The Case of The Murdered CopperBand

[secondjeff]

I have had my FOWLR 230 l (60g) tank for about a month and a half now since its first cycle. Over that time I have added about 12.5 kilos (27.5 pounds) of live rock, two captive-bred Ocellaris’, three Chromis Greens, and a Sergeant-Major Damselfish who hitchhiked in on a water change. Last week for my birthday my wife bought me a beautiful Copperband Butterfly. I called him Louis the IV. We went away the next day for Easter holidays/vacation and left the feeding to a friend. Unfortunately we didn’t tell him about topping off the sump tank and four days later, when we returned, the pump was pumping mostly air into the main tank. There was still some circulation and all the levels were still perfect. The only thing that would have changed in the water was the dissolved oxygen level. The clowns, chromis’, and the sergeant were all fine.. Louis, however, was listing badly. His left side had about three red-coloured scrapes and his left eye was covered in what looked like a clear scab with a small nipple in the centre. The left eye was also ringed in red. His right side was perfectly fine. We did a 60% water change immediately. Louis fought bravely but didn’t last the night. When I took him to the fish store they said the Sergeant-Major probably attacked him at night. They said the abrasions were marks from the attack and the eye was a disease caused by the stress. I know there are a variety of ‘could be’ reasons, but I’m less inclined to believe this one as the sergeant major is very tiny (about a third the size of Louis) and in fact, is picked on by the chromis’ and the clowns all the time. Has anyone else had any similar experiences? Can anyone offer a second opinion or advice as to why this happened?
Should I remove my sergeant-major? Could the Clownfish be a problem in the future if I add new fish?

 

[Damsel13]

I am very sorry for your loss. I was planning to go away for my Mothers wedding so your loss is very real to me as is flooding issues which I had never thought of before reading about them on here.

I hope you solve your case.

 

[Jan]

Yes, and I'm about to go away for 2 weeks and I'm really nervous about that too.

I'm very sorry to hear about your butterflyfish.

 

[LakeEd]

Its possible that your Damsel (better knows as a Damn-Sel) did attack him. Damsel's in general are a very aggressive fish, surprisingly so for their size.

It is also possible, that as your system began blowing air back into your display tank, the stress caused your poor fish to become very nervous, and he/she started dashing all around, and ran into rockwork.

In either case, once the damage was done, the extra stress of what was going on in your tank is what did your fish in. When under stress, our fish do very poorly at recovering from anything, and typically end up catching about everything in the world in the way of infections.

I'm sorry for your loss, as I'm sure your friend that was so graciously feeding in your absence is. There is good in any situation, and if I had to look at this experience for you and find it, I would guess it is now your knowledge of imparting to the adoptive care-givers more information on routine maintenance to your tank (top off), so hopefully this situation doesn't arise the next time you are gone on vacation.

 

[secondjeff]

Yes, the poor fish took the brunt of my ineptitude, but I think I'll wait a little before I try a sensitive fish... and remove the sergeant....

 

[Brenden]

Copperbands are bad for infections and also hard to get eating. Had it ate anything? If so what?

 

[Damsel13]

Is it true that Copperbands like aiptasia? Maybe I am thinking of a different fish.
Sorry a little off the subject.

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Is it true that Copperbands like aiptasia? Maybe I am thinking of a different fish.
Sorry a little off the subject.

Yes they do..

Copperbands are difficult fish to keep. Many never eat in captivity, eventually starving to death. They are also timid fish , they should never be kept with aggresive tankmates.
Your copperband sounds as if he had a bacterial infection or secondary infection. Since you had not quarentined the fish, he could have been infested with parasites . Secondary infections often develope with ich and other parasites. Quarentines are also good for letting the fish recover from the stress of shipping etc.. and allowing it to gain strength before placing it with other fish where it will have to compete for food. Stress such as this can often cause Vibro -(a type of bacterial infection) which is very common in Butterflys and Angels.