Racoon butterfly - is it sick or injured or both?

[AquaWave523]

I do not know why, but it appears that the more sensitive fishes are dying left and right. It appears from some sort of sickness at first, but by the looks of this pic, it looks like they are getting bullied? I need some expert advice.

I had the Lemon Peel Tang with Foxface fish for 2 months no problems. Then introduced the blonde tang and he later died from being picked on by the first tang. Now the Lemon Peel died and faceface just last night started to look iffy as well.

Then picked up a racoon butterfly on Tuesday and today (sunday), take a look at the picture and tell me your assessment please!

Tank currently has:

3 blue yellow tail damsels
2 false osc clowns
scooter blenny
1 blue green chromis
2 purple dartfish
1 melannie wrasse

Water param:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 100
temp: 78

Tank is 1 years old

 

[Mrscribbled]

Wow! Thats no injury, obviously your not quarantining any fish correct? All your fish need to be removed asap and treated for ich, and flukes. Prozi pro works good for flukes, copper or tank transfer for ich.

Please read up on parasites life cycle and how to quarantine fish. Your tank will need to be fishless twelve weeks. Also being you tried a naso I assume your tank is 200 plus gallons??

 

[AquaWave523]

its a fish only tank - can i put prozi in the tank? i might want corals in the future.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Yea prazi pro can be added to the tank, but what is your plan for the ich?? IMO a hospital/quarantine tank is just as important to have as any other equipment. Loosing one fish is equal to a qt investment.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Prazi-Pro is a wormer and will do nothing for ich. This is one of the most obvious cases of ich I've ever seen posted here. By the time it gets anywhere near this bad, most hobbyists know what it is and are asking questions about treatment. There is no way or product that will allow you to cure this parasite without a QT. This butterfly hasn't got much time and your other fish will be next. I'm sure you've run across discussions on QTs, you've been on the forum a while. Those folks that lecture everyone on using a QT obviously were right. Not trying to be too tough; but this fish ,and your tank's history , could be a sticky on the need to use a QT. I'd hurry with the HT/QT.

 

[enjetek]

Listen to mrtuskfish and you'll be on your way to saving your fish. Setup a tank and use prazi pro and cupramine to get those parasites killed. Read the instructions carefully or just post here for anything you need clarification on.

 

[AquaWave523]

So what do i do? sorry mrtuskfish - just help me understand.

I have a 90 gal that occupies a trigger fish - for the 180 gal, should i remove all the fish? its a fishonly tank.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I'd read the ich stickies at the top of the disease forum. Ich is very contagious; if one frosh has it, the whole system has it. You need to get all fish that were exposed to the butterfly in one HT and treat for ich. The tank they were in must stay fishless for 10+weeks.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I do not know why, but it appears that the more sensitive fishes are dying left and right. It appears from some sort of sickness at first, but by the looks of this pic, it looks like they are getting bullied? I need some expert advice.

I had the Lemon Peel Tang with Foxface fish for 2 months no problems. Then introduced the blonde tang and he later died from being picked on by the first tang. Now the Lemon Peel died and faceface just last night started to look iffy as well.

Then picked up a racoon butterfly on Tuesday and today (sunday), take a look at the picture and tell me your assessment please!

Tank currently has:

3 blue yellow tail damsels
2 false osc clowns
scooter blenny
1 blue green chromis
2 purple dartfish
1 melannie wrasse

Water param:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 100
temp: 78

Tank is 1 years old

There is something obviously not right about this picture.

This fish is not in a QT or the QT is not properly set up.

I say most likely the most obvious is some bacterial infection on the body as well as sign of ich.

 

[wooden_reefer]

If I nad pick this fish up (at very low price), it will be in QT now. The QT will be with antibiotic and cooper or hypo. There will not be live rock.

 

[AquaWave523]

ok - so all the fish in the tank died. I have maybe 1 or 2 bodies decaying at the bottom of a huge rock which I cannot take out. So I have inverts in the tank including emerald crab, snails and serpent star fish. Where do I go from here? Do I let the tank run as normal without fish for 2 months? Or when can I introduce fish again?

 

[Mrscribbled]

If you plan on adding more inverts do so now, then wait three months after the last invert was added. Get a quarantine tank set up. Bare bottom, plastic pipe for hiding, heater, sponge filter or hob filter. After its cycled, which ever way you choosr (seeded filter media from display or bottled bacteria) then purchase cupramine, salifert copper test kit, ammonia alert badge, and prozi pro. Properly quarantine each new fish for one month copper and two 5 day periods of prozi pro. During the three month fallow period continue maintenance and feeding. Have separate nets, siphons, pails for qt and dt. Do not allow a single drop of water, rock, live sand, invert reach the display without quarantine during and after the display. Two months is not enough, must be twelve weeks, good luck and don't give in just yet.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Its been 5 days since a pic of this fish with a terrible case of ich, and probable secondary bacterial infection, was first posted. It had symptoms before that and other fish were dying; with no response . If I read the thread correctly, absolutely nothing was done to get your fish into a HT/QT and treated. The resulting fish losses were inevitable because of your failure to treat them. If you have 2 dead fish in your tank now; your bio-filter could be overloaded for a while. You said you can't take out a large rock to get them. What will you do if you have another dead fish under the rock? Are you sure you want to continue in this hobby? You can't just ignore basic care and that seems to be the history of your tank.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Its been 5 days since a pic of this fish with a terrible case of ich, and probable secondary bacterial infection, was first posted. It had symptoms before that and other fish were dying; with no response . If I read the thread correctly, absolutely nothing was done to get your fish into a HT/QT and treated. The resulting fish losses were inevitable because of your failure to treat them. If you have 2 dead fish in your tank now; your bio-filter could be overloaded for a while. You said you can't take out a large rock to get them. What will you do if you have another dead fish under the rock? Are you sure you want to continue in this hobby? You can't just ignore basic care and that seems to be the history of your tank.

Good point, prerhaps this hobby isn't for him. Seems to be lack of care and wanting to learn proper care.

 

[AquaWave523]

Yeah I guess you're both right!