• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Copper Band Butterfly death

Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

I purchased a copper band 3 months ago for a local fish store, the copper band looked extremely healthy and was of a very decent size, with in hours after he was introduced to my tank he began to eat which was a serious win for me because in the past i have had very bad luck with butterflys not eating. Over the course of the 3 months the copper band kept a great appetite showed no signs of stress or injury and seemingly showed no signs of being picked on by any other fish in the tank. Yesterday i noticed he would not eat, he showed interest in the food but wouldn't take a bite.. this was a immediate red flag for me. The tank was checked, water chemistry was good how ever the temperature was low... 74 degrees some time during the power outage my heaters thermastat went out of wack i fixed the problem and the tanks temperature returned to normal over the course of a few hours.
.
I am curious if any of you know of any illnesses specific to butter flys that i should be aware of incase it wasnt the temperature drop that made it sick
 
R

raccioppi83

I have actually seen a large amount of them thriving in captivity. The owner just needs to know their requirements to thrive.. That being said, as stated above, they are notorious for being finicky eaters. Once eating they seem like a quality reef citizen
 
Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

raccioppi83 said:
I have actually seen a large amount of them thriving in captivity. The owner just needs to know their requirements to thrive.. That being said, as stated above, they are notorious for being finicky eaters. Once eating they seem like a quality reef citizen
Click to expand...
Ya mine was eating great and geting,along well with his friends but then one day he just stopped eating and the next day he died
 
Humblefish

Humblefish

NJRC Member
Article Contributor
They are susceptible to uronema, bacterial infections and intestinal worms. The latter can kill them pretty quickly sometimes, but you should notice the fish getting skinny and white stringy poo.
 
Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

Humblefish said:
They are susceptible to uronema, bacterial infections and intestinal worms. The latter can kill them pretty quickly sometimes, but you should notice the fish getting skinny and white stringy poo.
Click to expand...
No white stringy poop I can,say that during,the first few weeks of having him I noticed he would occasionally get a sore spot on,his side not very big and would heal up andndisapear with,in 2 days I assumed it may have been from scraping against the rocks
 
Humblefish

Humblefish

NJRC Member
Article Contributor
Jeremy Brito said:
No white stringy poop I can,say that during,the first few weeks of having him I noticed he would occasionally get a sore spot on,his side not very big and would heal up andndisapear with,in 2 days I assumed it may have been from scraping against the rocks
Click to expand...

Could have been an infection that never fully healed and eventually did him in.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Jeremy Brito said:
I noticed he would occasionally get a sore spot on,his side not very big and would heal up andndisapear with,in 2 days
Click to expand...

I wrote an article someplace on this about copperbands. That sore spot on butterflies and other thin fish is internal bleeding and is rather common with those types of fish. I have autopsied many of them with that condition and it is internal bleeding. It is usually in the meaty portion of the fish and not near the guts. From autopsy it appears that a rib punctured a blood vessel and caused internal bleeding. A fishes bones are not attached to anything like our bones are. They are just stuck in the flesh to help support the shape of the fish. They also have no bone marrow so the ribs, especially in a copperband are needle thin. I assume these fish may get that from collection or struggling in a net but I am guessing.

See the very faint dark area between the third and fourth black bar. You can hardly see it. That was an internal injury that resulted in death. That spot got larger and I found it to be internal bleeding. That spot is important to look for in those types of thin fish.
Copperbands are not a delicate fish and can take care of themselves. They do not do well in quarantine as they are always stressed if they can't hide in a tight coral head and are not comfortable in a PVC pipe. I amnot sure if it is too white or what it is but they need a coral to hide in. They should be fed a diet of either worms or clams, no dry foods even if they will eat it. They are a hardy fish that should live 10 or 15 years. People have problems with them for the reason I stated and they do not feed them correctly or quarantine them incorrectly.
These is no cure for what your fish died from.

 
Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

Paul B said:
I wrote an article someplace on this about copperbands. That sore spot on butterflies and other thin fish is internal bleeding and is rather common with those types of fish. I have autopsied many of them with that condition and it is internal bleeding. It is usually in the meaty portion of the fish and not near the guts. From autopsy it appears that a rib punctured a blood vessel and caused internal bleeding. A fishes bones are not attached to anything like our bones are. They are just stuck in the flesh to help support the shape of the fish. They also have no bone marrow so the ribs, especially in a copperband are needle thin. I assume these fish may get that from collection or struggling in a net but I am guessing.

See the very faint dark area between the third and fourth black bar. You can hardly see it. That was an internal injury that resulted in death. That spot got larger and I found it to be internal bleeding. That spot is important to look for in those types of thin fish.
Copperbands are not a delicate fish and can take care of themselves. They do not do well in quarantine as they are always stressed if they can't hide in a tight coral head and are not comfortable in a PVC pipe. I amnot sure if it is too white or what it is but they need a coral to hide in. They should be fed a diet of either worms or clams, no dry foods even if they will eat it. They are a hardy fish that should live 10 or 15 years. People have problems with them for the reason I stated and they do not feed them correctly or quarantine them incorrectly.
These is no cure for what your fish died from.

Click to expand...
Paul awesome post as usual I wish I could write like you. I think the term is necropsy when it comes to animals though autopsy is just as fitting. I actually concidered this when mine died but decided against it cause I didnt,have a good station to set up. I actually have a full kit microscope scalpels slides tray and pins etc.
My cooper band was eating reef frenzy and myisis never seemed interested in,the pellets, I saw him occasionally nose around the live rock but over all he seemed very healthy until he wasn't.
I spend a portion of my daily routine checking each fish watching them swim eat and just go about there routine looking for any irregular behavior with the cooper band I noticed him being slower and his mouth more open then usual he would swim torwards food but then stop and swim away and hang out to the side of the tank
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top