Yellow Longnose Butterfly Help!!!

[Jonvo324]

I received a large Hawaiian longnose butterflyfish from Liveaquaria last Thursday. Largest butterfly I've ever seen, acclimated for 3 hours and was super healthy looking.

After releasing it into he tank he swam around, no one picked on him except for my moorish idol. The moorish idol has been removed temporarily. The butterfly even ate mysid shrimp very eagerly.

After three days of eating and acting normal, it started becoming lethargic. Just hanging in the back corner of my tank, sometimes even sideways. It has also stopped feeding and seems to have raised white bumps on its tail, fins and snout. I'm assuming it's ich.

Please help. I really don't know what to do with it. It appeared fine, no one picked on it and it suddenly stops eating and appears sick.

 

[jraker]

Well, you acclimated a fish in the mail for 3 hours. There is your problem. Once most of the oxygen in the bag is consumed, ammonium starts to build up in the water from the fish. Once the Carbon dioxide is released from the bag, the ammonium turns into deadly ammonia. What you want to do with fish in the mail is match the temp and salinity in UNDER 30 minutes so no permanent damage is done to the fish. Sounds like acclimating it for 3 hours really stressed it out, and I would not be surprised if it died. If there are white bumps, put it in QT immediately.

 

[Jonvo324]

Well, you acclimated a fish in the mail for 3 hours. There is your problem. Once most of the oxygen in the bag is consumed, ammonium starts to build up in the water from the fish. Once the Carbon dioxide is released from the bag, the ammonium turns into deadly ammonia. What you want to do with fish in the mail is match the temp and salinity in UNDER 30 minutes so no permanent damage is done to the fish. Sounds like acclimating it for 3 hours really stressed it out, and I would not be surprised if it died. If there are white bumps, put it in QT immediately.

Thanks for the input. I only acclimated for so long because there was a difference in salinity. My tank is kept at 1.024 and Liveaquaria keeps there's at 1.018. What should I do then if there is a gap in salinity.

Also the only qt tank I have is a 10 gallon and I believed that may be too small for the butterfly. If it works, what do you recommend me as a quarantine procedure?

 

[MondoBongo]

Thanks for the input. I only acclimated for so long because there was a difference in salinity. My tank is kept at 1.024 and Liveaquaria keeps there's at 1.018. What should I do then if there is a gap in salinity.

Also the only qt tank I have is a 10 gallon and I believed that may be too small for the butterfly. If it works, what do you recommend me as a quarantine procedure?

quarantine.

dumping fish directly in to the display is a recipe for disaster, as i assume you're finding out now.

when i get a new fish in, i sample the bag water with an insulin syringe, then match the salinity of my QT system to the bag salinity. i float acclimate for about 15 minutes to match the temp, then cut them loose.

easy for me, easy for the fish.

i usually use 10 gallon tanks for my Tank Transfer Method (TTM) QT protocol. although, i've also picked up a few 20 longs for cheap off craigslist/$1gal sales for larger fish.

 

[BigBlueTang]

I received a large Hawaiian longnose butterflyfish from Liveaquaria last Thursday. Largest butterfly I've ever seen, acclimated for 3 hours and was super healthy looking.

After releasing it into he tank he swam around, no one picked on him except for my moorish idol. The moorish idol has been removed temporarily. The butterfly even ate mysid shrimp very eagerly.

After three days of eating and acting normal, it started becoming lethargic. Just hanging in the back corner of my tank, sometimes even sideways. It has also stopped feeding and seems to have raised white bumps on its tail, fins and snout. I'm assuming it's ich.

Please help. I really don't know what to do with it. It appeared fine, no one picked on it and it suddenly stops eating and appears sick.

Good luck. I just ordered one from them and had it die on me after doing everything I could after 6 weeks, and in my display after a 6 week QT.. Mine had hexamita, at least that's what the disease forum thought. Look into it. Our experience seems to be the same, and I would bet a lot that our two fish were kept near each other.

 

[BlackTip]

I ordered a medium sized one from LA 2 months ago, he survived the QT, and now he is in the DT. Beautiful fish and eats a lot. He was finicky in the beginning. Spirulina Brine shrimp got him eating, and now he eats everything even flakes, which I rarely use. If you use mysis, don't use PE brand, it is too big for the fish. Use cheaper alternative. Good luck.

 

[Deinonych]

quarantine.

Dumping fish directly in to the display is a recipe for disaster, as i assume you're finding out now.

When i get a new fish in, i sample the bag water with an insulin syringe, then match the salinity of my qt system to the bag salinity. I float acclimate for about 15 minutes to match the temp, then cut them loose.

Easy for me, easy for the fish.

I usually use 10 gallon tanks for my tank transfer method (ttm) qt protocol. Although, i've also picked up a few 20 longs for cheap off craigslist/$1gal sales for larger fish.

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