How to get Punctato Butterfly to eat

[Aronsaquarium]

Hey!
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get my new Punctato butterfly to eat?

I kept it at my LFS for 4 days, they tried live brine, black worms, frozen mysis and brine. And flakes.
Nothing yet…
I now have him In my 75g.

 

[nereefpat]

Darn. Live brine and live black worms should have done it. You might try a fresh clam broken open.

Perhaps a Prazi Pro treatment for internal worms is needed?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A lot of people will press masstick (or other pasted foods) into a coral skeleton or rock to help entice butterflies and other picky eaters into eating it (it imitates their tendency in the wild to pick food off of rocks/to eat corals).

If you try these suggestions (clam and paste food on rocks) and it's still not taking any foods, then I'd assume something is wrong health-wise with the fish as well.

Edit: To add, the thread below may have good insight (good food ideas - though you've tried most of them - and more insight on how you can try the more natural, rock/coral feedings):

Long nose butterfly natural feeding?

Hi, I bought a long nose butterfly for my 300 and the LFS had it feeding frozen, they fed it in front of me obviously. Now, he’s exhibiting natural feeding behaviours, grazing on rocks and picking his nose in to find food but he won’t accept any frozen, he’s just swimming by it occasionally...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cell]

Can you take a pic of the fish? How thin is it getting?

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

San Francisco Angel & Butterfly Fish Formula, with Selcon. I don‘t have a Butterfly Fish, but my other fish go nuts over it.

 

[Aronsaquarium]

Masstick is a brilliant idea!
Just ordered that thanks so much

Hopefully that’ll help, as it’s taking random pecks at rocks. So it looks to be hungry. But it’s not eating actual food..

 

[Aronsaquarium]

Thankfully not bony/skinny at the moment. Although it’s not plump

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I'd try the masstick or some angel elixer soaked food (brine or mysis)

Been using the angel elixer for a few years now, it does entice the picky fishes. It isn't strong like garlic is usually, so I'm assuming it's a slightly different mix.

 

[i cant think]

Hey!
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get my new Punctato butterfly to eat?

I kept it at my LFS for 4 days, they tried live brine, black worms, frozen mysis and brine. And flakes.
Nothing yet…
I now have him In my 75g.

Whatever you do, don’t use anything garlicky. IME, it’s a deterrent more than it is a useful thing to get fish feeding.

I would personally find what he feeds on (usually it’s aiptasia or microfauna off the rock). And wedge the frozen into the gaps in the rocks or feed the aiptasia. Both ways worked for me and my picky fish.
I recently had my leopard wrasse go through some stress and she stopped eating so I used this tactic and it worked. I also used this tactic on my Copperband I recently lost 4 years ago and it worked incredibly well after 2-3 days.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I think garlic does nothing to help it maybe it's not harmful either...years ago when trying to get a Triangulum Butterfly (obligate corallivore) to eat, it simply took time and offering everything you could think of. Oysters on the half shell (fresh) are a great idea, Mastick I personally doubt will get any interest, white worms or Grindal worms MAYBE. In other words, offer whatever you think may possibly appeal, keep it as calm and not stressed as possible, and don't be discouraged if it's been days without eating. I'd be a little surprised if it did a whole lot better.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

I’m not sure if it’s been clarified in a different thread but did you purchase it online or through that LFS? I’m confused as to what you mean saying you kept it at your local LFS for 4 days.

The impression I get from that, my assumption, is that you ordered this thing, left him with your local shop for 4 days, then took him back to your own tank. I can’t tell if that means he was ever in your tank between the shipping and the LFS stage.

Either way though, it kinda sounds like this fish has been relocated at least twice in the past week. I’m not an expert on butterfly fish food, but I’d imagine that there’s a good chance the fish is dealing with a lot of stress having adjusted to a new tank multiple times in quick frequency. Is it displaying colors or any signs of stress? That could play into its lack of eating. If that’s the case, if it’s in a tank without corals, I’d try dimming or turning off the lights for a day or two, maybe that might help it settle in?

Only fish I ever really had hold out on me for eating was a red rooster waspfish and live Blackworms did the trick. This might sound silly, but I think something that is underrated in eliciting a feeding response, is GENERATING the conditions for a feeding behavior. In a way, that’s what others are getting at with the coral skeleton hack. The live blackworms began twitching, having seizures, upon entering saltwater due to the osmotic shock… which basically came across like an “eat me” dance to my waspfish and clowns.

So, I’ve got one idea but it’s a bit crazy. There’s one thing I’ve seen in the wild that seems to elicit a feeding response from ANY reef fish nearby. If you can get your hands on a live urchin and smash it open right in front of the fish, the exposed uni, you’ll see just about everything around dart in to take a bite. @nereefpat suggested something similar with a clam which may also work, but my experience is that the looser tissues of urchins (you’re not tearing it apart it kinda all falls apart) seems to be what makes it more universally appealing to fish.

That might be an interesting place to start. And if the butterfly were to go for that, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to convert that over to reef nutrition oyster feast. Only issue is that’s gonna cost you like $20 for a live urchin just for an experiment… idk if that’s worth it to you.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I’m not sure if it’s been clarified in a different thread but did you purchase it online or through that LFS? I’m confused as to what you mean saying you kept it at your local LFS for 4 days.

The impression I get from that, my assumption, is that you ordered this thing, left him with your local shop for 4 days, then took him back to your own tank. I can’t tell if that means he was ever in your tank between the shipping and the LFS stage.

Either way though, it kinda sounds like this fish has been relocated at least twice in the past week. I’m not an expert on butterfly fish food, but I’d imagine that there’s a good chance the fish is dealing with a lot of stress having adjusted to a new tank multiple times in quick frequency. Is it displaying colors or any signs of stress? That could play into its lack of eating. If that’s the case, if it’s in a tank without corals, I’d try dimming or turning off the lights for a day or two, maybe that might help it settle in?

Only fish I ever really had hold out on me for eating was a red rooster waspfish and live Blackworms did the trick. This might sound silly, but I think something that is underrated in eliciting a feeding response, is GENERATING the conditions for a feeding behavior. In a way, that’s what others are getting at with the coral skeleton hack. The live blackworms began twitching, having seizures, upon entering saltwater due to the osmotic shock… which basically came across like an “eat me” dance to my waspfish and clowns.

So, I’ve got one idea but it’s a bit crazy. There’s one thing I’ve seen in the wild that seems to elicit a feeding response from ANY reef fish nearby. If you can get your hands on a live urchin and smash it open right in front of the fish, the exposed uni, you’ll see just about everything around dart in to take a bite. @nereefpat suggested something similar with a clam which may also work, but my experience is that the looser tissues of urchins (you’re not tearing it apart it kinda all falls apart) seems to be what makes it more universally appealing to fish.

That might be an interesting place to start. And if the butterfly were to go for that, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to convert that over to reef nutrition oyster feast. Only issue is that’s gonna cost you like $20 for a live urchin just for an experiment… idk if that’s worth it to you.

I agree with you about the stress which is why I think he's just going to have to try anything similar to it's natural diet and wait days for it to finally eat. I'm not sure how OP would smash an oyster right in front of the fish in the 75 gallon tank while maintaining a relaxing environment for the fish or even less with urchin though.

 

[Aronsaquarium]

He’s definitely stressed.
But I don’t know if it’s already a forgone conclusion at this point.

I ordered him through my LFS, so it came straight from wholesale into their tank.
And I left him there for a few days because I didn’t want it to move multiple tanks so quickly. And I wanted it to at least have one or 2 good meals before coming to my place so it had some strength.

But I couldn’t keep him there too long, and they tried feeding it for 4 days.
Live black worms, live brine. And frozen

So I took him to my tank 75g which is currently medicated. And moving him made him even worse which I was afraid of.
Now one of his eyes is cloudy.

So at this point I’m not sure he can recover after almost week of not eating.
I did one more move which may be his final move, and I put him in a small tank but one that has no medication and no other fish with it so it’s not bothered.
He’ll either miraculously be calm enough to eat or not make it

My LFS feels that these fish sometimes make it and sometimes don’t. Which is why they generally don’t not buy them unless special order.
They got one the week before which is what prompted me to order one. And that one ate after a few days, but this one didn’t..

 

[Aronsaquarium]

Anyone seen this sort of thing.
Hard to get a better look but it looks like one of his eyes is ballooned/white fluffy.

And in the video. It looks like he might have pecked at the food! But I can’t tell forsure because I can’t get close without him freaking out

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hard to get a better look but it looks like one of his eyes is ballooned/white fluffy.

That looks like a question for the #fishmedic to me.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Anyone seen this sort of thing.
Hard to get a better look but it looks like one of his eyes is ballooned/white fluffy.

And in the video. It looks like he might have pecked at the food! But I can’t tell forsure because I can’t get close without him freaking out

When a single eye balloons up and turns white like that, it is almost always due to a strike injury. If it doesn't get infected, no treatment is needed other than time. If it does start to get worse, then Maracyn 1 / Erythromycin could be used. One thing of course, with an injured eye, the fish will be a bit less prone to wanting to feed.

 

[Aronsaquarium]

When a single eye balloons up and turns white like that, it is almost always due to a strike injury. If it doesn't get infected, no treatment is needed other than time. If it does start to get worse, then Maracyn 1 / Erythromycin could be used. One thing of course, with an injured eye, the fish will be a bit less prone to wanting to feed.

Thank you Jay!
I had this with another fish last week, that fish has been healing well. So hopefully he’ll heal too. Only issue here is that with little or no food in close to a week I’m not sure he’ll be able to push through.

But it does look maybe a little happier in my 10g non medicated tank with no other fish bothering it, than my 75 medicated tank with fish around..
Not sure what’s better..

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you Jay!
I had this with another fish last week, that fish has been healing well. So hopefully he’ll heal too. Only issue here is that with little or no food in close to a week I’m not sure he’ll be able to push through.

But it does look maybe a little happier in my 10g non medicated tank with no other fish bothering it, than my 75 medicated tank with fish around..
Not sure what’s better..

They can be pretty shy - as long as it seems comfortable in the 10 gal., I'd be inclined to leave it there.

Jay

 

[Aronsaquarium]

They can be pretty shy - as long as it seems comfortable in the 10 gal., I'd be inclined to leave it there.

Jay

Hey!
Ok so after 4 days in this 10g empty tank, he’s finally decided he’s ready to leave it’s tiny cave which is was in barely moving since Saturday. So maybe that’s a good sign?

You can see its eye now. I think it’s slightly better than a few days ago but I can’t be sure.

I’m not seeing it eat. But I am seeing it peck at mysis right when I put it in, so maybe it’s getting more nutrition than I think..

 

[Rp8]

I’ve had mine about two weeks. Haven’t seen him eat until yesterday and even then he was picky. But I have noticed him nipping at the rocks. So he is got to be getting food somewhere. But it isn’t thinning and slowly warming up to mysis and brine. Hopefully it comes around.