Weird Coloration on Copperband and acting strange - help needed

[Pola0502ds]

This copperband is in a reef tank at the local school I help, linked below in my signature, and i was contacted by the principle today with some concerns on their new addition.

This is what i know so far, i have not been to the school yet.

-The copperband was QT for 4 weeks
-Added to DT on Dec 27th
-Had been eating just fine up until today
-Had not been bullied by any other tankmates
-Do not know what the current parameters are.

The concerns are today it stopped eating, its swimming pattern is irregular, it likes to hang out by the powerhead, and if you look at the picture it has some odd coloration, looks as if blood is seeping out around its scales. Best way to describe it for me.

Any help would be appreciated to determine what is going on. Should I QT again?

@Humblefish

 

[Brew12]

Did it receive any treatment in the QT?

The fact that it is a straight line makes it look like an injury. Do you know if they pressed it against the side of the tank with the net when they transferred it over to the DT?

You might also want to take a look at this thread. If it isn't an injury I would lean toward bacterial infection.

 

[Highgrade]

Looks like a bacterial infection or injury.

 

[Paul B]

Copperbands are prone to that, looks like internal bleeding and there is nothing you can do for such a fish. I hope I am wrong.
He also has another red discoloration to the right and just below his black dot.
I have autopsied quite a few of them with that condition and I always found internal bleeding.
Just keep trying to feed him. If he doesn't eat there, he won't eat in quarantine.
If it is just an injury, he may get over it. Hard to tell from here.

 

[Pola0502ds]

I was not there when the transfer happened, i will have to ask.

Do you guys need any other information? Better pictures? If it happens to be bacterial what is the recommended treatment method.

 

[Pola0502ds]

Did it receive any treatment in the QT?

The fact that it is a straight line makes it look like an injury. Do you know if they pressed it against the side of the tank with the net when they transferred it over to the DT?

You might also want to take a look at this thread. If it isn't an injury I would lean toward bacterial infection.

Which thread?

Nothing was treated for.


Thanks everyone for responding so quickly.

 

[ZoaCollector]

Get him 20g qt and mix furan 2 and kanaplex, if you catch it soon enough it could recover.

 

[Brew12]

Which thread?

Nothing was treated for.


Thanks everyone for responding so quickly.

Sorry, I failed to link it.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacterial-infections.191511/

 

[Humblefish]

If it happens to be bacterial what is the recommended treatment method.

If it is bacterial, this is my go to for butterflies with red streaks/sores: http://store.nationalfishpharm.com/Nitrofuracin-Green-59584.Item.html

However, the Furan-2 + Kanaplex combo recommended by @ZoaCollector is a good one too.

What puzzles me is these bacterial infections typically show up quickly on new butterflies. I've never seen it take a month to manifest before, which leads me to wonder if this might just be an injury. Like he scraped himself badly on the rock work.

 

[Pola0502ds]

If it is bacterial, this is my go to for butterflies with red streaks/sores: http://store.nationalfishpharm.com/Nitrofuracin-Green-59584.Item.html

However, the Furan-2 + Kanaplex combo recommended by @ZoaCollector is a good one too.

What puzzles me is these bacterial infections typically show up quickly on new butterflies. I've never seen it take a month to manifest before, which leads me to wonder if this might just be an injury. Like he scraped himself badly on the rock work.

Wouldnt it be safe to say that its more than likely bacterial with these red spots showing up in different places? If it was an injury i would be inclinded to think only one spot would show up.

 

[melypr1985]

What puzzles me is these bacterial infections typically show up quickly on new butterflies. I've never seen it take a month to manifest before, which leads me to wonder if this might just be an injury. Like he scraped himself badly on the rock work.

I agree with this. I see this alot in butterflies at the store, but you usually see it within a week or two. Rarely have I seen it a month along.

 

[Humblefish]

Wouldnt it be safe to say that its more than likely bacterial with these red spots showing up in different places? If it was an injury i would be inclinded to think only one spot would show up.

Either way, dosing antibiotics in a QT wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[Pola0502ds]

To help with you folks that are puzzled, here is a missing piece of the puzzle.

For the school tank we only buy from one specific LFS because of their standard procedures, how they take care of the fish, etc. So the owner of this store puts ALL of his fish in a 4 week QT process. You can walk in the store, see the fish in QT and see the fish that have been through QT and transferred to other tanks. We called in before we bought the fish and told them we were looking for a copperband, this was before christmas, and they said if we come in right after the holiday they would have a copperband that had went through the QT process. So thats the deal, i did not personally QT this fish. I don't know if that makes you less puzzled but i left that part out to shorten up the post. @Humblefish

 

[Pola0502ds]

nevermind, just got a call and it died. Man that sucks

 

[melypr1985]

nevermind, just got a call and it died. Man that sucks

man Im sorry

 

[Pola0502ds]

I cant believe that. Went from eating just fine and doing well one day and the next this happens.

 

[Paul B]

Internal bleeding. They should have autopsied him

 

[Pola0502ds]

Internal bleeding. They should have autopsied him

So how do you go about doing that? All of us involved have zero experience doing anything like that.

 

[4FordFamily]

Sorry for your loss . They're fragile fish.

 

[Paul B]

So how do you go about doing that? All of us involved have zero experience doing anything like that.

Have you ever filleted a fish? Lay it on a paper towel and using a scalpel, or razor blade, cut it from the vent toward the head, then up the gills over it's head. Then cut towards the tail. Lift up the skin over that wound and you will see blood in the white meat that should not be there. It is common on thin fish like lookdowns, tangs and butterflies. You can also check out it's organs but you need a little experience to know what you are looking for.
In this hobby we lose so many fish then guess as to why it died. When the police find a dead body they don't say, Oh well I don't see any spots so it did not die of ich and we will never know. Of course if they pull a crow bar out from between his eyes or pry him out from between the subway car wheels it will be easier to determine the cause of death.
But if we are not sure how the fish died, and we get another one with a similar condition wouldn't it be nice if we knew what we are dealing with rather than subject the fish to all sorts of treatments that won't help it.
Remember medications may cure the fish, but many of them will make the fish "uncomfortable" and maybe give it something It didn't have before.
If you see that a fish has internal bleeding, there is nothing you could do for that fish unless you know how to operate and I doubt that.
Don't forget, the fish is already dead so you are not going to hurt it, but you may learn something to help the next fish.
You should at least check out it's gills with a magnifying glass to see if you see any parasites. Don't just flush the thing without trying to learn something.

See this copperband. There is a slight dark spot in the white band near the bottom of the fish south of his black spot. It is barely visible, but I saw it. That fish died as I new it would. I autopsied it and found a large pool of blood under that mark. I have seen it many times. Most people would buy that fish without ever realizing it has a terminal condition.



This is a healthy copperband that I had from a baby. He is now about 5".