What is going on with my copperband butterfly?

[lespaul339]

His white coloring is really dark, with a black like hue. He is still eating black worms and clams, but just looks really stressed. Nothing in the tank is stressing him out though. Water quality is testing fine at 0 nitrates, and I even just did a 20% water change to see if that made a difference. It didn't. Have had the fish for almost 4 years now and this is the first time he has turned this color and stayed that way. He has been dark for 4 days now. Acting normal except for the dark coloring. Any advice?

 

[Kremis]

well id say if hes acting normal, then he probably IS normal. never heard of that coloring staying for longer than an hour

 

[lespaul339]

The thing is he normally doesn't look like this. Just has me worried that something is wrong. He is my favorite fish, so I'd hate to lose him.

 

[Cliving1]

No new additions or any other recent changes?

 

[lespaul339]

Added 3 blue/green chromis and a Bangaii Cardinal about 3 weeks ago. They went through TTM, formalin dip, and 3 rounds of Prazi, plus an additional month of observation after treatment before they went into the display tank. They never showed any signs of any diseases at all while going through QT. All of my other fish are fine except the Copperband is staying a dark color like he is stressed. But he isn't acting stressed. That's whats puzzling. Still eating like a champ.

 

[lespaul339]

So turns out my old nitrate test kit was expired and wasn't working properly. Got a new one and tested my water. Here are the results:

SG 1.025
Nitrate 20 ppm (so these are high)
Phosphate 0
PH 7 (this is low, maybe could be why he is stressed?)
Alk 9.9 dkh
Calcium 350 ppm
Magnesium 1320 ppm

I do run a carbon and GFO reactor.

I'm going to correct the calcium level tonight, then do a few water changes to correct Nitrate level. Can't imagine the calcium level is affecting him that much. I did test my PH at noon and that could have something to do with low reading. I know the results can change at different times of the day. I am also running central air, so maybe that is why PH is testing a little low too?

Opinions?

 

[MondoBongo]

are you able to get a pic?

i have to admit, i've never heard of something like this before, at least what i am envisioning it looks like.

your params don't look bad at all. i was going to ask about alk, but that's in line.

has he changed this coloration before like while sleeping or temporarily?

 

[lespaul339]

I'll try to take a pic tonight when I get home from work. The only other time I've seen him change color like this is when I've put a mirror up to the tank and he saw his reflection. And the mirror was used just because my yellow tang likes to pick on new additions. I put a mirror up when I add new fish so the tang just worries about it's own reflection instead of the new additions. That being said, my tang is not picking on the copperband. So the tang isn't the culprit either. I'm just at a loss here.

 

[lespaul339]

So his coloring is back to normal now. Not sure what was going on but he seems ok now.

 

[Cliving1]

Thats good to hear. One of my favorite fish. Glad it is doing better.

 

[MondoBongo]

glad to hear it, guess he just felt like dressing different?

 

[lespaul339]

Lol. He definitely gave me a scare. I'm just glad he is back to normal now.

 

[MichaelValdez]

My old foxface went from black and yellow in the day to a full green grey camo pattern at night. Fish have a way of changing color to hide or perhaps could be stress induced. Keep a close eye on that small black spot. If it starts to turn a different color (like red), treat with a wide spectrum antibiotic.