Raccoon Butterfly Fish

[smokinjoe2122]

Hey guys, question for you. My girlfriend purchased a Raccoon Butterfly fish for her tank and so far within 24 hour period, all he does is sit in a corner and let the cleaner shrimp clean him. He barely moves from that area. Once in a great while he'll take a long swim around the tank, but then eventually going back to the cleaner shrimp. Is this just a stress thing, or could he be full of parasites? He seems healthy and colorful, but he never leaves that shrimp. He tends to twitch back and forth while the shrimp is cleaning him. This has been going since he's been put into the tank. We have yet to feed him to see if he'll eat.. That is within a few hours. Any experience or help with this fish would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Joe

 

[chrissaysyes]

How's he doing now? Fish always take a little while to get adjusted to a new tank.

 

[smokinjoe2122]

He is still constantly by the cleaner shrimp and the other 10% of the time he is swimming around and often turning completely sideways to rub against rocks. I noticed that he does have white dots on the clear part of his back fin - which is probably ich.
Hes still very vibrant colored and seems healthy besides all of this...I just don't know what to do!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Ahhh...the rubbing against rocks and white bits are pretty sure signs of cryptocaryon irritans. Now it's time for you to do a lot of reading. Are there other fish in the tank? Do you have a Quarantine tank ready? First step (IMO) is to go to the grocery store and grab some garlic cloves. Mince and crush some up and mix it with the fish food...maybe even upgrade the fishes food to something more nutritious. Keeping it healthy and as free from stress as possible is the best method of treatment. If it were me, I'd move your fish to a Quarantine tank. Also if it were me, I would keep your QT clear of any rock/substrate. Do water changes on it every day making sure to siphon the bottom. Just make sure the fish keeps eating. Ich can kill the fish VERY quickly.

 

[Colin_T]

I think you answered your own question there with the spots on the tail. Butterflyfish often suffer from whitespot when they first come into captivity and many of them die from this. They are also starved for anywhere up to 2 weeks before they are shipped around the world. And if the butterflyfish is big, more than 2 inches, it is an adult and they just don't travel well. Likewise, really small ones, ½ inch or so long, will often starve or be so malnourished, they die within a few days of coming into the shop. Many also get caught with cyanide, which does more damage.
However, raccoon butterflies are one of the tougher butterflyfishes and usually do well in captivity regardless of if they are adults or juveniles. Depending on what else is in the tank, you should either treat the tank for whitespot, or move the fish into another tank for treatment. Try offering it some live brineshrimp or some black/ tubifex/ earth worms. You can also try offering it some raw prawn/ shrimp. Once the fish starts eating, and it is free of disease, it should be fine.

If you or your girlfriend ever buy another butterflyfish, get the shop to feed it first to make sure it is eating. And check all the other fish in that particular shop tank, if one has whitespot, don't buy any unless you are willing to quarantine and treat the new fish before adding it to your tank.

*NB* All butterflyfish will eat corals, some more than others.

 

[smokinjoe2122]

Yah he has yet to eat, but since one of our fish had Brooklynella parasites (And died) we have been using garlic extract marine food. We have also tried frozen krill and Brine shrimp. How long can a fish of this size (It is an adult) go without eating?? Should we try feeding more often that once a day? We do not have a QT tank set up. That is work in progress.

 

[Colin_T]

Garlic doesn’t do much to prevent fish diseases. Good water quality, clean tanks, and correct diet will prevent most problems. Brooklynella is often associated with poor water quality and overcrowding. It is easy to treat with anything that treats freshwater protozoan infections (Waterlife Protozin works). If you have inverts in the tank they must be removed when you treat the tank.
You might want to find another shop to buy your marine fish from if they come down with Brooklynella and whitespot shortly after you get them.

Adult butterflyfish can go for a month or so without food but the longer they starve, the less chance of them feeding again. The sooner it eats the better.
I would put a few bits of food in the tank several times a day. Remove any uneaten food if the shrimp and other fish don’t eat it within a few minutes. Sometimes when the butterflyfish see the other fishes eating it will try a few bits. You can also squish a bit of prawn onto a rock. This can be a more natural way for the fish to eat, (picking off rocks).

 

[chrissaysyes]

Garlic doesn’t do much to prevent fish diseases.

For one, garlic is known to increase the appetite in many different organisms, and certainly in the case of fish. That little extra bit of desire to eat may cause the fish to consume much needed nutrients to allow it's natural immune system to battle parasites. I think everyone will agree that no living creature will survive without eating. On the other hand, garlic contains a natural defense property, Allicin. Allicin fights off a very broad spectrum of bacteria, but is not a highly potent antibiotic. It also has the ability to root itself within living flesh. That would be the reason why the stink of garlic is so hard to get off of your hands. The fact that you have an antibiotic that is cheap, widely available, naturally occuring, impotent enough to be reef safe, potent enough to battle Cryptocaryosis in several forms--namely cystic and tomite, and all the while it increases the animals desire to feed, I think it's certainly worth noting if not worth trying. I dose my fishes foods with garlic. I have not had ONE health problem since I put this into practice. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it certainly isnt breaking my bank.

 

[smokinjoe2122]

Yah the fish that died of Brooklynella was a tang, and it was odd because we do regular water changes (33% every 2 weeks) and we usually never let it go longer than that. We also didn't add anything but inverts to the tank at that time. The tang was in the tank at least a year. It did seem odd though, we went through a period of not having a cleaner shrimp and the tang died during that timeline. The butterfly is a beautiful fish, and we would love for it to be in the tank, but I'm not sure how this will work out. We're going to call the store and let them know what's going on to see if they can do anything for us. In the meantime, we will try different foods with the garlic extract to see if we can convice it to eat.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Good luck man!

 

[Lynden]

Cleaner shrimp... CLEANer shrimp... they clean things. Their principle ecological role is keeping parasite populations low. They are, in my opinion and experience, the best treatment by far for ich.

Also, spirulina is a better preventative than garlic, as spirulina has been shown to enhance the immune system of animals that eat it (myself included... another story for another post). Garlic may produce a weak antibiotic, but Cryptocaryon isn't a bacterium. The idea behind feeding garlic is that it purportedly makes the fish's skin unpalatable, so that the tomite won't burrow. It does nothing to combat the cystic stage; in fact, the only treatment I know of that will is fresh water.

P.S. I may be getting my stages confused; by cystic stage I was referring to the stage in which the parasite lives in the substrate as a cyst.

However, I do stand by my statement in that garlic does nothing to combat the cystic stage, either the one on the fish or in the substrate.