Copperband Eating but Becoming Thin

[Packersfan21]

A few months ago I bought a copperband to help control the apitasia in the tank. After two days he ate all of it, and since then i've been feeding him a cube of frozen brine and mysis shrimp rotating each day. I know they eat live bloodworms but I haven't found any at any fish stores nearby. Now it looks like he's getting really thin, and I hope it's not a parasatic infection cause I've had that problem with a purple tang before. Not sure if I should start feeding two frozen cubes a day (1 mysis, and 1 brine,) but I'm hoping that something works. Other than that he's been really active and seemingly health since I bought him.

 

[JamesJR]

it may have internal parasties. I would quarantine him for about 5-6 weeks to fatten him up and try running prazipro.

 

[Packersfan21]

Thanks for the reply. The only problem is that the qt I have is only 10 gallons which I don't think will be big enough for him. I'm also going on vacation in a week so I woulddn't be able to qt it during that time.

 

[snorvich]

I think you are not feeding enough. Are you using PE mysis? What else is in the tank?

 

[Packersfan21]

Nope not using any PE Mysis. It's just been San Fransisco Bay frozen mysis and brine. The only other fish in the tank right now are 1 true percula and one false percula clown. I might feed 2 frozen cubes now instead if you think that will work better.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

can you post a pic of your aquarium?

if this fish can't find enough naturally occurring food in the aquarium it's highly unlikely to survive for long... especially if you're going away on vacation soon.
I would strongly suggest considering removing the fish before leaving on vacation or scheduling a fish sitter to feed the fish daily while you're away.

 

[Packersfan21]

Yea i'm kinda worried of what will happen once I go on vacation. We will have someone coming in once a day to feed the fish, but I don't think now that it will be enough food. There is an lfs about 20 minutes away that might be able to hold on to it while I'm gone.( it's the the same lfs that I got the fish from)

 

[snorvich]

Feeding twice a day is going to be required unless natural foraging will capture enough food. In a 90 gallon tank, that is debatable.

 

[Cubed]

I've had mine for about three months now, he's housed with a tang, angel, rabbit, and a few other small ones. The tank gets fed twice, sometimes three times a day with seaweed/nori. As far as I can tell he's healthy as can be and eats a lot at both sittings. I have strayed from using brine since the nutritional value in brine is less than mysis, but I do feed brine+algae cubes. He eats anything like a pig that I put in there. Good luck, if they are going to eat it, might as well feed them, you just don't want to underfeed.

 

[Packersfan21]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll start feeding at least twice a day now. I'll try and pick up some more food today as well. This might me a dumb question, but is there any chance they would eat seaweed salad froma veggie clip? I'll also try and get a pic of it today if you think it would help.

 

[Cubed]

Mine never picks on anykind of greens I put in, i.e. algea or seaweed. Could be different though.

 

[Rare Angels]

Both the foods your feeding are not very nutritous. The mysis is slightly better then the brine. If you can get it eating flakes and/or frozen formula 1&2 that would help lot.

Getting it on flakes means you could set up an auto feeder to feed it more often and when you are on vacation.

Basically feed it more and a more nutritous menu.

 

[sidjam]

Live blackworms are the best for a copperband. Mine loves them. You should be able to find them somewhere. How far from Indianapolis are you? Thats where I get mine. They also like pe mysis.

 

[krischau]

Try tubeflex worms instead since you can't get bloodworms. These should be available in most fish stores. My copperband was losing weight like yours when I feed him 2 cubes of mysis daily. But now I feed the tubeflex worms in the moring and evening along with the 2 cubes of mysis. He has gained weight real fast in like 2 to 4 days.

 

[Packersfan21]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I picked up some frozen formula 1 cubes today at the lfs, and i'll try feeding that in a few minutes.

Rare Angels: I have flake food, but I always thought that butterflyfish wouldn't eat flakes.

sidjam: I'm about 1 hr. 30 min. from Indy but i'll be heading up to Ft. Wayne tommorow and I know theres a couple stores there that I could look for bloodworms at.

krischau: I saw the frozen tubflex worms at the lfs today, but i wasn't sure if they'd be good or not. I suppose I could look for them tommorow in Ft. Wayne though.

 

[krischau]

sorry, forgot to mention "live" tubflex instead of frozen.

 

[scooter86]

Mine loves live clams.

 

[Packersfan21]

Thanks again for the replies, looks like live food is the way to go. I'm leaving in a few hours so I'll see what I can find.

 

[mflamb]

Read through the Copperband Primer thread at the top. There is a great pic of a CBB feeder that you can put green mussels in. My CBB loves it and is fat as a pig.

 

[Packersfan21]

Hmm green mussels, I'll try and look for those. Well I'm back from Ft. Wayne and I was finally able to find live blood worms. I didn't pick up any this time since they were about to close and i still had more stuff to do in Ft. Wayne. The guy from the lfs is coming tommorow to do a watercahnge, tank maitnence, etc. and he might be able to take the copperband while i'm on vacation for 3 1/2 weeks, cause i don't want to risk it during that time. Thanks to everyone who helped me, and I'll give an update on how it's doing once I get back.