Butterflytown - 240 FOWLR

It's only on one fin, I've got other problems I'm dealing with now. the appetite is still dwindling and something happened today that totally messed this fish up. I came home from work today to find it swimming around crazily. I'm not sure if it's the Epsom salt that I added yesterday or something else.

Did a huge water change and crossed my fingers.
 
caribfan said:
Interesting information Ed.

Do you think I would be wise to add all three to my current 240 and see what happens, or is that a recipe for disaster?

My whole reason for getting the two new ones was to replace the current one I have because he nips at the puffer. I suppose I may just end up having to find a new home for the puffer, hate the thought of that though.
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I don't know what will happen, but I would think with all the space and competition it might work.

I had four in my 180g and added another pair............the new pair broke up as one started bullying the other. I removed the one getting harassed and the 5 were great together.

The lone one went in a 60g with a marine betta and he shreaded the betta's fins, so I feel your pain about your puffer.

As time went buy I lost a few of them and put one in the with the loner in the 60g and they were fine. So honestly I think you have to get lucky enough to have a bonded pair.

I'm not sure there's a right formula, other than it's easier with groups and you have to keep trying till you get a bonded pair.
 
Yes...............the original 2 pairs were that way for years. I bought all four at once and just got lucky. There were a few times that one pair would bully the other pair, but no damage was ever done..............it came and went.

The more space I gave(larger tank) the less this became an issue.

The two I paired up on my own in the 60g were together for at least a couple of years till one died.

Honestly, I had more trouble keeping them healthy than aggression/fighting issues. This was back well before the internet. The quality of the fish and the technology to keep them healthy has changed ten fold from those days.

The other thing that may have been a help was I had a purple tang in the 180g that was in charge. I also never overstocked my tank.
 
Anybody every seen a fish go from completely fine, to absolutely nuts for no reason?

This Arabian was doing relatively well a week ago, prior to me treating it with Kanamyacin and then Epsom Salts.

Fast Forward to today and it's swimming around like it's never been in an aquarium before. Won't touch the food I'm offering, I'm kind of at a loss. I've done a large water change and turned off the lights. Hoping it will just chill out and go back to eating, not holding my breath at this point though. Pretty disappointed.

The baby blueline, which is in the same tank, appears to be just fine.
 
Pretty bummed. I removed the semi and the anulatta damsel, not sure if that's had a negative effect? I did it to reduce feeding pressure.
 
Well, shoot, that's not what I wanted to read :( Hope it's just a temporary issue.
 
SDguy said:
Well, shoot, that's not what I wanted to read :( Hope it's just a temporary issue.
Click to expand...

Not what I wanted to write either....

I don't believe it's an issue of environment because the little blueline appears to be just fine. Hoping time will help him calm down. I'm debating whether I should add the other fish back, I think I may add the semi today at least.
 
This is my opinion but:

1) I think adding any fast eater is going to cause competition. I believe that the reason it gave up was because the damsel and the other fast eating butterflies stressed it. Considering that we don't know if he swallowed any food based on the video. It might have taken him a lot of courage to pick at the clam shell, and when it couldn't even really swallow anything, it didn't feel that it was worth the effort to pick at the shell.

2) I think removing all fish might also be a problem because it may feel stressed by itself. IME, butterflyfish eat better when there are other butterflyfish around. So I think adding another slow eating butterfly is the way to go. But I think keeping it by itself is better than with fast eaters if another slow eating butterflyfish is not an option.

3) when a fish is stressed out, I find that doing 100% water changes can often cause them to perk up. Of course you don't want to stress them out either so I would not use a net. Instead, I would use a small tub and catch the fish, while changing the whole tank.

Did you check the ammonia and nitrates recently? I suspect that with all the heavy feeding, the water quality went down along the line.
 
Quick little update.

Tomorrow marks three months of captivity with my Arabian Butterfly.

The good news is, the sore on the pelvic fin appears to have gone away.

The bad news is, this fish is in nowhere near the condition it was in a month ago. It constantly swims in circles in the quarantine tank and I almost never see it eat any more. It's color has also darkened.

I'm really at a loss as to what I should do next. I think the process of me treating it with two different antibiotics, performing several freshwater dips, treating it with Epsom Salt and removing some of the tank mates has caused this fish to have extreme anxiety and distrust of me.

I have not once see any evidence of parasitic infection and am tempted to add it to my DT in hopes that it may mellow out in the presence of other butterflies.

I have never added a fish that hasn't been treated with cupramine to that tank though and am extremely concerned as to what might happen.

I would welcome opinions, I'm concerned that if I continue on this path, the fish won't be around much longer.
 
I'd put it in the display tank. The surroundings will be much more comfortable and what the fish is used to.
 
I would keep it in quarantine but keep water pristine (no antibiotics, no dips)

I think it will be out competed.

But since you already put it in, just observe. If its not eating put it back.
 
I vote DT also. It's in a small tank for much longer than you anticipated due to the red spot which is now gone. YAY So ya let him enjoy the big tank, I'd be willing to bet it comes around once acclimated. I also don't think feeding will be an issue once it gets accustomed to the bigger tank and other fish since it was eating so well before.
 
Yeah.... ummm... no.....

I don't care what species it is... no way a sketchy BF is hitting my display, I don't care what meds I've treated it with.

So that's a no vote for the DT. :)
 
Yeah, you're between a rock and a hard place. But I have to agree with Peter. The only thing worse than the Arabian dying, would be if it took a number of your DT fish with it.

Sorry, there doesn't seem to be an easy answer to this problem. :(
 
SDguy said:
Yeah.... ummm... no.....

I don't care what species it is... no way a sketchy BF is hitting my display, I don't care what meds I've treated it with.

So that's a no vote for the DT. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, needed that, keep me on the straight and narrow.

It's still in quarantine, I did add one of my semis, hoping another fish would help calm it down.

I've got a new order of lrs coming in tomorrow or Monday, with some of their new breeder food, Hopefully that helps.

I just can't believe how far it's regressed.
 
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