Sick/weak copperband butterfly

[adittam]

When I came home from running errands and sat down in front of the tank for the first time today, I immediately noticed Leo, our CBB was stuck against the powerhead. No signs of injury or illness that I can see, and he’s been in captivity eating frozen food (mysis and spirulina brine are his two favorites) for years. Approximately 6 months with me, and several years with his previous owner. All fish additions in the last several months have been wrasses, and all have been sourced from a LFS with a robust QT procedure. No signs or symptoms of disease or weakness in any of my other 12 fish. No signs of aggression. CBB was eating great and looking healthy through feeding time last night. Today he looks like a different fish - suddenly MUCH skinnier and the first time I’ve ever seen him weak like this or with a breathing rate this rapid. See videos below for how he looks right now. I’ve got a 10g QT tank set up and cycled, just coming up to temp as I type. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt
#fishmedic

 

[adittam]

 

[adittam]

 

[vetteguy53081]

When I came home from running errands and sat down in front of the tank for the first time today, I immediately noticed Leo, our CBB was stuck against the powerhead. No signs of injury or illness that I can see, and he’s been in capitulation eating frozen food (mysis and spirulina brine are his two favorites) for years. Approximately 6 months with me, and several years with his previous owner. All fish additions in the last several months have been wrasses, and all have been sourced from a LFS with a robust QT procedure. No signs or symptoms of disease or weakness in any of my other 12 fish. No signs of aggression. CBB was eating great and looking healthy through feeding time last night. Today he looks like a different fish - suddenly MUCH skinnier and the first time I’ve ever seen him weak like this or with a breathing rate this rapid. See videos below for how he looks right now. I’ve got a 10g QT tank set up and cycled, just coming up to temp as I type. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt
#fishmedic

Being stuck in powerhead and rapid thinning is not a good sign and may suggest internal parasite but unconfirmed. The labored breathing and ragged fins are of concern.
Are you able to increase oxygen with air stone?
Additionally , do you know what current ammonia and nitrate levels are and what test kits are you checking with?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Fish is now moribund and may or may not make it, sad to say. How long have you had this fish ?

 

[adittam]

6 months in my tank, several years in captivity eating frozen food extremely successfully.
Tank has been cycled for over a year, I haven’t tested ammonia since then.

 

[adittam]

Can definitely put an airstone in there. O2 should be fine though, tons of water movement and in sump skimmer running 24/7.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can definitely put an airstone in there. O2 should be fine though, tons of water movement and in sump skimmer running 24/7.

Anything like aerosols, candle lit, open windows today before fish went south?
Other probability is fish became startled and ran into glass.

 

[adittam]

Anything like aerosols, candle lit, open windows today before fish went south?
Other probability is fish became startled and ran into glass.

No, we’ve been out of the house all day, and all know not to use any cleaning products in the living room where the tank is. No windows near the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

No, we’ve been out of the house all day, and all know not to use any cleaning products in the living room where the tank is. No windows near the tank.

Very strange. If all fish, sorry to see this guy in this condition

 

[Jay Hemdal]

No, we’ve been out of the house all day, and all know not to use any cleaning products in the living room where the tank is. No windows near the tank.

Sorry to see. This fish is moribund and there isn't anything you can really do for it. Despite it eating well, it is pretty thin. If you can catch right when it dies, there are a couple of things you can do - check its gills. Are they red, pink or white? That gives you some idea if the fish had anemia or not. Then, put the deceased fish in freshwater for ten minutes. Look at the settled water with a microscope or a really close eye and see if you can see any flukes - these will look like tiny worms. You need to get to the fish within an hour of it dying though to do these two things. The idea is to try and get as much information as you can from it in order to protect your remaining fish.....

As far as what happened to it? Can't really say, it could be long term nutritional deficiency, or Mycobacteria (common in older fish).


Jay

 

[adittam]

Sorry to see. This fish is moribund and there isn't anything you can really do for it. Despite it eating well, it is pretty thin. If you can catch right when it dies, there are a couple of things you can do - check its gills. Are they red, pink or white? That gives you some idea if the fish had anemia or not. Then, put the deceased fish in freshwater for ten minutes. Look at the settled water with a microscope or a really close eye and see if you can see any flukes - these will look like tiny worms. You need to get to the fish within an hour of it dying though to do these two things. The idea is to try and get as much information as you can from it in order to protect your remaining fish.....

As far as what happened to it? Can't really say, it could be long term nutritional deficiency, or Mycobacteria (common in older fish).


Jay

I don’t know that I’ll be able to do the experiments, as it died sometime last night in my QT tank with an air stone and prazipro.

here’s a video taken 13 days earlier. It’s a 3 minute long tank video, but the CBB makes an appearance early on. Does he look thin to you then?

 

[adittam]

Sorry to see. This fish is moribund and there isn't anything you can really do for it. Despite it eating well, it is pretty thin. If you can catch right when it dies, there are a couple of things you can do - check its gills. Are they red, pink or white? That gives you some idea if the fish had anemia or not. Then, put the deceased fish in freshwater for ten minutes. Look at the settled water with a microscope or a really close eye and see if you can see any flukes - these will look like tiny worms. You need to get to the fish within an hour of it dying though to do these two things. The idea is to try and get as much information as you can from it in order to protect your remaining fish.....

As far as what happened to it? Can't really say, it could be long term nutritional deficiency, or Mycobacteria (common in older fish).


Jay

So as of right now, both of its gills are pink.

 

[adittam]

Sorry to see. This fish is moribund and there isn't anything you can really do for it. Despite it eating well, it is pretty thin. If you can catch right when it dies, there are a couple of things you can do - check its gills. Are they red, pink or white? That gives you some idea if the fish had anemia or not. Then, put the deceased fish in freshwater for ten minutes. Look at the settled water with a microscope or a really close eye and see if you can see any flukes - these will look like tiny worms. You need to get to the fish within an hour of it dying though to do these two things. The idea is to try and get as much information as you can from it in order to protect your remaining fish.....

As far as what happened to it? Can't really say, it could be long term nutritional deficiency, or Mycobacteria (common in older fish).


Jay

No flukes visible in bucket after freshwater dip, but maybe it’s been too long since I don’t know the time of death last night.

 

[Goaway]

6 months in my tank, several years in captivity eating frozen food extremely successfully.
Tank has been cycled for over a year, I haven’t tested ammonia since then.

You said several years. Do you know how many years?

 

[adittam]

You said several years. Do you know how many years?

No, unfortunately. It was a trade in at my LFS from an established tank tear down.

 

[Goaway]

No, unfortunately. It was a trade in at my LFS from an established tank tear down.

These fish live about 10 yrs. I can't say if old age attributed to this not knowing age. I am sorry for your loss. I love my cbb. They are wonderful fish.

 

[adittam]

These fish live about 10 yrs. I can't say if old age attributed to this not knowing age. I am sorry for your loss. I love my cbb. They are wonderful fish.

I agree. He would come up to the surface of the water and stick his snout out at me when I opened the lid for feeding.

 

[Goaway]

I agree. He would come up to the surface of the water and stick his snout out at me when I opened the lid for feeding.

I'm curious on how often he was fed?

 

[adittam]

I'm curious on how often he was fed?

I fed two cubes of frozen every night, about an hour or two after feeding pellets to the rest of the tank so the other fish wouldn't be as aggressive eating. He didn’t touch any of the pellets of course, but he ate pretty much any frozen food I put in there. I also made sure to not touch the big aiptasia in my overflow so he always had babies to eat, which he was always picking at my rocks for. Maybe that wasn’t enough for him...