CBB pinched stomach

MikeTR

MikeTR

New member
Have had a copperband butterfly in quarantine for about 3 weeks now. Watched him at the store for a week before I decided to buy. It's readily accepting mysis, but doesn't seem to be eating as much the past few days. I've already gone through 2 rounds of prazipro in qt in which i've dosed the whole tank. It was eating about 6 mysis on average per feeding, twice per day.. now it's about 3 and then is mouthing the rest and spits it out. Not interested in live blackworms, but does seem to accept live mysis.. gets a few more of those down and then just starts to mouth them. Seems like the stomach is pinched now. Anything else to try and fatten him up? Something internal still going on?
 
Do you have access to live clams, oysters or mussels? Is your LFS good? See if you can get the Larrys brand of frozen food.
 
Maybe dose mysis with garlic before feeding? That always worked when my fish in QT weren't interested in food??
 
I have roggers food. It wasn't interested in it all that much. That stuff wreaks like garlic. It did eat a couple real small pieces that I smushed the one time I tried it. I'm also soaking the mysis in selcon.
 
I didn't try just clipping a chunk of the food in there so it could pick at it.. I may just try that. I believe my grocery store has live clams and/or mussels.
 
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Remember to give the shellfish a scrub under running water & freeze it for a few minutes to kill any bacteria. Drop it in & back away from the tank. Good luck!
 
Important part is to freeze, doesn't matter before or after. Sounds like you're doing a lot of the right things - I'm surprised he won't eat the blackworms, have you tried a few times? Are there any other symptoms such as hiding, swimming into powerheads, discoloration, torn fins, bumps, redness? If not, I would suspect internal worms that prazipro won't eradicate. You would have to use a different dewormer, my choice would be levamisole.
 
Glad to see some action here! I noticed the overall lack of appetite the day after dosing prazi with improvement in about 3 days. This I figured was normal. Doesn't seem to have bounced back as fast after round 2. LFS doesn't run copper in the tank. It came out of one of the nicer 4 x 8 ft coral tanks. I've not seen any signs of crypto on the fins, and I would think the stress of tank transfer should have been enough to cause the outbreak. Overall swimming behavior seems ok, recognizes that I'm coming up to the tank and is eager to see what I have to offer. I've tried the blackworms a few times... fortunately the leopard wrasse is eager to eat the leftovers. I'm aware these are both a bit more delicate fish.. but i'm up for the challenge. Where can I get the levamisole?

Here's a pic of the display. I don't take any risks with this one. If it doesn't survive quarantine.. so be it.
 
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Very nice reef, how many gallons?

Levamisole is sold online as Vermisol for pigeon deworming, here's one place I found it for sale:
http://www.pigeonsuppliesandservices.com/store/p34/Vermisol_100_gram_powder.html

In humans it's used to treat colon cancer.

This drug may not work for your fish either, it depends on what type of internal worms you're dealing with (if it even has worms). It's a process of elimination, Levamisole is a good choice after prazi because it's a safe, effective dewormer. I've been prophylactically treating my fish with it along with tank transfer method.
 
snorvich said:
Tank transfer is not stressful. Which brand of mysis are you feeding?
Click to expand...

Hikari.. I think the PE would be too big for him. I've watched every morsel he's eaten (or not) in the last 3 weeks. I'll take a vid and some pics tonight.
 
tylersarah said:
Very nice reef, how many gallons?

Levamisole is sold online as Vermisol for pigeon deworming, here's one place I found it for sale:
http://www.pigeonsuppliesandservices.com/store/p34/Vermisol_100_gram_powder.html

In humans it's used to treat colon cancer.

This drug may not work for your fish either, it depends on what type of internal worms you're dealing with (if it even has worms). It's a process of elimination, Levamisole is a good choice after prazi because it's a safe, effective dewormer. I've been prophylactically treating my fish with it along with tank transfer method.
Click to expand...

Display is 180g.

Thanks for the link.. if I can't dig up the dosing regimen i'll let you know.
 
well.. not much to video.. ate 3 pieces of mysis and about 5 live brine. wasn't interested in the roggers food or blackworms again. gotta be internal..
 
MikeTR said:
Display is 180g.

Thanks for the link.. if I can't dig up the dosing regimen i'll let you know.
Click to expand...

Looks like 5g /300 gal. I've got a 30g quarantine so measuring will be fun. I ended up getting the prohibit soluble drench as I could source it closer.
 
Not veer to far off topic, but in my experience, the fish ate well initially but quickly lost weight. They would stop eating when they became very thin and perished.

The literature is mixed however with some studies showing a malabsorption syndrome to no effect what so ever from cyanide. Some argue that the malabsorption is from prolonged starvation in holding facilities and not cyanide, but I would expect to see super thin fish having these issues and not perfectly healthy appearing ones.

I would rec trying tube feeds, but with a CBB i doubt it is possible.

BTW. Great tank and a perfect example of a hobbiest doing the right thing by keeping a diseased or sick fish away from A healthy population
 
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