Long nose butterfly stopped eating

[California_dogs]

Hi everyone, I am having troubles with a long nose butterfly fish that has stopped being super interested in food. Here is some background.

Aquarium parameters:
Fish only with live rock
60 gallon
Has been running for Almost 3 years

Temp 78 degrees F
1.024 salinity
Nitrate 20 ppm
Nitrite .5 ppm
Alkalinity 300 ppm
Ph 8.4
0 ammonia

No fish lost to the issue
No invertebrates affected
Barely eating( generally trying to feed mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and clam on the half shell)

At first he didn’t really eat last night. Not swimming around as much. It has been about two weeks since I got him, didn’t do a quarantine(i know, rookie mistake). He was super eager to eat for those two weeks, swimming around and hogging all the food(not really). he has some white spots on his fins, but I thought they were lymphocytis. All the other fish seem fine. I have two clownfish and a royal gamma.

Do y’all have any suggestions or is there something I can do? Are the spots something else?

Thanks for you help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone, I am having troubles with a long nose butterfly fish that has stopped being super interested in food. Here is some background.

Aquarium parameters:
Fish only with live rock
60 gallon
Has been running for Almost 3 years

Temp 78 degrees F
1.024 salinity
Nitrate 20 ppm
Nitrite .5 ppm
Alkalinity 300 ppm
Ph 8.4
0 ammonia

No fish lost to the issue
No invertebrates affected
Barely eating( generally trying to feed mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and clam on the half shell)

At first he didn’t really eat last night. Not swimming around as much. It has been about two weeks since I got him, didn’t do a quarantine(i know, rookie mistake). He was super eager to eat for those two weeks, swimming around and hogging all the food(not really). he has some white spots on his fins, but I thought they were lymphocytis. All the other fish seem fine. I have two clownfish and a royal gamma.

Do y’all have any suggestions or is there something I can do? Are the spots something else?

Thanks for you help.

Let’s start with behaviors. Didn’t see much in video
Any unusual head shaking or sudden darting?
Is breathing more elevated than normal?
Is fish swimming at the surface or in path of water flow?

 

[California_dogs]

Doesn’t seem to be any shaking or darting, no elevated breathing(that I’ve noticed). He had been staying by my heater, which is in the path of water flow, but he stayed in that spot even without lots of water flow to that area. (repositioned the powerhead for a bit to see if that’s why he was in the corner. Not sure that was the best thing to do)

 

[California_dogs]

Here is another video if it helps.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here is another video if it helps.

This video is a little short but I dont see unusual behavior or breathing. What foods are you offering?
Have you increased lighting intensity at all?
Any new fish introduced?
Let me know if it goes back after change to swimming in path of flow which is often associated with velvet

 

[California_dogs]

No after it was changed he didn't go back and started swimming around the tank like it used to. The royal gamma was introduced at the same time as the butterfly but it seems to be doing well. I have been offering mysis shrimp, clam on the half shell, brine shrimp and a little bit of flake food(though not too much). There have been no real changes in lighting, though I did notice that once my powerhead started to have a stronger current it swam around less than usual. When I went to feed the other fish tonight, he looked like he wanted to eat, but couldnt( he is searching for food in the rocks and tried to eat something but spit it out). I appreciate all your help!

 

[vetteguy53081]

No after it was changed he didn't go back and started swimming around the tank like it used to. The royal gamma was introduced at the same time as the butterfly but it seems to be doing well. I have been offering mysis shrimp, clam on the half shell, brine shrimp and a little bit of flake food(though not too much). There have been no real changes in lighting, though I did notice that once my powerhead started to have a stronger current it swam around less than usual. When I went to feed the other fish tonight, he looked like he wanted to eat, but couldnt( he is searching for food in the rocks and tried to eat something but spit it out). I appreciate all your help!

Just a hunch, but keep an eye on it for twitching, elevated breathing, darting across tank and hanging at surface. Grammas are susceptible to flukes and want to assure this is not the case

 

[California_dogs]

Ok thank you. If it is flukes how should I go about treating that. Also I have seen people recommend a fresh water dip for 5 min to diagnose, is that correct?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Ok thank you. If it is flukes how should I go about treating that. Also I have seen people recommend a fresh water dip for 5 min to diagnose, is that correct?

This is a weird case - the fish looks really good. The spots are probably lymphocystis, and even if some of them turn out to be ich, they wouldn’t stop the fish from eating.

Flukes also don’t stop a fish from eating until late in the infection. FW dips can diagnose flukes, but only one species can be seen without a microscope.

One thing to easily rule out is blindness. Does the fish shy away if you make a sudden movement outside the tank? Not finding food and hovering along a surface are both symptoms of blindness so you should rule that out.

Jay

 

[California_dogs]

If the fish is by the edges of the tank and I move my hand by it, it does move, but if I do a similar movement while the fish is closer to the middle there is no reaction. Because of that I would assume it’s not blind, though I might be wrong. It seems to be swimming around more today instead of staying in a small area where there is less current/water flow. He still is not interested in food however. Would you recommend I do a fresh water dip to see if that helps or would that put too much stress on the fish. If so what is the recommended procedure for the that?

Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

If the fish is by the edges of the tank and I move my hand by it, it does move, but if I do a similar movement while the fish is closer to the middle there is no reaction. Because of that I would assume it’s not blind, though I might be wrong. It seems to be swimming around more today instead of staying in a small area where there is less current/water flow. He still is not interested in food however. Would you recommend I do a fresh water dip to see if that helps or would that put too much stress on the fish. If so what is the recommended procedure for the that?

Thanks!

I doubt that a FW dip will do much, and catching it up can be very stressful. Still, there isn’t much else to try here.

 

[California_dogs]

Okay, thank you for your replies. I will try to post updates if anything happens. Have a wonderful day!