Falcula Trouble

[greenmonkey51]

I noticed today that my falcula butterfly was acting funny. It was breathing a little faster than normal and it's keeping its fins spread most of the time. It didn't eat when I feed the tank, and that kind of worried me since its a pig. All other fish are fine and eating well. Everything about the tank is normal, nothing has happened or changed. I had to install a pump and switch out sumps, so I did a water change along with that. I'm hoping the water change fixes everything. I don't believe its ich, since I can spot that pretty quickly. The only solution I have is lymphocytocis. I have seen the dots on his tail before and he had bulge under a pectoral fin, but those seemed to go away a week or 2 ago.

 

[leebca]

I'm unsure if you are requesting/asking for any suggestions, help or ideas. Without more info -- Lists A and B from this post: Info Needed to Help with Fish Problems there's not much I can share at this time. Some photos would be great -- close and clear (fill the frame with the fish).

 

[greenmonkey51]

Its a 3.5" falcula butterfly that I've had for a couple months. It is breathing faster than normal. There are no physical signs like spots or scratches. I came home this morning and found him laying on his side under a rock. Since this started he's been real wary and trying to hide in the corners. It was eating pretty well. I feed a couple big cubes of mysis everyday. Params are 0/0/10. There's nothing to really take a picture of. This has all came on really fast, within the last 2 days.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I think Lee is asking for more specifics such as:
Recent changes in temp, inhabitants, water changes
tank size specs
ph
dkh
sg
filtration
nitrites, nitrates, ammonia
Type foods besides the M cubes
injuries
tank enemies, etc etc etc.

Needs specifics to make diagnosis

 

[greenmonkey51]

125g with 55g sump, 8.3ph, 9dkh, 1.025, 160lb rock, TS300 Skimmer, 0,0,10. Hikari angel cubes and Hikari algae cubes, Nori couple times a week along with NLS pellet every now and then. No injuries. Tankmates are kleins, pearlscale, semilavartus butterfly. Pair of McCosker wrasses and a finespot wrasse. He's the biggest fish and its a very peaceful tank. Its very rare to see even a chase. He's gotten worse over the last 6 hours. He could swim decently and now he's just laying on his side. I think that euthanization is the best option now. The fish has gone from perfectly healthy to almost dead in 36 hours.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on the situation. Might try a formalin dip first prior to offing it, but in it's present condition it could be one in the same. Not common for a fish to just die, but we have all seen it happen. Occasionally internal problems take awhile to manifest.

My condolences, all I can add is sometimes shrimp happens.

 

[greenmonkey51]

I euthanized it a couple minutes ago. I had gotten stuck to a powerhead. The chances of it recovering where extremely unlikely I think. I'm more concerned about my other butterflies. Right now they all look real good and are eating very well. This hit so fast and hard, I can't think of a thing that it could be.

 

[leebca]

Sorry for the loss.

This is a relatively common 'check out' process of a fish that didn't acclimate well. That is not to say it was something you did or didn't do. Acclimation isn't always just getting the fish safely into the tank, it is usually a very long process for a wild creature to acclimate to captivity. Many, many of the marine fishes don't ever, however show signs as you've witnessed. This happens through no fault or cause of the hobbyist. If you acquired the fish, acclimated as recommended, and put it through a quarantine process, then into the high quality display/marine system, then you've done your part.

Some of the larger Butterflyfishes can be most resistant to acclimation -- the smaller the better usually until they are too small to fit in. The younger ones seem more bold and flexible to acclimation.

The only way to eliminate the possibility of disease or an affliction in something like this, is through postmortem exam. Not an option here, but be wary of any other fish behavior off the norm, in case there was a pathogen involved.

Sorry again for your loss.

 

[greenmonkey51]

I've been watching the tank like a hawk today and I've been noticing things. My pearlscale has a small bump near his mouth with a bit of red in it. The red looks like a blood vessel. This looks almost similar to the bump the falcula had under its pectoral fin. I have a burgess in QT right now, but I've shut down all new additions for a month now.

 

[leebca]

Good move.

Can you setup a hospital tank for the Pearlscale? Not to move the fish now, but to have it ready?

I would also suggest you obtain (if you don't have) non out-of-date Maracyn Two for saltwater fishes, and Maracyn One for saltwater fishes.

Even if the problem is not bacterial, bacteria will likely become a secondary condition you will want to control.

 

[greenmonkey51]

Unfortunately I'm out of tanks and room. Is there a good medicated food I can feed. The only solution would be pulling the burgess out of QT, and after having the falcula die. I really don't won't to risk the burgess at all. He was way to hard to get.

 

[leebca]

I would, as you wrote, not put any new fish into the display as yet.

There are medicated foods and medications that can be added to foods. The difference is about a factor of 10 in effectiveness. That is, the antibiotics added to water have about a 10X chance of doing a better job than those added to food.

You can find those meds on your LFS shelf or from sponsors here at Reef Frontiers.