H.reidi.MN
New member
I think he was weak from the fungus of bacterial infection and couldn't recover from the dip. Hopefully he is alive when I get home..
Pyramid Butterfly
- Thread starter ca1ore
- Start date
Just part of reef keeping I suppose. I had been on a pretty good run - hadn't lost a new fish in almost 6 months other than a carpet surfer that was reefkeeper stupidity, so got cocky! Interestingly, and kicking myself a bit, I did notice mouth deformity on the one that died as soon as I acclimated it after getting home from the LFS. Sounds like that is a problem with these fish.
H.reidi.MN
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Ya I've been doing good with loses for awhile now. If he kicks it in qt then it wasn't meant to be I guess..
3dees
New member
I have read that butterflies are not nearly as bad as tangs for ich and now they are just as bad. I have a bottle of cupramine but I think I'm more afraid of using it and screwing it up. I have a 20 gal. qt and I'm worried about over dosing or not using enough which would be useless. is cupramine like salt? top offs wont affect it? I do have a test kit.
I believe you are correct, a top off should not affect the concentration, as long as the amount of water evaporated equals the amount of water added.
My experience with cupramine has been very good, including treating a black dog face puffer. It's an effective and safe medication when used correctly.
A concentration of 0.35 and a ramp of time of twice what the bottel recommends has generally been pretty safe, yet still effective for most fish.
H.reidi.MN
New member
I was worried first time around but after ramping it up like 4 times slower than recommended my first the went off without a hitch
I'm at work but did a fw dip on mine before work and he did fine during the dip but did not look like he was going to recover from it before work so he is probably gone nowalso had the mouth rot starting and part of his mouth was gone as well...
This is interesting that it seems like "mouth rot" is a typical issue with this fish.
In planning for my 240 FOWLR, I knew I wanted a school of either 5 yellow tangs or 5 pyramids. I obviously decided with the pyramids. When I get the next three, I think my first treatment will be an antibiotic pre-emptive treatment for this bacterial issue that seems to be common place.
I was thinking exactly the same thing - I just ordered a bottle of that nitrofurican (SP?) power and will be using that.
Matt, how are your two doing? Of the three I bought, one died as I noted, the other two are showing some signs of bacterial problems (only one of the two is eating). Back from thanksgiving trip, am starting Furan-2 tonight. Could not find Maracyn-2 locally. I guess the prevailing wisdom is that any of these gram-negative antibiotics will kill the biological filter.
My pyramids are doing well. they still have flukes, but their numbers seem to be less with each FW dip I am able to do.
I was thinking about it tonight, if you are going to treat with the NFG powder, it might be a good idea to have some cultured bio media on hand that is seperately from the biomedia in your QT. I also like using a seachem alert badge to get a jump on ammonia increases. If I notice an increase, I just add some of that extra media to the filter. I do it by Keeping a few cups of bioballs in the sump.
I was thinking about it tonight, if you are going to treat with the NFG powder, it might be a good idea to have some cultured bio media on hand that is seperately from the biomedia in your QT. I also like using a seachem alert badge to get a jump on ammonia increases. If I notice an increase, I just add some of that extra media to the filter. I do it by Keeping a few cups of bioballs in the sump.
I actually keep a pair of phosban 550 reactors filled with ceramic media/denitrate as a source of seeded bio-media for QT. Ordered some NFG from national fish pharma but not going to arrive until Friday, so Furan-2 for now. Not sure how quickly it will kill the bio-filter, so just will feed the tank lightly for the four day treatment. +1 on the seachem alert badge.
Not a dip, dosed the entire 20 gal QT. API states on their website that Furan 2 does not destroy the bio-filter, but if it is going to be effective against bacterial infections in the fish (alos gram negative) I think assuming the bio-filter is toast is a good one.
I definitely saw cloudiness when I dosed the Maracyn and really had to resist the urge to do a WC. I'm glad I did though, because it cleared up the infection that my regal had at the time. Oddly enough, the infection didn't go away until 3 or 4 days after treatment was complete.
I don't have a skimmer on my qt, but am very seriously considering one of the octopus hob varieties as I think it would be very helpful when using antibacterial treatments. I'm truly kind of a novice in the antibacterial realm though. Just so you know, the pyramid that I lost first developed Popeye and then the mouth rot, it may be something to look for in the remaining two you have.
I don't have a skimmer on my qt, but am very seriously considering one of the octopus hob varieties as I think it would be very helpful when using antibacterial treatments. I'm truly kind of a novice in the antibacterial realm though. Just so you know, the pyramid that I lost first developed Popeye and then the mouth rot, it may be something to look for in the remaining two you have.
Yeah, likewise.
I actually had bought a total of 7 pyramids from three sources. Four from LA (one DOA), but the other three looking good and eating in one QT without medication yet, though will do prazipo beginning this coming weekend or antibiotic if things take a turn. Two from one LFS, neither of which looked particularly good (should have passed in retrospect) - one died of causes undetermined(was swimming partly out of the water and had mouth damage - bacterial, swim bladder, both, dunno), the other looks OK but is not eating. One from another LFS, which is eating but has the ragged fins. Two remaining from LFS are both in a second QT with Furan 2.
At this point I have all the meds I need so will see how many I can get through QT and into the DT. Wanted to try to get a group of five, so cannot lose anymore
Well, these fish are proving to be something of a PitA! LA list them as 'easy' but I wonder. Of the three that I bought initially locally, one floated almost immediately, the second still is not eating, and the third, while eating, had a bacterial infection and now has a lump on one side that looks like it swallowed a pea (any thoughts?). These things are messing with my fish sucess rates!
Alberta-newb
New member
I hear you! I recently tried out a pair. One had a lump in its side like a pea that opened up in QT after I started prazi treatment. I think it may have been a parasite as stringy material came out of the wound. It healed over but then both got velvet from another fish in QT (I won't be buying from that LFS again). I lost one but managed to save the other by treating with chloroquine phosphate.
After 6 weeks QT it was eating well, looked healthy so it went into one of my displays. Two weeks later it went carpet surfing
I'll try these "easy" butterflys again sometime in the future, but damn that was a frustrating experience!
Sorry to hear they are being difficult. The two I have seem to have made it over the hump.
Any chance we could get a picture of the lump? Is it red/discolored? How long have they been in the antibiotic treatment/are they in an antibiotic treatment? I seem to remember that you used Furan 2, is that right?
When my Regal had an infection / lump under it's throat, I treated it with Maracyn 2 and it went away, but not until several days after treatment was complete.
What all have you tried to get these guys eating? I received a Rainfordi on Friday and just got it to start eating today. It's not voracious, but it's definitely on it's way, unfortunately, it's meal of choice is Bluepoint oysters.
This afternoon i'm going to try minced/grated table shrimp. IME, the pyramids seem to like to pick stuff out of the water column as opposed to picking on stuff.
The last thing I'll mention is that a few weeks ago, someone was posting about a Bandit angel they had with an infection/lump on it's side. The lump eventually ruptured, but it seemed like it was a common thing with the Bandits. You might look for that thread and send the guy a PM to see what ended up happening.
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