Ordered my Lemon Butterflies!

[ntropics]

I've been working on setting up my Hawaiian biotope, and have been waiting until three lemon butterflies were available to set up a little butterfly shoal (not school!) in my tank. Lemon butterfly fish, Chaetodon miliaris, tend to aggregate into shoals when feeding, and I thought it might be nice to try to reproduce this in my 180 gallon tank.

So I ordered three fish from Live Aquaria yesterday. I am hoping that between the time I made the order and the time it comes to process it that these are still in stock.

I have had one of these years ago, before my tank crashed (another story, but in short, no deep sand beds for me). I found that with multiple feedings per day, the lemon butterfly stayed away from my various mushrooms and plate coral. But as soon as I dropped down to one feeding per day, the butterfly fish decided to explore for more to munch on, and pretty much destroyed the corals.

Does anyone know if Methylene Blue and Prazipro are well tolerated by Chaetodon miliaris as a dip before going into the QT? I've read by the wet web media guys that Methylene Blue is pretty safe. I'm avoding Formalin, which is bad stuff, and not available in CA anyway, unless packaged with Malachite Green.

Bruce

 

[caribfan]

Meth blue should be no issue. I'd probably wait on the prazi until they are eating. If you have concern about flukes, I'd do a short (3-5 min.) freshwater dip in water with matched pH and temp.

Get them eating first before you treat them. Thats always been my strategy with butterflies.

 

[fishfreak2009]

Meth blue should be no issue. I'd probably wait on the prazi until they are eating. If you have concern about flukes, I'd do a short (3-5 min.) freshwater dip in water with matched pH and temp.

Get them eating first before you treat them. Thats always been my strategy with butterflies.

Very solid advice. FWIW I used methylene blue on one of my butterflyfish I am pretty sure was cyanide caught. He was the only one out of a batch of 4 different species to survive (all from the same store and same direct ship collector in the Philippines). He was the only one I treated with methylene blue. He was not as skinny as the others, but would not eat any prepared food. The others were already passed, and I mentioned to the veterinarian I work for that I was losing fish due to what I thought was cyanide poisoning. He replied that they use methylene blue to treat cyanide ingestion in dogs. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. Obviously it didn't hurt, and it might be anecdotal that after a methylene blue bath the butterflyfish started wolfing down blackworms and mysid, but I think the methylene blue made a difference. Needless to say I am not purchasing any fish from that store any longer, and all my fish now go through a methylene blue bath before introduction to quarantine.

I loved my lemon butterfly pair I had in my tank before it crashed. Always out and about and they were always with the chromis and anthias. Highly underrated fish. I'd love another pair but will not buy them sight unseen. I've never had any luck with butterflyfish ordered online. Good luck though!

 

[ntropics]

Thanks. Do I do the methylene dip with Fresh water? That's what it seems, although I recall doing it in saltwater also.

Bruce

 

[caribfan]

I believe you are fine to use it in either fresh or saltwater.

I like using it in FW dips because I think it can serve therapeutic purposes during what is otherwise a stressful time with the immediate change in salinity. That being said, you will lose any long term effects by just utilizing it during a freshwater dip.

Some may disagree with me here, but unless you suspect an internal parasite or have verified the presence of flukes, I don't always dose prazi. Of the medications that I use frequently, including Seachem Cupramine, Prazipro is the one that has typically had the greatest negative affect on the appetites of my butterflies.

If you don't see signs of flukes after several weeks, and the butterfly is maintaining weight well, I usually forego praziquantel treatments.

 

[ntropics]

Well, they came in alive, so goal number 1 acheived! I put them through a 15 minute methylene blue freshwater dip . A few critters were removed and I spotted them in the rinse section. Here are some photos. They are the best I could manage,as these guys are small. Any ideas what they could be? I thought that the skinny methylene blue stained ones might just be fish poop, but they do seem to have some sort of 'eye'. The other is definitely "wormy".

Thanks for any help anyone can give. They are in the QT now, and swimming around, picking at the live rock. (Yes, I do keep live rock in my QT.)

Bruce

 

[Charley Diesing]

how are they now? what corals do you keep them with?

 

[ntropics]

They are still in QT. Three more weeks to go. They are doing very well. The little red spot on one is now gone, and they are eating well, and finally not "scampering" away when I approach the tank, as long as I don't make sudden movements. I have found that once fish get into the much larger display tank, they tend to be braver. More hiding spots maybe?

Bruce

 

[scooter31707]

I've been working on setting up my Hawaiian biotope, and have been waiting until three lemon butterflies were available to set up a little butterfly shoal (not school!) in my tank. Lemon butterfly fish, Chaetodon miliaris, tend to aggregate into shoals when feeding, and I thought it might be nice to try to reproduce this in my 180 gallon tank.

So I ordered three fish from Live Aquaria yesterday. I am hoping that between the time I made the order and the time it comes to process it that these are still in stock.

I have had one of these years ago, before my tank crashed (another story, but in short, no deep sand beds for me). I found that with multiple feedings per day, the lemon butterfly stayed away from my various mushrooms and plate coral. But as soon as I dropped down to one feeding per day, the butterfly fish decided to explore for more to munch on, and pretty much destroyed the corals.

Does anyone know if Methylene Blue and Prazipro are well tolerated by Chaetodon miliaris as a dip before going into the QT? I've read by the wet web media guys that Methylene Blue is pretty safe. I'm avoding Formalin, which is bad stuff, and not available in CA anyway, unless packaged with Malachite Green.

Bruce

Actually, Formalin is safer than Meth Blue, IMO.

 

[Naraku]

I'm really surprised that the sores healed.
Usually it gets worse.

Did you treat them or just let the fish recover on its own?

 

[ntropics]

Just let it recover on it's own. At first it appeared to be a flatworm. It's very hard to get a clear view of a fish that's in constant motion! But I used my stop action setting on my camera and took about three hundred shots and four or so were clear enough to view. I sent the photo to the wet web media guys, and Bob Fenner stated he believed it was more due to rough handling and just wait and see what happens. So I did, and it healed!

Fish are doing well, and I am looking forward to getting them into my main tank in a few weeks. Feeding two to three times per day in small quantities to get them used to a constant feed mode, to decrease the chances that they will attack my few corals. In the past, I found that three per day feedings = coral safe, and once per day = coral for lunch and dinner. I have an automatic feeder that is set for two times per day, plus my manual feed once per day. I may increase the auto to four per day, and close the hole down to minimal so that there is always a wee bit o' food in the tank for them to nibble.