Sensitive Fish

[Treefer32]

@Jay Hemdal, if you recall a week or two back and intermittently over the last few months I mentioned periodically my copperband butterfly fish stops eating for up to 3 days. He'll shake his head at me when I feed and swim away from me.

I think I finally figured out the cause, I don't know the reason though...

Wednesday I fed the fish the same time I normally do and the CBB Ate voraciously.

Thursday, shook his head at me at feeding time. He'd swim up to my fingers shake his head and swim away. It's crazy behavior. Well, the only difference from any other day this week. Was yesterday morning, I dosed my Red Sea A,B,C, and D trace elements. I've been more consistent on dosing them weekly now.

Are CBBs sensitive to any trace elements that would cause them to lose their appetite for a day or two? Is it harmful or just turn them off from food for a few hours until the elements fully disperse?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal, if you recall a week or two back and intermittently over the last few months I mentioned periodically my copperband butterfly fish stops eating for up to 3 days. He'll shake his head at me when I feed and swim away from me.

I think I finally figured out the cause, I don't know the reason though...

Wednesday I fed the fish the same time I normally do and the CBB Ate voraciously.

Thursday, shook his head at me at feeding time. He'd swim up to my fingers shake his head and swim away. It's crazy behavior. Well, the only difference from any other day this week. Was yesterday morning, I dosed my Red Sea A,B,C, and D trace elements. I've been more consistent on dosing them weekly now.

Are CBBs sensitive to any trace elements that would cause them to lose their appetite for a day or two? Is it harmful or just turn them off from food for a few hours until the elements fully disperse?

Sorry, I don't know the composition of that product. I've never noticed an adverse reaction from the proper addition of trace elements, but some, like iodine are very bitter. You're adding these to the sump first? You could also measure out the additions over the day to see if that helps.

Jay

 

[Treefer32]

Sorry, I don't know the composition of that product. I've never noticed an adverse reaction from the proper addition of trace elements, but some, like iodine are very bitter. You're adding these to the sump first? You could also measure out the additions over the day to see if that helps.

Jay

no, the additions are going in the display... core ingredients are iron, iodine, potassium, manganese. Then tiny amounts of many others. I wanted to dose them closer to the corals, but, it'd probably be better to do them in the sump and let them disperse vs. overwhelming the display. 30 ml does create a small distorted cloud. Fish like to swim into it thinking it's food...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Jay asked the magic question. While fish generally are not affected by addition of chemicals/dosing- direct ingestion can have a temporary impact on them.
I would as asked add it to the sump in which the return pump will disburse it evenly rather than in a cloud state.

 

[Treefer32]

Thanks! I never thought twice about it until the behavior happened the same day I happened to dose... It doesn't sound like the chemicals are "toxic" per say to their bodies. Just puts their sense of taste of for a day or two.. Either way I'll move to dispersing in the sump for greater mixing before going into the display.

Thanks for helping confirm my suspicions! The strangest things!

 

[Phlynamjax]

It’s common for butterflyfish to shake their head during feeding time. It is part of their feeding response.

 

[Treefer32]

It's funny, because he only does it to me when he refuses to eat. I think he wants to eat, he's hungry. However, my hypothesis at this point in time is due to dosing bitter trace elements, nothing tastes good. And My CBB is a very picky eater. He inspects my home made frozen food, to find the exact pieces he wants to eat. He'll pick it apart in my fingers and spit out the stuff he doesn't like then gobbles up the tidbits he loves. However, when I fed on the same day as dosing trace elements two weeks in a row, he looked at the food, shook his head, and swam away. Probably saying, "I'm hungry, but all of this tastes like crap right now. what'd you do?"

The next day, he eats voraciously from my fingers. I'll feed twice today to ensure he's good. I love the personality and interactivity of the CBB. I have 25 other fish and only a couple have as much human interaction as the CBB.

I only wish I could take him for walks!

I've also got some phyto plankton coming to help boost pod populations as he hunts those all the time.