto the intake grate of the powerheads and let them do the work. As soon as the cube hits the water, the anthias start their piranha-esque flurry, and the sailfin and CBB start getting a little excited. As the chunks of mysis begin shooting out of the powerhead, the anthias are faster than the flow, and attack very aggressively, often grabbing mysis before they're even 12" out of the Seio 2600 powerhead. When the bulk of the mysis finally clouds out into the water, the CBB typically only gets about a dozen or so pieces of the mysis, and the sailfin about doubles that. The anthias are usually done eating long before the food is gone. They're such small portion eaters, and such high energy, no wonder they require 3 feedings per day.

With the 2 or 3 feedings per day, the CBB gets a decent portion over all, though. But in this crowd, he always looks like he's just pecking at left overs at feeding time.
 
CBB is a pecking type fish and also as with many reef fish peck all day long.

Take advantage of to QT process not only to deal with any parasites. But get to know the animal and use this time to try various food combinations and find out what this particular animals likes best. Watch for his responsiveness, gage his overall health i.e. weight , color and also the physiological i.e. fear , friendliness etc. Don't put this guy in the main tank until your satisfied it's happy and healthy.

Good luck my friend.
 
Some marine fishes just never do eat vigorously. So long as the fish is eating AND eating the proper foods, without signs of any problem, then the time in quarantine should be no less than 6 weeks.
 
thanks for all of the replies..looks like this fish will be spending more time in the QT.

Kirk
 
Lee,

I am noticing a black spot on each fin and the back dorsal fin.

Is there such a thing as "black ich".??

If so, what is the treatment??

Kirk
 
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Lee,

Thanks for the article. However, after reading another article from about.com, it says the life cycle of this disease is the following:

The Life Cycle of These Worms


-Living in the substrate until mature, an adult worm seeks out a host fish.

-After feeding for about six days, it falls off into the substrate.

-About five days later the worm's body ruptures and releases a new population of young worms, and the cycle starts again, but in larger numbers.

First, the QT is bare bottom there is NO sand at all, so can black ich form in such an environment?? Could poor water quality be an culprit to having black ich??

I will try and get a pic today. I am going to try a FW dip method and see what results that yields.

Thanks
Kirk
 
Black Ich is not as definitive as Marine Ich. I mean by this that Black Ich is a group of parasites. Each has its own cycle and stages, although they are very similar.

It doesn't appear from poor water quality, although a fish with lowered resistance can be more susceptible because they have to get past the mucous coating (in which Tangs are deficient). This can be caused by almost any number of stressors, including water quality being off, and less than optimal nutrition. But, like many marine fish parasites, a healthy fish can 'get the disease' too.

Without a substrate, the Black Ich parasites will carry on their life.


 
Lee,

Thank you for the description. This helps. I learned something again.

Kirk
 
Lee,

HELP !!

I tried a FW dip this evening, and the following occurred:

The CBB swam around very fast and then sank to the bottom, was stiff and didnt move. At first, I thought it was dead, so I removed it from the FW dip container and immediately back into the QT tank. At first it floated to the top, but I kept move water across the gills, it finally started to breath and seems OK now.

Now my question, why did this occur? As I do not want a repeat of this to happen. My heart sank to my stomach very quickly. :D

The parameters of the FW dip were, temp was 80 degrees, and pH was 8.2. I used RO water.

For whatever reason, I was not able to get the pH any lower than 8.2 even though I was adding Baking Soda, but the pH would not lower any further. I have a pH 5.2 milkwaukee digital meter that displays temp and pH, and believe my readings were accurate. I tested this by checking the water parameters of my main display and they were OK.

(Now, I am fearful of doing another FW dip), Can you please calm my fears. :)

thanks
Kirk
 
I agree, however I need to treat the black spots that are on the fish.
I've never done a formalin bath before so I am leery about doing it. According to Lee's sticky a formalin bath is less stress for the fish than a FW dip.

Kirk
 
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