Coral Beauty not eating QT

[pinocchio]

Today is day 4 of QT for this guy. Copper power is at exactly 2.5ppm. Up until today he ate like a pig. Today he won’t touch his food. Should I be concerned?

No new symptoms other than not eating. Since I got him he has always occasionally puckered his lips out. But breathing seems fine, fins are not stuck to body or anything.

He is in a 10 gallon QT so I feel bad he doesn’t have much space. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Today is day 4 of QT for this guy. Copper power is at exactly 2.5ppm. Up until today he ate like a pig. Today he won’t touch his food. Should I be concerned?

No new symptoms other than not eating. Since I got him he has always occasionally puckered his lips out. But breathing seems fine, fins are not stuck to body or anything.

He is in a 10 gallon QT so I feel bad he doesn’t have much space. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

Assure the copper level hasn’t increased through evaporation and that the ammonia level hasn’t increased as well as tank temperature
If not doing so, add an air stone for increased oxygen
You can lower copper to 2.25 also in case too much for this fish

 

[pinocchio]

@vetteguy53081 just checked the copper again with Hannah checker and it’s fine. So is temp. I already have a power head and air stone in tank. Ammonia is a little high so doing water change now. If I drop to 2.25 that won’t disrupt copper treatment correct? Just needs to stay above 2?

 

[threebuoys]

Today is day 4 of QT for this guy. Copper power is at exactly 2.5ppm. Up until today he ate like a pig. Today he won’t touch his food. Should I be concerned?

No new symptoms other than not eating. Since I got him he has always occasionally puckered his lips out. But breathing seems fine, fins are not stuck to body or anything.

He is in a 10 gallon QT so I feel bad he doesn’t have much space. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

Did you buy the fish at your local fish store? If so, do you know how long they had the fish before you got it?

While lots of fish keepers have great success with CB, I've had two bad experiences. Twice, I had a Coral Beauty that seemed perfectly healthy stop eating at the end of 4 to 6 weeks, and suddenly start hiding. They quickly died. While I cannot prove it, I believe both succumbed to the after effect of being captured with cyanide. I hope this is not your experience, Definitely work hard to get him eating again.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 just checked the copper again with Hannah checker and it’s fine. So is temp. I already have a power head and air stone in tank. Ammonia is a little high so doing water change now. If I drop to 2.25 that won’t disrupt copper treatment correct? Just needs to stay above 2?

Youre still in treatment range , so wont disrupt treatment clock. High ammonia as suspected can ne a culprit

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Today is day 4 of QT for this guy. Copper power is at exactly 2.5ppm. Up until today he ate like a pig. Today he won’t touch his food. Should I be concerned?

No new symptoms other than not eating. Since I got him he has always occasionally puckered his lips out. But breathing seems fine, fins are not stuck to body or anything.

He is in a 10 gallon QT so I feel bad he doesn’t have much space. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

2.5 ppm copper power is fine for that species, evaporation does not concentrate it, and since you are using a Hanna tester, that is a moot point.

You mentioned that the "ammonia is a little high" - what was the number and what test kit did you use? Also, do you know the pH of the water? This all relates, and ammonia toxicity could be a reason why this fish has stopped eating in a small tank.

Can you post a video of the fish?

Finally, it's a sad thing, but this species has variable hardiness in captivity, and many that go through a long supply chain end up dying. Many of these are collected in Indonesia and the Philippines, where cyanide use is still common. That leaves the fish with chronic health issues that causes up to a 60% mortality in the first 40 days. That's awful, but it has been that way since the 1970's. It is perhaps the number one cause of people dropping out of the marine aquarium hobby. I can't say that this is the issue here, but I can't rule it out either.

Jay

 

[pinocchio]

2.5 ppm copper power is fine for that species, evaporation does not concentrate it, and since you are using a Hanna tester, that is a moot point.

You mentioned that the "ammonia is a little high" - what was the number and what test kit did you use? Also, do you know the pH of the water? This all relates, and ammonia toxicity could be a reason why this fish has stopped eating in a small tank.

Can you post a video of the fish?

Finally, it's a sad thing, but this species has variable hardiness in captivity, and many that go through a long supply chain end up dying. Many of these are collected in Indonesia and the Philippines, where cyanide use is still common. That leaves the fish with chronic health issues that causes up to a 60% mortality in the first 40 days. That's awful, but it has been that way since the 1970's. It is perhaps the number one cause of people dropping out of the marine aquarium hobby. I can't say that this is the issue here, but I can't rule it out either.

Jay

First, the good news is he’s eating again!

I changed the water, used water from my DT, and also lowered copper to 2.25. Not sure which was the factor that changed the situation, but I’m happy either way.

The ammonia lvl yesterday was somewhere between .5-1ppm using API tester. I did not check PH.

Video attached of feeding today.

Also, Jay, I had asked this in another thread but is the faded color on the face from a sickness? Just the way they are supposed to look? I rescued this fish from a petco instead of my usual LFS. He was there for weeks and I figured no one was going to buy a fish like that there so I did. Going to put him through full QT. Let me know if you suggest anything else. Also how often should I change water based on what happens already?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

First, the good news is he’s eating again!

I changed the water, used water from my DT, and also lowered copper to 2.25. Not sure which was the factor that changed the situation, but I’m happy either way.

The ammonia lvl yesterday was somewhere between .5-1ppm using API tester. I did not check PH.

Video attached of feeding today.

Also, Jay, I had asked this in another thread but is the faded color on the face from a sickness? Just the way they are supposed to look? I rescued this fish from a petco instead of my usual LFS. He was there for weeks and I figured no one was going to buy a fish like that there so I did. Going to put him through full QT. Let me know if you suggest anything else. Also how often should I change water based on what happens already?

Sorry, the video won’t play for me.

You really need to keep the ammonia below 0.50 ppm. At a high pH, anything above that is going to be toxic.

Jay