WTH is so interesting?
 

He's been doing this every day, all day for over two weeks now. Is it his shadow that he's chasing or did I get the CBB that rides the short bus to fish school?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1k40...ature=youtu.be

It does look like shadow play. You could test this by shining a light on that wall to obliterate the shadow and see if it settles down.

Crap. Maybe I'll be needing that third radion after all. Le Sigh...

Or maybe that would actually cause more shadowing?

Just a thought ...
Try slipping a black something between the tank and that light-colored wall

Just going to toss the idea out there but... maybe stress? He does look a bit like he's running up and down the wall like some fish do when they're stressed.

I guess it's not impossible but I don't think he is. He eats everything I throw in there. His only bothersome tankmate would be a purple tang that was put in on the same day as him but they have been together for months and nothing new has happened. They get along better now than they ever did. Water quality is good.. mag is a bit low but that shouldn't affect him too much, should it?

Likely not. I had a leopard wrasse that started doing that one day out of the blue and then just went into a downward spiral over a couple weeks, and then never heard from again after that. Just something to keep an eye out for. Shadow play is probably likely.

I have had a bit of a cyano outbreak lately. I added a live rock from my sump into the main display and I think that was the cause. I've since removed the rock. Could this be a reason?

+1
It looks like stress to me. Normally a CBB spends all its time poking about the live rock looking for bits of food.

I just did a 10% waterchange yesterday. I can do another 10% one today.
I'll turn off the lights for a day too.

Any other de-stressing ideas? If this fish thinks he has it bad he should spend a day in my shoes. :rolleyes:

Eliminate the shadow even for an hour with a black paper or extra light. Rule that out and then look for stressors. Bad ground?

I just moved the powerhead to aim at that wall and now he hasn't gone there since. He's poking in the rocks.

And he ate a meal of mysis shrimp 5 mins ago with no hesitation.

Good News! :biggrin:

Have you tried feeding him mussels or placing some mysis into a rock? Keeps the mind busy thus maybe alleviating some stress.

This look like a very stressed CBB. Does he have any spot to hide from the light? they really don't like strong light and it makes them panic. They prefer dimmer light and are even active at night, even in the dark.

YOu must provide him with places to hide from the strong light. Does he eats well?

Eats better than any Copperband I've ever heard of. There is plenty of dark caves and rockwork. He's healthy as a horse.

ETA: I've since dimmed the lights down by 10% (from 40 to 30) to see if it makes a difference.

Yup he gets mussels, bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, krill, squid, and plankton. he eats it all but his favorites are the bloodworms and mysis. I do stuff it in the rocks every other day, but he'll eat right out of my hand if I let him.

Are you sure he eats that well? because he looks a little skinny and pinched on top of the head, where he should be plump in there and even healthy copperband have a hump there, that's their fat reserve. Yours look like he's missing all this.

He maybe bitting food but spitting it out? or maybe he's got internal paraiste? can you get a better pic of him from closer so it is possible to see his body fat? It's hard to see from your video, so not sure.

here is mine for a comparison: You can see the hump on the top of the head a bit, and you can see the belly area is well fleshed and plump. That's how a healthy copperband should be. That was when it was young, now he's much bigger and the hump on the head is even larger. When I got mine he was as skinny as can be...head area and belly were sunken in. He had internal worms which I cured with Prazipro. Prazipro is reef safe and did not affter any of my coral except my xenias, temporary.

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/_MG_2409.jpg

Here is a youtube video (not mine) that really show well how they should look when well fed. That is the other extreme...that's a fat copperband.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLfgF...yer_detailpage

I am 100% postiive that he's eating. That's kinda why stress didn't even really occur to me. He will sometimes spit out the mussels but everything else he devours.

Before I got him he was quarantined with a hyposalinity treatment for over a week. I know this wouldn't kill all parasites but it should have eliminated some of the nastier ones.

Here's a few pics taken just a minute ago:

Yes he does look skinny to me, but I think every fish looks skinny until they are obese TBH.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4364.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4363.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4362.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4360.jpg

Since moving the powerhead he's left the wall alone.

well, the fish on the first pic looks quite fat! It it is a pic of your fish, then no worry, he's fat as can be :)

This is what a skinny copperband looks like, the top of the head is pinched, the belly area is sunken:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...h/Custo015.jpg

Did your Copperband eat bloodworms right from the start? That's one food I can't get mine to eat. I tried all my feeding tricks with him, but he just spits it and holds out for his favorites, freeze dried mysis and plankton.

Also, have tried soaking the mysis and plankton in selcon, and tried garlic too, but he won't go for that either, spits them out then. So he is still pretty fussy about what he eats.

Have had him for almost a year and half now, and seems healthy and happy. Spends most of the time hunting and pecking in the rocks, although doubt that he finds much, but keeps him busy. At early dawn, and late dusk, he really goes at it. Not sure when he sleeps.....

Oh wow... that fish looks terrible.. Poor guy.

I'm going to keep an eye on his weird behavior but so far today he hasn't done it.

Actually I bought this freeze dried mix of 50/50 bloodworms and baby mysis and that's what got him on it. He always ate garlic soaked mysis for me. He spit the first one out and then must have realized he really liked the stuff because he went right back for it and now the bloodworms are his favorite. I think I'm just lucky because this guy will eat almost everything except for spectrum pellets and flake food. He didn't eat for the first week that I had him though because he was too busy cleaning my rocks of the feather duster plague. After he ran out of natural food he got more interested. Also he wouldn't eat much except for garlic soaked mysis for the first two weeks.. he had to be slowly introduced to everything over time. He's still one of the finicky fish I have as the others seem to be bottomless pits and this CBB will stop eating when he's full.

Can you give me a brand name for the bloodworms? With the garlic, I didn't persist with it. Maybe if I starved him for a day or two, he might start taking it. Because he won't eat pellets or flake food like the other fish, I am concerned he might be lacking some vitamins.

It's called H2O Plus 50/50 plus mix. I got it from Bayside Corals but I'm sure you can find it at most LFS'.

http://www.h2olifefoods.com/products/5050.html

And I was wrong. It's not 50/50 mysis/bloodworms it's 50/50 brine shrimp/bloodworms. Sorry about that.

Thanks, not sure if any of the Vancouver area LFS's carry it, but I will look for it.

Well I found out what was causing the CBB to act like a weirdo.

I decreased the flow in my tank to see if it would make an impact on my cyano (it does, weirdly enough) and the CBB has since seized his strange behavior. I guess he didn't like either the high flow or the low humming noise the tunze's make when they are set at over 50%