Copperband Going Down

[JRPhd]

Hello all. My copper banded butterfly fish (purchased about seven months ago) did not look so good this morning. He had been doing well for months after purchasing him. He readily ate both mysid shrimp and scallops, and on occasion Selcon loaded brine shrimp. Over the past few weeks I began to notice he looked a little skinny. Commensurate with that was some difficulty consuming food. That is, he actively sought shrimp and scallops, but struggled to get them down. I added the brine shrimp and cut the scallop into smaller pieces for him, which helped. Again, he has always been active and healthy appearing, with no signs of shyness. In fact, he was always the first one to the top of the tank when the power heads were turned off. This morning, he was hiding behind the rocks and then slowly cruising around, seemingly uninterested in any food. He also looked a little pale if that makes any sense. He has never had any parasites that I've known of (none of the three other fish in my tank have ever had). Any thoughts? One that came to my mind was cyanide poisoning, but would that show up over seven months later? What can I do for him? I am definitely worried what I might find when I get home today .

Thanks
Jon
p.s. thnx Waxie for your response in the other forum.

 

[Blazer88]

I'm sorry to hear that about your CBB. Mine did the same exact thing after about nine months; great fish who would eat anything to dead in just a few days. It seems to be a pretty common experience with these guys, I'll never buy one again. I hope he pulls through.

 

[Freed]

Have you put ANYTHING new into the tank within the last few months?

 

[thor32766]

yeah i heard of quite a few people having somewhat of the same experience of being great one day and then bam

 

[JRPhd]

Thanks all, I did put some new stuff in last Saturday, but he had been looking skinny b4 then. I added an open brain, ricordia, and tear drop maxima. I have not witnessed him picking at any of these, nor any of my other LPS, zoo's. He seems a little more upbeat this pm. I fed him a bunch of brine shrimp (w/ Selcon)which he readily consumed. Still struggles even w/ pieces of mysis...
Jon

 

[Freed]

Make sure you try to feed him at least a few times a day until he start ravaging the food. Then back off to a couple times a day but still make sure he's full.