New Saddleback Butterflyfish - Chaetodon Ephippium Mommy

[tylersarah]

I've had him 7 days now, my question is whether to dose PraziPro at this time? He's eating well and no sign of disease or distress. Is it better to dose PraziPro with the possibility of suppressed appetite or not dose and hope his health continues? Logically, it seems if his appetite diminishes a water change should reverse the PraziPro effects, no?

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Your fish has been eating for 4 days now, so it is fine to start dosing the PraziPro. I would run the dose for 5 days, do the recommended water change, and then do another 5 day dose. This assumes that the fish is really eating and not just nibbling and spitting most back out.

I medicate all of my fish with PraziPro and Cupramine even if there are no signs of disease. I just decided to risk losing fish in quarantine with meds to protect my DT.

 

[tylersarah]

Unfortunately the Saddleback "Little Bugger" died this morning of an uncertain cause.

He had been in QT 31 days today. My process went as follows:

20 gallon tank
78.5 degrees
1.016 hypo-salinity
Piece of live rock
Heater & small powerhead
Two seeded sponges from the main tank
Air bubbles
Couple PVC pipes
Chemistry good - no ammonia

Dosed PraziPro twice for 5 day durations. Fed the fish two times a day, he was an active eater and preferred fresh scallop, clam and a locally made frozen blend with Hikari mysis, scallop, cyclopeeze (etc.).

Three days ago was the first salinity increasing water change from 1.016-1.017. Yesterday another of these water changes which increased the salinity to 1.018. I fed him at 5 last evening and he was his normal self and this morning he had passed. Tyler had to retrieve the fish from the tank because I wasn't having it and he said the fish had a red stripe from his mouth all the way to his tail, almost like an internal hemmorhage and his body was darkened.

Honestly, I don't have a hypothesis why the fish died, but I do know that although unfortunate sometimes these things happen, especially with more difficult species. Will I try again? Absolutely, maybe with a fish larger than two inches, but not any time soon.

 

[SDguy]

So sorry to hear that! Happens to the best of us somtimes. I agree, maybe shoot for 3-4" specimens next time.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Sorry to hear about it. Unfortunately, it is part of the hobby. It sounds like you did everything right.

The fish probably was damaged in capture or transport and doomed well before you bought it. I think fish that die within 30-60 days of acquisition in most cases weren't going to make it anyway (assuming they were handled properly by the hobbyist, which is clearly the case with you).

The ones closer to 3" do seem more resilient.

I wouldn't necessarily let this stop you from taking the plunge again sooner rather than later. You want the fish, saddlebacks typically are hardy for butterflyfish, and hopefully you will get a good one.

Do you know where your lfs gets its fish? If from Quality Marine, that is good. If not, you might try an online vendor like the regular Live Aquaria or their Diver's Den operation for more sensitive fish like butterflyfish. Their fish come from QM and seem to do very well.

 

[tylersarah]

A Reflection on Reefkeeping

A Reflection on Reefkeeping

I'd like to personally thank Dr. Colliebreath/SD Guy for contributing to this thread and ultimately my gain of knowledge.

And for future readers of this and anyone looking to quarantine a Saddleback, do exactly as I did, but know it doesn't always end positively. Looking back I don't have any "What if's" or any sort of regret in my method of caring for the fish and I was diligent and took every extra precaution I could imagine in order to benefit the health of the fish.

It's funny how you begin to learn the behavior and personality of your fish. When I went to feed the Saddleback the morning he died I knew immediately, before I saw the fish, that something had happened because I didn't see his normal morning behavior routine. Same goes with the hawkfish in our display tank, when the tank temperature is a bit too warm (and yes we have thermometers) this fish won't feed aggressively as usual. Then I know to check the temp and turn on the A/C.

All in all, it saddens me to have purchased, even though it was with good intent, a creature that was taken from its natural environment and ultimately flushed down a toilet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A bit radical, but for comparison purposes imagine if aliens abducted humans with nets, took them to space and tried to recreate our air, food and environment. Then some of the aliens feed us McDonald's each day because they saw how we liked it so and then wondered why the Homosapiens who only ate McDonald's were more likely to die. Too an extent this is how I feel about reefkeeping and education/research is the only way to minimize these consequences.

To end on a positive note, I've been in this hobby for nearly ten years (since I was 16). I started with a 26 gallon bow front tank and a saltwater reefkeeping book and have recently upgraded to a 120 starfire tank thanks to the mechanical ingenuity and interest of Tyler! Hi Tyler! :love1: I have always been a firm believer of feeding an assortment of the best diet available and consider me lucky or call it correlated, but my fish have never seen a case of Ich, Flukes, Brook, Velvet etc...

My first tank (I still have the ricordia mushroom and the mated Percula clowns which spawn weekly):

Excuse the gigantic photo.

Overtime it became overrun by shrooms:

And our current setup, a beautiful mixed reef in progress:

 

[tylersarah]

And I will keep my eye on Diver's Den!

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

You are welcome, we like to try and help, and we have all been there.

I received a Pakistani butterfly last fall that was slightly larger than the size of a quarter. It spent an extra day in transit due to missing a connecting flight which I think ultimately doomed it. The fish went through a lot of what you experienced. It seemed to want to eat, sometimes it would eat and then it wouldn't, it was an active swimmer and curious, etc. It died at about the 3 week mark. I hated to see it go, but sometimes there is nothing you can do and you just have to accept it as part of the hobby.

I look at it as nature drops an excessive number of creatures into the world knowing many/most won't survive but the species continue due to sheer numbers. It is not like humans where you pretty much expect most will have a full life.