Copperband Butterfly HELP!

[Ehunforfun]

Hey fellow reefers, so I recently acquired a copperband butterfly from a LFS, it looked healthy there and their fish system runs with copper etc., it’s the first fish in my tank and with past experience with copperbands I opted not to QT it.

So after three days it started eating various frozen foods, mysis and brine mostly. I also see it actively patrolling the tank picking at the rockwork. After a few days I noticed a couple white spots. These are external, maybe half a mm raised off its fins. I’ve seen some flashing against my corals and rockwork and occasional shake. I initially treated with prazipro and I’m not sure if it helped (I did a three day treatment due to issue an accidental auto water change...so after three days the concentration has been reduced.) I went on vacation for a couple days, came back and definitely more of these spots! Primarily on the fins although I saw one on the body.

What are these? I’ve dealt with ich and I’m about 99% positive it’s not ich.

 

[ZachR32]

Lympho probably. CBBs notorious for carrying. No treatments exist yet, little potential for harm

 

[ReefQueen]

I can't see the spots well in my phone, but if not Ich I would have to guess lympho.

 

[Ehunforfun]

I can't see the spots well in my phone, but if not Ich I would have to guess lympho.

Yeah it’s not like a dusting embedded in the skin, it’s like tiny lint balls hanging onto the skin. Sorry about the pics, didn’t have time to really get good shots.

 

[Ehunforfun]

Lympho probably. CBBs notorious for carrying. No treatments exist yet, little potential for harm

That’s kinda what I was hoping for...after I started the prazipro treatment I realized it probably wasn’t flukes. Just looking for additional opinions and experiences. Thanks for the responses!

 

[Whipples]

Likely lympho, I’ve seen that more and more on copperbands lately. Make sure to keep him fed on a wide diet. Can you get your hands on live black worms? It can take a few tries to get them to go for it but worms are a staple part of their diet.

He should be constantly inspecting the rocks for food, and once its comfortable it should always greet you at the tank with a delightful wiggle, mine does! He also follows me through the tank during maintenance.

 

[Humblefish]

As stated above, it's just Lympho: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lymphocystis.257461/

 

[ReefQueen]

Yeah it’s not like a dusting embedded in the skin, it’s like tiny lint balls hanging onto the skin. Sorry about the pics, didn’t have time to really get good shots.

lint balls definitly sound like lympho. no worries about the pics, I'm sure they look better on a computer, but I was stuffing my face at chipotle and browsing on my phone lol. copperbands and lymph almost seem to go hand in hand, but at least it isn't ich!

 

[NB Reefer]

Agree with everyone above it lympho. I have a Cooper Banded that had similar spots when first introduced to my tank. I took the same approach and did not QT. They should up relatively quickly and took about two weeks to disappear. I have seen any on it since. I think your fish it all good.

 

[Ehunforfun]

Thanks for the reassurance everyone, fish seems to be happy...hangs out in the corner closest to me when I'm in the room, if I sneak up on him/her its grazing the rockwork.
Eats pretty much any frozen i'm offering know, though it spits out some things in the mixed cubes.

I'm considering adding a cleaner shrimp to maybe pull off those growths? It might be my imagination but I feel like over a weeks time they've doubled from 3-4 to 6 to 8 spots.

 

[HotRocks]

Thanks for the reassurance everyone, fish seems to be happy...hangs out in the corner closest to me when I'm in the room, if I sneak up on him/her its grazing the rockwork.
Eats pretty much any frozen i'm offering know, though it spits out some things in the mixed cubes.

I'm considering adding a cleaner shrimp to maybe pull off those growths? It might be my imagination but I feel like over a weeks time they've doubled from 3-4 to 6 to 8 spots.

Maintaining prstine water conditions and feeding high quality prepared foods with added supplements such as Selcon, will be your best friend in the given situation.

 

[Whipples]

I'm considering adding a cleaner shrimp to maybe pull off those growths? It might be my imagination but I feel like over a weeks time they've doubled from 3-4 to 6 to 8 spots.

I have a cleaner shrimp and my copperband goes nowhere him. The only fish that uses the shrimp is my Tomini Tang.

 

[Ehunforfun]

Update on the situation...Copperband seems incredibly healthy, attacks the surface anytime I'm near the tank, only one white "tumor" visible now. Thanks for all the help guys and girls. Unfortunately, I've basically lost a large colony of purple stylo, which I'm attributing to my phosphate and nitrates completely zero'ing out...All other SPS seems to be thriving. The stylo's skin is just basically peeling off the skeleton, went from healthy to almost a fully bare softball size skeleton in about 4 days.

PH is pretty stable around 8
Alk is 9.1
Calcium is around 420
Magnesium 1210
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
SG 1.025
Temp 76-78 throughout a 24 hour period.