Saddle butterfly with sore lips?

[jassz]

Hello all.

I posted awhile ago about my newly aquired double saddled back butteryfly not eating anything that I feed him. That is still the case, although he 'almost' ate a silverside tonight. He does however continue to peck at the live rocks. I'm not sure what all he's eating, but definitely aptisia. Anyway, the very end of his pointed lips is becoming redder, and the skin beneath this area chaffed. I observed him hitting his chin against the rock with a swing of his head (so it was deliberate), so I think that is the cause of the chaffing. I'm not sure if the rock hitting is a reaction to the sore lips, or if it is a cause of it. I read these are hearty fish, but can easily be damaged in transport. Maybe I even did it myself when I brought him home. The bag he was in sprung a leak so I moved him to another bag rather than just putting him in the tank without acclimatizing him. I was panicking a bit because the water was squirting out and I knew I had to hurry. Anyway, whether I did it or he came from the store like that (he didn't eat in the store either), the fact is I think he's got some sort of irritation or maybe infection going on. Is there anything I can do for him? He's still pretty active, and still eating, but he's getting a little 'twitchy', and as I mentioned he does the rock bash thing.

Anyone else had this problem?

[xblade]

I've had 1 for 2 weeks now..Beautifull fish.He eats 2 kinds of flake and frozen mysis and angel- butterfly mix.He won't touch pellets though.
So far i've had no prob with him.He even eats out of my hand.
I'm sure someone with more experiance will chime in about your problem.
Good luck with him.

[jassz]

So I thought I'd give an update that this fish is at least 'testing' some of the foodI put into the tank. And eating some of it too, hopefully. I saw him take a small piece of prawn into his mouth, chew it for awhile then spit it out. Same with silversides and maybe clam. It's hard to always see what he's doing, but I hope he ate some too. It may be at least whetting his appetite, because after that he proceeded to eat like 50 aptasia! I don't know if there is enough nutrition in that, but I'm trying to soak often in selcon and garlic, so hopefully the aptasia eat that before he eats them. Sometimes his lips look sore, adn sometimes they don't look too bad. He does twitch a bit. I've been watching for signs of ick (nothing yet). But is there anything else I should be watching for? The only time I've seen him poop was right after we got him in the tank, and it was white and kinda liquidy (but he was understandably a bit stressed).

I really like this fish, and I think he is good for the tank eating so much aptasia. I hope he makes it!

[Delphinus]

Can you post a picture of what his lips look like when you say they look sore?

Flukes is another possibility besides ich that can cause the twitchy head and scratching against rocks. When I had fish with flukes it was obvious that there were white spots along the body and eyes. Just like Daniella with her CBB though, you with your mostly white butterfly might have a very difficult time with a positive confirmation that there are flukes or not. From all that I know about flukes though is that certain fish, and unfortunately butterflies and angels are apparently very prone to these, it's a safer bet that they've come in with them than they've come in without them. You may wish to consider a treatment with Prazipro if his condition doesn't improve soon.

[jassz]

I will try and post a picture soon (my neighbour has borrowed my camera ).

Actually this fish has quite a bit of black and yellow as well as white. I don't see anything such as what you described as flukes. I've had the fish about a month now.

I think he's starting to feel better. And he is starting to at least try the food I give (he spits it out again), so that gives me hope! He still prefers the aptisia though. He's eating those like there's no tomorrow. Fortunately I have a good supply of those!

[Delphinus]

I know what the fish looks like, I have a pair myself. I just think with the lighter background it will be harder to spot flukes, if they were there, than, say on a raccoon butterfly or something darker overall. But if you've had him a month and not noticed any opaque spots on the body or eyes then maybe it's not flukes, hopefully it's not.

Butterflies in general are very fussy eaters so it just takes them a while to get used to the idea of what you offer being "actual food". He should come around. Both mine eat flake and pellets as well as frozen (and aiptasia and majano .. and .. um .. blastomussa's, bubble corals, acan's, open brains .. any manner of SPS .. gorgonians .. byssal glands of clams .. zoanthids .. palythoa's ... you name it!! .. unfortunately not a reef safe fish by any means! But they are the first butterfly I've attempted {have tried several others} that readily adapted to dry food like pellets and flakes). So my guess is yours will eventually warm up to what you offer. Have you tried clam on the half shell yet? He might go for that if you're worried he's not getting enough.

[jassz]

Here is my sorry attempt at getting pictures of his lips. We don't call him Zoom Zoom for nothing! He never stops moving (unlike my lionfish, who kept deliberately striking a pose right in front of me), and then my camera seems to turn pink areas to white anyway. I've also included the only infocus picture I managed to get, so you could see how pretty he is.

I am happy to report that he does seem to be feeling better. He's almost wiped the aptisia out of my tank, and I must have had forty pounds of it! He does pick up the food that I give sometimes, gives it a shake then spits it out. Hopefully that means he's getting some of it. But he must be feeling better because his appetite has returned.

What I read was that if they hurt their mouth in transport they would not recover, so hopefully that is not the case here.

BTW, any scratches you see on the pictures are, sadly, my glass and not the fish. I will never use one of those magnetic cleaners again! I had no idea it was scratchign the glass and now it is impossible to get the scratches clean. Momma needs a new tank.

[jassz]

So, yesterday for the first time I saw a white blob on one of the butterfly's front fins. It's really hard to get a picture, but it's very easy to see. About 3/4 inch in diameter, adn opaque white where the rest of his fin is rather transparent. Does that sound like a fluke? Or just a fluke because we've been discussing it? I zoomed in on Zoom Zoom's fin if that helps.