I woke up this morning to find my CBB vertical in the corner of my aquarium, not moving, breathing fast. At first I though he was sleeping so I manually turned on the lights but he still didn't move. Assuming he was dead (I couldn't see his mouth or gills moving) I went to take him out and he moved away but he was very disoriented. He made his was to the top of the aquarium and laid down on a rock for a while but now he has himself jammed between two rocks. He still moves a bit but I think he is on his way out. My wife is checking the water right now but we did have a spike in nitrates recently (just above 40 ppm). Everyone else in the tank (including coral and two leopard wrasses) are doing fine. Any suggestions? Should I move him into a bucket since I don't have a quarantine tank? Any advice would be appreciated. He has been our most active and friendly fish and its going to be sad to loose him.....
Help save my CBB!!
- Thread starter shannonlewis1980
- Start date
water change would be the first thing I would do. 50% today, then another 20% each day until you get the parameters in line. Also, check the basics- temperature, salinity, make sure there's no stray electricity in the tank, that kind of thing. I think as stressed as he is, putting him in a bucket might be the last straw.
Ok.. I didn't want to start a water change if it was going to shock him even more but I will start there. My temp is at 78 deg. salt is right at 1.023. I have done some modification on the lighting (switched out PC for T5) so that may be something I should look at. Also, I just noticed that the CBB is pretty thin... but I am not sure if that is normal... I know he eats and his coloring is fine...
My first thought is in a 75G with 2 leopard wrasses he is not getting much to eat unless he is eating frozen. Which in your last post you said he was eating fine, so I assume that means frozen. I have had personal experience and I have heard stories from others about Copper banded's eating fine and appearing healthy for a few months and then for no apparent reason decline very quickly and die. After this happened to me with my first CBB I did some research and found out that they are one of the fish that they will occasionally use cyanide to catch in places with little to no regulations on that type of thing. When cyanide is used most of the time the fish will appear healthy for a while but the poison has caused irreparable damage to gills and other organs that the fish will eventually succumb to.
salinity seems slightly low, but what matters more is whether or not that's normal for your tank. The key is stability. If any of your parameters are doing wild swings, that's hard on the inhabitants. I doubt that a change in lighting would affect your fish that much, so I wouldn't worry too much about that at the moment. Start with a water change, focusing on keeping the current salinity and temp the same on the water you're adding in.
CBBs are notoriously tough to get acclimated to a tank and eating well. They're easily stressed, and that usually results in them not eating (especially in freshly-harvested fish). How long have you had him?
CBBs are notoriously tough to get acclimated to a tank and eating well. They're easily stressed, and that usually results in them not eating (especially in freshly-harvested fish). How long have you had him?
I have had him for about three months and he seemed to acclimate very well... I have two nitrate tests (one as a control for the other) and they are between 20 and 30 ppm. PH is low (around 8.0) and everything else is right on target. I usually keep my water around 1.023 because I thought that was ideal... should I eventually change that? He is also eating frozen and the live brine I feed my baby wrasse (he only eats the good stuff). He is making his way around the tank which is giving me some hope.... Should I still to the H2O change?Is there a way to tell if it is cyanide and is there any way to help him with that?
I'd still do the water change.
We keep our salinity at 1.025.
Live brine is a lot like potato chips, as far as nutritional value goes. The sooner you get the baby wrasse eating frozen food, the better. Also, never dump the water from the brine into your water. It's full of waste (at best).
Once the CBB is healthy again, then worry about your other parameters. The ph should come into line naturally if your alkalinity is good (you didn't mention where that's at), so don't spend too much time chasing ph directly. Do you test it multiple times a day? If so, are you getting a lot of swing?
The main parameters to watch are temp, salinity, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, and calcium. There are other things you can check, but you don't usually need to unless you're having an issue. If you're having issues keeping calcium in line (dosing a lot but it doesn't come up much), then check magnesium. If you're having algae issues, check phosphates. That kind of thing.
We keep our salinity at 1.025.
Live brine is a lot like potato chips, as far as nutritional value goes. The sooner you get the baby wrasse eating frozen food, the better. Also, never dump the water from the brine into your water. It's full of waste (at best).
Once the CBB is healthy again, then worry about your other parameters. The ph should come into line naturally if your alkalinity is good (you didn't mention where that's at), so don't spend too much time chasing ph directly. Do you test it multiple times a day? If so, are you getting a lot of swing?
The main parameters to watch are temp, salinity, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, and calcium. There are other things you can check, but you don't usually need to unless you're having an issue. If you're having issues keeping calcium in line (dosing a lot but it doesn't come up much), then check magnesium. If you're having algae issues, check phosphates. That kind of thing.
Sorry to hear about that.
I lost my CBB about 6 months ago in my 90g; it's hard to stay up with their nutritional demands especially in a 75g. I agree with the water change, don't quarantine him unless he's showing clear signs of contagious disease and hasn't been in the tank long and you didn't quarantine him.
You might want to by some frozen food with sponge in it to see if you can persuade him to eat more (they typically sell this in little gel cubes at PetCo/Petsmart); it's called "Reef Blend" or something like that.
When stressed CBB's can be susceptible to Lymphocystis (a virus), which looks a lot like ich. Don't panic if you see that start to develop in the next few days.
I lost my CBB about 6 months ago in my 90g; it's hard to stay up with their nutritional demands especially in a 75g. I agree with the water change, don't quarantine him unless he's showing clear signs of contagious disease and hasn't been in the tank long and you didn't quarantine him.
You might want to by some frozen food with sponge in it to see if you can persuade him to eat more (they typically sell this in little gel cubes at PetCo/Petsmart); it's called "Reef Blend" or something like that.
When stressed CBB's can be susceptible to Lymphocystis (a virus), which looks a lot like ich. Don't panic if you see that start to develop in the next few days.
I hate to say it, but if hes in that state already your efforts are likely just a waste. Copperband is my nemesis fish for sure. Ive lost 3 in the same manner as yours is going out and have never been able to save one. I have no explanation as to why. I can keep any other type of fish, including a harem of leapord wrasses, a pair of dragonettes but cannot keep a copperband alive. They seem to be very, very intolerable to any type of levels being off, any type of stress. Becuause of this i have decided to avoud butterfly fish all together.
So I went to buy an airstone and I didn't realize that I needed an accompanying air pump... Instead, I cranked up the o2 on the powerhead and the cbb almost immediately started swimming towards the air bubbles.... I'm not sure exactly what that means or if he was just moving to get out of the path but didn't have the energy but hopefully it's a good sign.... I had thought that my powerhead, skimmer pump, and water outputs were enough for o2 but should I have an actual air pump?
Regardless.... That's for all of the help!!! It really is appreciated.
Regardless.... That's for all of the help!!! It really is appreciated.
I've never tried using an airstone without an air pump- it just never occurred to me to try. LOL
I'm hoping that he was just short on oxygen, and that he'll get better over the next few days. Maybe someone more technical than me can chime in with the best ways to get the right amount of O2 in the water.
I'm hoping that he was just short on oxygen, and that he'll get better over the next few days. Maybe someone more technical than me can chime in with the best ways to get the right amount of O2 in the water.
