Copperband Butterfly disease

[Raynn]

Hi everyone,

A few days ago, I noticed that my Copperband Butterflyfish is covered in kind of strange looking „white coating”, as you can see in the attached photos. I’ve never seen anything like this with any of my fish before.

My Moorish Idol is currently dealing with ich, but I don’t think what I’m seeing on the Copperband is ich.

He’s still eating very well, behaving normally, and regularly grazing on the rocks. I’m feeding high-quality frozen mysis soaked in Aquaforest Fish V and Seachem Vitality, along with finely chopped cockles.

Could you please help me identify what this disease might be? Any advice on how to treat it in a reef tank would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
Raynn

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone,

A few days ago, I noticed that my Copperband Butterflyfish is covered in kind of strange looking „white coating”, as you can see in the attached photos. I’ve never seen anything like this with any of my fish before.

My Moorish Idol is currently dealing with ich, but I don’t think what I’m seeing on the Copperband is ich.

He’s still eating very well, behaving normally, and regularly grazing on the rocks. I’m feeding high-quality frozen mysis soaked in Aquaforest Fish V and Seachem Vitality, along with finely chopped cockles.

Could you please help me identify what this disease might be? Any advice on how to treat it in a reef tank would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
Raynn

Strange coating it is and Tang looks to have it also and is Velvet disease. I will emphasize how quickly this disease spreads and will take fish down accordingly. All fish will have to be moved to a separate tank or container ASAP and treated with coppersafe or copperPower at 2.25-2.5 PPM at 80 degrees and levels monitored with a Hanna brand copper test kit and air stone or two added.
Additionally Monitor ammoni levels during treatment with a reliable test kit. Do the treatment for 30 days and display tank should be left with NO fish present causing disease to die off without fish to host on. Coral and inverts can remain in display tank during the fishless period which is 6-8 weeks

 

[Raynn]

Which tang does have it? I didn’t notice any changes on Tangs. Is it possible only one fish in the tank has a velvet?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Which tang does have it? I didn’t notice any changes on Tangs. Is it possible only one fish in the tank has a velvet?

Unless its the glass that has a film on it, the tang below seems to show it also as Velvet spreads quickly. Let post a couple of pics with white lighting- NO blue to confirm what im seeing
When I added pic and blew it up, I suddenly dont see the dots but more of a rash on upper rear of baody. Bright pics will make a difference

 

[MnFish1]

Is the fish breathing quickly? Can you post some pictures of your moorish idol? Usually, breathing is the only symptom of velvet in marine fish unless they are close to death. If your moorish idol in fact has ich, it's likely you're seeing ich on your copper band as well. Either way - the treatment is putting all of your fish into a hospital tank (no inverts) with copper as directed in the protocol attached to the top of the threads. Hope this helps

 

[Raynn]

I think you can see it better on video I recorded. There is just Copperband and Moorish Idol infected with something. I think Idol is facing an ich. I have some kind of little particles flying in the water column. It looks like a white spots on the picture. I recorded a video so you can see better. Thank you for you help!

 

[Raynn]

Unfortunately, I don’t have any spare tanks to use as a quarantine setup. I started dosing Polyp Lab Reef Medic yesterday. I run the UV 24/7, turning it off for an hour when dosing the medication. None of the fish are showing signs of heavy or quickbreathing.
Please see more pictures attached including other fishes.

 

[bangbang]

My Copperband showed exactly same white layer, and also had red abrasions on the body.. not clear from the pictures, but seems like yours have it too.. it stopped eating and was dead within 2 days.. I was aware of some other fish having ich in the tank, so not sure if it was velvet or ich on CBB, but its definitely something serious that needs treatment in a separate tank.. I started hyposalinity in my display tank after CBB passed away since I didnt have any corals/inverts, and everything is looking good thus far! I would highly suggest reading about it (do check if all your fish are hardy enough to cope up before starting).. couple of articles to refer:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity aka Osmotic Shock Therapy (updated 1-11-23) What It Treats: Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) and Flukes (Monogeneans) How To Treat: Place the fish you wish to treat in a quarantine tank with SG & temperature matching the tank they came from. Over a period of 48 hours, gradually...

humble.fish

 

[Raynn]

I was considering hyposalinity, but with the number of corals and anemones I have, it’s not really an option. I just spoke with my partner, and she said that Copperband has looked like this for about a week and a half. I haven’t been home, so I didn’t notice it earlier. There are no other signs of disease or any unusual behavior.

What do you think about Reef Medic? Does it actually work?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi everyone,

A few days ago, I noticed that my Copperband Butterflyfish is covered in kind of strange looking „white coating”, as you can see in the attached photos. I’ve never seen anything like this with any of my fish before.

My Moorish Idol is currently dealing with ich, but I don’t think what I’m seeing on the Copperband is ich.

He’s still eating very well, behaving normally, and regularly grazing on the rocks. I’m feeding high-quality frozen mysis soaked in Aquaforest Fish V and Seachem Vitality, along with finely chopped cockles.

Could you please help me identify what this disease might be? Any advice on how to treat it in a reef tank would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
Raynn

That is weird looking. It looks like something I call “stale ich” - where a fish has had ich so long that instead of spots, you just get a generalized mucus skin reaction. However, before that happens, you would have seen regular ich spots on this fish for some days prior….in reading your subsequent post, you probably missed that.

Is the fish still eating and not breathing fast?

I think this case of ich is past the tipping point and you’ll need to treat them in a hospital tank with Coppersafe or hypo asap.