Sick Klein Butterfly fish

[Bosco83]

I woke up this morning to find my Klein Butterfly fish looking really bad. He seems to be getting worse as the day goes on. He was in quarantine for 2 months and we put him in our 55 gallon fish-only tank along with a small cowfish and 2 clowns a few days ago. He's been eating and fairly active but this morning he was rapidly breathing with what looks like ulcers on his sides. I tested the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates--the ammonia and nitrites were both 0 and the nitrates were at 30 ppm. The clowns and boxfish look fine. He's declining quickly, currently just sitting on the bottom of the tank behind a rock.

I don't want to put him back in quarantine since I have 2 other new fish in there for another tank that are so far looking good and seem to be healthy. We could do a water change or put in him an 18 gallon storage tank that has newly made water in it, I'm just not sure at this point what would be the best step to take next.

 

[Bosco83]

We set up another quarantine tank for him but he died soon after we put him in.

 

[mal1099]

sorry for your loss. Could it have been hit by something when you moved it to the main tank? I had a CBB that had the same type of damage on him from another fish beating it up.

 

[vinny2261]

Maybe it got stuck to a intake?

 

[Bosco83]

No I don't believe he got hit by anything he has been in there for almost a week looking just fine swimming all around and eating like normal. The power heads in the tank are really weak. Also the red marks were on both sides. We would still like to know what happened to him so we can prevent this next time.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Almondsaz]

Brian: just saw your thread, sorry to hear about your KB. I have one and haven't experienced the red patches yours presents. Mine had a few scales missing in the transfer and is now back to normal. They are great additions and I like having one in my reef tank - hasn't really nipped at anything (coral that is) so fingers crossed - he is going to do well in the reef. Hope your new fish fair well when you introduce them into the 55 from your QT. Is your aquascape secure? I wonder if it is possible that a rock slid and he got pinched - hence the spot on both sides. Just a thought to consider if your aquascape isn't secure.

 

[Bosco83]

Brian: just saw your thread, sorry to hear about your KB. I have one and haven't experienced the red patches yours presents. Mine had a few scales missing in the transfer and is now back to normal. They are great additions and I like having one in my reef tank - hasn't really nipped at anything (coral that is) so fingers crossed - he is going to do well in the reef. Hope your new fish fair well when you introduce them into the 55 from your QT. Is your aquascape secure? I wonder if it is possible that a rock slid and he got pinched - hence the spot on both sides. Just a thought to consider if your aquascape isn't secure.

Yea we might get another one he was pretty cool his name was Calvin he was in my wifes tank. The fish I have in my qt are a Blue Jaw Trigger, and a Royal Gramah going in my tank. I don't believe anything fell on him all the rocks seem in place but I guess it's possible.

Brian

 

[leebca]

It has symptoms similar to those of fish that are poisoned. Your tank may have gone through one or more ammonia or nitrite spikes? This would poison the fish. I don't why you'd add all those fish so close together into the main system.

Generally, I recommend adding one fish about every 6 weeks, giving time for the biological filter to adjust to the new bioload.