2x Zoster butterflyfish quarantine

[Peterrdee]

So I got two black pyramid butterfly for Christmas, I wanted them for my reef tank, long story short tho. I did not quarantine and just put them in my display and they were covered in flukes like a week later so I took them out and I did a freshwater bath for 5 mins, so many flukes came off….. then put both of them in my 20g quarantine. Maybe like 4 days later my potters angel gets flukes also so I did the same thing, now they are happy eating and u know, just putting on enough weight because I don’t want to make the tank dirty. The aggression starts when they have full stomachs they look at eachother and do the downward facing spike pose, the larger butterfly keeps pushing the smaller one away? Is it because there is limited space? I’m not feeding them enough? Territory issue? I did medicate them with prazi and I do see my potters itching her gills. Is it a water quality issue? Or a parasite issue? Pls any info or reply would be appreciated and if anyone has history with these zoster butterflyfish and there care please let me know what to do and such,

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I got two black pyramid butterfly for Christmas, I wanted them for my reef tank, long story short tho. I did not quarantine and just put them in my display and they were covered in flukes like a week later so I took them out and I did a freshwater bath for 5 mins, so many flukes came off….. then put both of them in my 20g quarantine. Maybe like 4 days later my potters angel gets flukes also so I did the same thing, now they are happy eating and u know, just putting on enough weight because I don’t want to make the tank dirty. The aggression starts when they have full stomachs they look at eachother and do the downward facing spike pose, the larger butterfly keeps pushing the smaller one away? Is it because there is limited space? I’m not feeding them enough? Territory issue? I did medicate them with prazi and I do see my potters itching her gills. Is it a water quality issue? Or a parasite issue? Pls any info or reply would be appreciated and if anyone has history with these zoster butterflyfish and there care please let me know what to do and such,

That genus of butterflyfish almost always develops Neobenedenia flukes. They also fight a lot, despite them schooling in the wild. I've had serious issues mixing multiples together - usually though, when trying to add new ones to an existing group. It isn't food motivated, and may be space related. That's a pretty small tank, but you may need to try a tank divider.

Neo is tough to control - they have sticky eggs that are unaffected by praziquantel. Just one egg hatching can restart the infection. I use half salinity for 30 days as my go to treatment now.