Butterfly bloated stomach.

[iReefer12]

Yeah, I have a blue throat pair. Love those 2, almost like 2 puppy dogs. (Sounds like a strange comparison, but the way they behave just makes me think that, lot of character.)

I tried to only keep SPS, so before I went this way, I sold most of my LPS corals. I kept a few a galaxea coral, a maze brain, torch, frogspawn hammer, GSP and a Duncan, war coral, and some chalices.)

So far all of those have made, albeit one frag of a hammer got taken out, who knows if eventually they'll take out the rest of the LPS.

On SPS, yeah I've seen the butterflies nip here an there but nothing substantial. I've never lost an SPS because of it. The worst one for it was the pearlscale, but after a few months in the tank, he knows that the food I'm gonna bring him around 6PM is gonna taste better that some nasty coral polyp lol.

My biggest problem is my checkerboard wrasse, he's slowly picking off the CUC, but so far I'm putting up with it.

 

[Cleo642]

Yeah, I have a blue throat pair. Love those 2, almost like 2 puppy dogs. (Sounds like a strange comparison, but the way they behave just makes me think that, lot of character.)

I tried to only keep SPS, so before I went this way, I sold most of my LPS corals. I kept a few a galaxea coral, a maze brain, torch, frogspawn hammer, GSP and a Duncan, war coral, and some chalices.)

So far all of those have made, albeit one frag of a hammer got taken out, who knows if eventually they'll take out the rest of the LPS.

On SPS, yeah I've seen the butterflies nip here an there but nothing substantial. I've never lost an SPS because of it. The worst one for it was the pearlscale, but after a few months in the tank, he knows that the food I'm gonna bring him around 6PM is gonna taste better that some nasty coral polyp lol.

My biggest problem is my checkerboard wrasse, he's slowly picking off the CUC, but so far I'm putting up with it.

Triggers ever tried to bite you? I read allot about people who triggers have tried to bite them or bit them. Lol
They are like guard dogs.

 

[iReefer12]

No I can't say they have. Blue throats are the most passive triggers from what I've read and tend to pose less of a threat to the CUC. So far that's proven true.

They still have teeth though, it's quite chilling when I've fed a deli shrimp, and you can hear there teeth biting at it.

I've never really worried about them biting me though, maybe a bit naive of me, but yeah, I'm still not worried.

Clown triggers I've heard tend to go bat-$h!t crazy every now and then so be careful with them.

 

[Cleo642]

No I can't say they have. Blue throats are the most passive triggers from what I've read and tend to pose less of a threat to the CUC. So far that's proven true.

They still have teeth though, it's quite chilling when I've fed a deli shrimp, and you can hear there teeth biting at it.

I've never really worried about them biting me though, maybe a bit naive of me, but yeah, I'm still not worried.

Clown triggers I've heard tend to go bat-$h!t crazy every now and then so be careful with them.

I had about red tail triggers and a guy posted a video of his niger trigger trying to take chunks out of his arm everytime he put his hand in the water.

 

[iReefer12]

Yeah, I did hear of someone with a Niger-Trigger here locally that would spit water out of the tank and drove his owner crazy by being a bit of a terrorist in the tank. I also know someone with the same species of fish and behaves totally fine. With those species of triggers I think it can be hit and miss. I've not heard of many cases where Blue Throats have acted up though.

 

[iReefer12]

The vet was only open until 12, and was very busy, so I decided to take him Monday when hopefully it's quieter and will be seen quicker.

He's still swimming, and looks like he's stable again. The tiny wounds from resting against rocks look better, so nitrofuracin green maybe doing its job there.

 

[Humblefish]

...so nitrofuracin green maybe doing its job there.

That's awesome medication for butterflies. Great for treating infections and healing wounds.

 

[Cleo642]

The vet was only open until 12, and was very busy, so I decided to take him Monday when hopefully it's quieter and will be seen quicker.

He's still swimming, and looks like he's stable again. The tiny wounds from resting against rocks look better, so nitrofuracin green maybe doing its job there.

I know that little guy is going to make it. Do you have a name for him?

 

[iReefer12]

I don't normally name fish, but I call him Mitty

 

[Cleo642]

I don't normally name fish, but I call him Mitty

That's a cute name.

 

[Cleo642]

Morgan Freeman will make it so. (Figure you need a little humor right now. )

 

[iReefer12]

Hahaha

 

[Cleo642]

Lol

 

[iReefer12]

Unfortunately, the end is near. Today I was all set to take him to the vet, when the lights came on in the HT, I found him floating at the top. He looks like he's lost all will to live, he's still breathing and can still swim away but he keeps letting go and letting himself float to the surface.

I took him out to see if I could spot the swim bladder myself to do the op, but I couldn't see it.

I'm not sure if I should dose more nitro or dose some erythromycin or kanamycin or just accept that he's a goner.

Very sad, can't believe how quickly he went downhill

 

[Cleo642]

Unfortunately, the end is near. Today I was all set to take him to the vet, when the lights came on in the HT, I found him floating at the top. He looks like he's lost all will to live, he's still breathing and can still swim away but he keeps letting go and letting himself float to the surface.

I took him out to see if I could spot the swim bladder myself to do the op, but I couldn't see it.

I'm not sure if I should dose more nitro or dose some erythromycin or kanamycin or just accept that he's a goner.

Very sad, can't believe how quickly he went downhill

It's sad, I am sorry.
You know it was a swim bladder problem or maybe it was some type of cancer or growth?

 

[iReefer12]

Unfortunately he didn't make it, he passed shortly after posting my last post.

Yes, super sad, just wish I had been able to do more for him, feel like there's a lot of things I could have done differently but who knows if the outcome would have been different.

 

[Cleo642]

Unfortunately he didn't make it, he passed shortly after posting my last post.

Yes, super sad, just wish I had been able to do more for him, feel like there's a lot of things I could have done differently but who knows if the outcome would have been different.

So sorry.

 

[Robertchrisroph]

 

[mcarroll]

Just for posterity.... I wondered a few things as I read through...
(you're welcome to ignore all questions if they bum you out though)

Constipation was the most likely of the theories presented in the thread, IME.

But a bacterial infection/bloat or decompression issues were definitely possible (maybe even simultaneous).

I don't know about letting the air out to resolve anything - seems plausible I suppose, but extreme...good move getting a vet involved and not attempting it (again) yourself! Kudos!

Your fish came in with popeye and was treated with antibiotics (I've never needed them and not lost any fish to popeye) which would have terminated his gut bacteria and, even if the popeye was the only thing wrong with the fish, then the antibiotics may have created the right conditions for constipation and (ironically) future gut infections. Not a winning scenario unless you had a positive diagnosis on a bacterial infection in the first place.

If nothing explicit was done in the intervening timeframe to help him recover from the popeye, stress AND antibiotics (which should never be used unsupervised...they shouldn't be OTC at all), then an infection, or at least the appropriate conditions for one, probably set in during that time.

But @iReefer12 you say he had been pooping regularly throughout this affair?

Did this fish exhibit any signs of stress when you first observed the fat belly?

Some info and a thought...

Butterflyfish (many of them anyway) are micropredators.

Per the IUCNRedList entry for this Butterflyfish (where they are listed as "green"/unthreatened):

"This species generally inhabits steep outer reef slopes and drop-offs with growth of black corals and sea fans, with individuals also reported from deep rubble areas (Allen 1980, G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). Animals usually occur in pairs or in small groups. This species feeds on benthic invertebrates and planktonic items (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006)."​

In keeping with that general info, the fish's entry at wholesaler Quality Marine's website also notably lists them as needing/accepting both frozen and live food, as well as requiring moderate lighting. Does this describe your reef? This is a stressor you have control over.

For reference, if your lights are dimmable you can run your reef at lower light levels than most people end up doing. PM me if you want any details for future reference.
​

I dunno if you fed blackworms and similar live foods the whole time you had him, but there's a good chance this Butterflyfish was probably not getting a compatible diet among the other stresses of his life in a tank. You should keep up this habit for the rest of your fish.

Good luck!!!

 

[iReefer12]

I don't believe it was constipation, from what I observed I'm 99% certain it was not constipation.

I fed blackworms & clams every now and again, his diet was mostly a huge variety of different frozen foods. Would I like to feed blackworms more often?? Yes. But not really practical for me to do so all the time.

I had the butterfly for nearly 1 year. So I'm not totally sure that treating Popeye in the Quarantine stage was what caused this over 9 months later. If so, that's confusing, I believed that treating the Popeye prior to moving him to the DT was the correct thing to do [emoji22]