Bought a Copperband butterfly yesterday

[Glenn]

I brought home a CBB yesterday, acclimated it for about two hours, and watched it swim around the tank with my Tang from 11'ish until the lights went off at 9pm. This morning I found it lying on the eggcrate between a Torch Coral and Frogspawn ... could either of the coras 'stung' and killed the CBB?

[jason the filter freak]

problem with the CBB fish is that it is finicky and hard to take care of at best, compounded with the stress of being transported and questionable collection methods often involving poison they're a fish that just isn't hardy.

[F&Fmgr]

did the fish have any red legions or hemmorraging>?

[Jon Lazar]

could either of the coras 'stung' and killed the CBB?

 

No. Sorry you lost the fish, but they are sensitive. What sort of tang do you have? I had to remove a powder blue tang from my display because he would endlessly chase the CBB.

[F&Fmgr]

also did you check the salinity of the acclimation vessel against you tank's salinity? Alot of shops, mine included, keep the salinity lower in FO systems for 3 reasons:1. lowers the bacteria and parasite load,2. allows for UV to have a higher microwat emission= better kill rate, 3. the fishes mitochondria do not have to use as much protein, which facilitates weight gain.

 

IME a quick death of a newly added fish( assuming it didnt have a full blown infection when they are added) is usually the result of acclimation shock, water instability and/or bullying.

 

Hope that helps

[Glenn]

also did you check the salinity of the acclimation vessel against you tank's salinity? Alot of shops, mine included, keep the salinity lower in FO systems for 3 reasons:1. lowers the bacteria and parasite load,2. allows for UV to have a higher microwat emission= better kill rate, 3. the fishes mitochondria do not have to use as much protein, which facilitates weight gain.

 

IME a quick death of a newly added fish( assuming it didnt have a full blown infection when they are added) is usually the result of acclimation shock, water instability and/or bullying.

 

Hope that helps

 

Jon - the tang is a Scopas .. and he was newly introduced the day of the FFE (11 July). Yesterday was the first time I've actually seen him out swimming and he was always 'near' (w/in 6" of the CBB) but never next to him. They looked like they were swimming 'together' but I never saw any signs that I would interpret as agression.

 

Sean - the salinity of the bagged water was 1.024 - my tank is 1.026 .. Hopefully the two hour acclimation (one cup tank water into the floating bag every 15 mins - it was a big fish bag) would provide adequate time to acclimate that variance. The Scopas could have been bullying but they still looked like they were just swimming at 9pm when the lights went out.

 

I know my tank params are excellent (135g - four fish - no ammonia, nitrites, negligible nitrates) ... Not sure where I'll go from here. The aptaisia's are killing the looks of the tank.

Edited July 18, 2010 by Glenn

[F&Fmgr]

Sean - the salinity of the bagged water was 1.024 - my tank is 1.026 .. Hopefully the two hour acclimation (one cup tank water into the floating bag every 15 mins - it was a big fish bag) would provide adequate time to acclimate that variance. The Scopas could have been bullying but they still looked like they were just swimming at 9pm when the lights went out.

 

I know my tank params are excellent (135g - four fish - no ammonia, nitrites, negligible nitrates) ... Not sure where I'll go from here. The aptaisia's are killing the looks of the tank.

 

I'm sure the acclimation was adequate for salinity, but other properties of the water might not have been matched, i dunno .

[Jan]

...

 

 

Edited July 18, 2010 by Jan

[Jon Lazar]

It hadn't been seen in 7 days after you introduced it into the tank, then all of a sudden it surfaced? I have to wonder if it just starved. Have you seen it eat at all since you put it in the tank? 6 days would be about right for a picky fish to starve.

 

Jan, the way I read Glenn's first post is that he brought the fish home and it was dead the next morning.

[Jan]

...

 

 

Edited July 18, 2010 by Jan

[Jan]

...

 

 

Edited July 18, 2010 by Jan

[Noobalicious]

That's how I read the first post too. The reply to you is what I was replying to. I'm so confused. He posted today he bought it yesterday and found it dead this morning. Replied that he bought it 7/11, "day of FFE" then saw it yesterday???

 

 

actually he said the tang was a week in the tank and the CBB one day

[Jan]

Okay, I have to lay off the vodka (JK)...Sorry Glenn et al.

 

actually he said the tang was a week in the tank and the CBB one day

Edited July 18, 2010 by Jan

[Glenn]

Okay, I have to lay off the vodka (JK)...Sorry Glenn et al.

 

maybe I should dose some vodka .. might make me feel better about losing that nice fish

[flowerseller]

I think you'll have better success with good Scotch.

I'm trying some now and will let you know later, but then again, I'm in the outter banks and on vacation.

Just got 2#'s of fresh Oregon Inlet tuna, it's what's for dinner.

[flowerseller]

I think you'll have better success with good Scotch.

I'm trying some now and will let you know later, but then again, I'm in the outter banks and on vacation.

Just got 2#'s of fresh Oregon Inlet tuna, it's what's for dinner.

[davelin315]

Aiptasia can cause problems for it, too. Often when a fish is found dead in a tank, it's because the current pushed the body to settle in a dead spot. One thing about aiptasia is that it will sting the fish - for a copper band which seeks refuge in the rocks at night, it's possible that it got stung and then started to freak out. I can't say for sure what killed it as you've already gotten pretty much all of the answers, but I can say that it's a possibility that the aiptasia could have contributed to it, along with any other stinging coral. Fish can have heart attacks and that's a possibility. I've seen fish freak out when the lights turn out the first time in past systems that didn't gradually go from light to dark. Once it went dark in tanks I had with no "dusk to dawn" lighting they would start to panic in the darkness and not know where to go. I recommend dimming the lights when you introduce some fish so that the tank is peaceful and "dormant" and the fish can get used to it and then find a spot to sleep.