CBB rescue mission. Help please.

[Jofiel]

Today during lunch I went to the local pet store to grab some dog food.

They have a hot salt water section that I always look at but never buy anything from because I see way to much disease in the tanks.

I always chat with the fish guy there, who does his best.

Today there was a copperband butterfly. I felt really bad for him and talk to the guy about him. While I was watching him I saw him scratching on the rocks. He said he had been there for a week and was only eating live brine shrink but he was eating.

They get their fish from quality marine and this was probably something randomly threw in the box.

I asked how much he would be and he offered to sell him to me for $15 so I could try to save him.

Since I'm setting up my new build I have everything at home to quarantine though not all the medical supplies.

I grabbed some general cure and a little bottle of cupramine. At home I have some methalyn blue and some melafix. Currently I'm trying to find a copper test kit and can't seem to find one on this side of the bay.

I can get one tomorrow or in a couple days through Amazon prime.

I realize that 99% he will die but for $15 my conscience wouldn't let me just leave him there.

I'm working on the assumption that he has every fish herpes known to man.

He's pretty lively so that's good. Heading home with him now.

@melypr1985 if you could advise I would very much appreciate it.

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

Awesome man its even better beause he is eating brine just make sure to get some vitamins in it. Also mix live with frozen train him to eat frozen.

 

[Brew12]

Start with doing a fresh water dip. That will provide relief from some of the more common issues. After that you can come up with a plan on how to address the rest of the problems he may have.

 

[miyags]

Do you already have a QT set-up and ready to go. #1 you could give a freshwater dip. #2 try to get it to eat for you, because once you start meds a lot of fish will stop eating.#3 If you know it has ick you can add cupramine to the QT,a little at a time until your copper test kit arrives. then bring your copper up to proper level. #4 If you think it has fukes,you should see them fall off in your freshwater dip, You can start a prazipro treatment. Keep QT clean and ammonia free. With plenty of water changes

 

[miyags]

You can try to feed it fresh raw shrimp or clams/ scallops. black worms for sure, but you have to find them. The copperband is one of my favorite fish,had mine fore a few years now and doing great. Good Luck!!

 

[Jofiel]

QT set up and warming with 2 heaters. I didn't have enough water for the 20 gallon so ended up moving my 10 gallon nano into the bedroom.

It was fallow but running so in Rome it down, tossed the sand, cleaned everything with vinegar, and started it up in the bedroom.

Hob is crammed full of seeded sponge from my other tank.

 

[Jofiel]

Start with doing a fresh water dip. That will provide relief from some of the more common issues. After that you can come up with a plan on how to address the rest of the problems he may have.

Yes, I will do a freshwater dip before moving it into the qt.

 

[Jofiel]

Do you already have a QT set-up and ready to go. #1 you could give a freshwater dip. #2 try to get it to eat for you, because once you start meds a lot of fish will stop eating.#3 If you know it has ick you can add cupramine to the QT,a little at a time until your copper test kit arrives. then bring your copper up to proper level. #4 If you think it has fukes,you should see them fall off in your freshwater dip, You can start a prazipro treatment. Keep QT clean and ammonia free. With plenty of water changes

1. I will dip before adding to the QT

2. How long do you think I should I just feed before treating? Fish guy said it had been there a week and just started eating.

3. I know it was in a system that has had ich. So far I haven't seen any overt symptoms. I will examine it more thoroughly and get pictures when I dip and transfer.

If it can wait to treat, I'd rather use CP. I can get a script for it but it will likely take a week to get the meds.

 

[Humblefish]

Start with doing a fresh water dip. That will provide relief from some of the more common issues. After that you can come up with a plan on how to address the rest of the problems he may have.

^^ This; look to see if flukes come off him during the dip: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/video-how-to-do-a-freshwater-dip.214/

If it can wait to treat, I'd rather use CP. I can get a script for it but it will likely take a week to get the meds.

CP would be ideal, but if this fish has velvet then it would be unwise to wait a week before beginning parasite treatment.

 

[Jofiel]

Alright, warmed everything up then did the dip. Didn't actually see anything come off. I didn't have a dark bucket that was clean so used a white one then poured the water a bit at a time into a dark container. Found some fleshy chunky things but only a few and larger than I've seen flukes.

Here are the pics I took before, during, and after.

 

[Jofiel]

My phone wouldn't focus on it

 

[Jofiel]

Dip



Just after I put him in QT



Anyone see anything? I on't see any signs of ich or velvet and if there were flukes it was just a few big ones.

I'm gut loading some brine shrimp and if it recovers well from the dip and eats I think I will treat with the general cure and wait till I get the CP to treat for other baddies...

I'm mainly concerned because he was flashing and rubbing against the rocks in the store display.

I'm leaning towards ordering New Life Spectrum Ich Shield Bath using Amazon Prime, then I would only have to wait 2 days to start treating and I could start the general cure right away.

 

[melypr1985]

Honestly, I would just stick with copper and the General Cure. I didn't see anything to worry about in the pictures or videos. He actually looks really good. Having antibiotics on hand with butterflies is a good plan.

 

[miyags]

Your fish looks pretty good.I'd try to get it to eat in the morning and get a lot of saltwater made up. 10 gal is pretty small. I didn't see any ick . Make sure your heater is set good,so you don't cook it.

 

[Jofiel]

Your fish looks pretty good.I'd try to get it to eat in the morning and get a lot of saltwater made up. 10 gal is pretty small. I didn't see any ick . Make sure your heater is set good,so you don't cook it.

Yeah :/ I wasn't quite ready and the salt I ordered won't be here till next week. I have a 20 gallon that is my intended QT. I'll go grab some more real saltwater tomorrow.

 

[Jofiel]

Honestly, I would just stick with copper and the General Cure. I didn't see anything to worry about in the pictures or videos. He actually looks really good. Having antibiotics on hand with butterflies is a good plan.

Thanks! Lets just hope he eats!

 

[Jofiel]

He's looking quite good this morning. Active. Eating live, gut-loaded, brine. At first he just ate the ones that floated buy but then started actively looking for them. He's not voracious, but a decent feeding response. I'l start trying to mix in frozen mysis first. Tank parameters are fine.

Heading out for some chores and to get enough water to move him to the 20 gallon.

 

[drawman]

Great start!

 

[Humblefish]

Awesome!

 

[Jofiel]

So I drove across the bay to my favorite crack store, Aquatic Collection, and got some water and tubifex worms (they had no blackworms).

They had a couple of nice longnose butterflys that were enthusiastically eating mysis so I brought one home to keep the CBB company in QT.

My goal for the new build has always included these two fish, and I had intended to run them through QT together. I just wasn't going to get them for another month or so!

This way I figure the strong feeding response from the longnose should help the CBB try new things.

I just got everything moved over to the 20 gallon and I'll let them settle for a couple hours before I try feeding.