Copperband Swimming Upside Down?!?

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Doesn't look normal to me. I have had 3 Copperbands now (and never lost one), and none of them ever did that. I would say something is bothering him, and he is trying to "shake" it off.

You have three CBB in your tank??

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by paddyob

You have three CBB in your tank??

No, but have owned three. First one, I couldn't get to eat, so I returned him to the lfs after a couple months. I didn't have a QT at the time, and threw him straight into my display tank with my other fish. He survived my bully yellow tang, but I couldn't get him to eat any food I gave him. I had a very mature tank, and he would pick away at the live rock, so was obviously finding some little critters to eat, esp early in the morning and at night. But he was slowly wasting away, so thought I better get him back to the lfs before it was too late.

A few months later, I set up a refugium (which I could temporarily disconnect from my display tank) and tried again, but with two this time. I had them separated with a divider in the tank, but was successful in getting them both to eat, and later converted them onto dry food as well.

You might remember this video. I took some flak from both you and Daniella at the time for having two Copperbands in one tank. But I actually believe that having both got them feeding faster, as they learned from each other, or at least seemed to be stimulated by seeing the other go after food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fQjAZjafxM

I tried a couple times to remove the divider, but they refused to play nice. So I moved one to the display tank, and eventually sold the other. So I now just have one, and he is doing wonderfully in my display tank, eating dry food from the surface at feeding time with the rest of the fish, and then hunting aiptasia, or whatever he can find in the live rock the rest of the time.

I should mention, too, that I also have multiple Pearscale Butterfly fish in that same display tank, and they all get along fine. In fact, I believe it was them that taught my Copperband to go after aiptasia. He wouldn't touch them until they started to nip at them. It took the Pearlscales a few months, too, before they finally got the taste. But am really happy to finally have my display tank clear of aiptasia (was totally over run with them before).

BTW, I now have a proper QT set-up, and any new fish go through that for 2 months, before going into my display tank. Haven't added any fish for a while, but use it for crabs, shrimp and corals, too.

[NastayNatron]

Ok so I went out and got a bottle of PraziPro and some plastic Flower Pots. I did a 5g waterchange, added the planters as caves for the copperband and then dosed Prazi to the recommended dosage. After adding the Prazi the copperband went nuts swinging his head all over and scratching on everything he could. He seems to have calmed down now but is this normal after adding Prazi?

[daniella3d]

ok...This is a good sign he has flukes. Prazipro make the flukes go nuts and they twitch to death...then they drop from the fish. Prazipro causes the flukes to get some sort of spasmes and die from it.

I am guessing that when you put the prazipro it triggered the reaction on the flukes and that surely was not pleasant for the fish as it is irritating. Maybe he had a LOT of them but maybe not and this is a normal reaction if the fish has flukes. A fish that does not have flukes usually does not react to prazipro much. How does the wrasse react?

Watch out for infection after the prazipro treatment. Poor fish, I hope everything goes well.

Originally Posted by NastayNatron

Ok so I went out and got a bottle of PraziPro and some plastic Flower Pots. I did a 5g waterchange, added the planters as caves for the copperband and then dosed Prazi to the recommended dosage. After adding the Prazi the copperband went nuts swinging his head all over and scratching on everything he could. He seems to have calmed down now but is this normal after adding Prazi?

[NastayNatron]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

ok...This is a good sign he has flukes. Prazipro make the flukes go nuts and they twitch to death...then they drop from the fish. Prazipro causes the flukes to get some sort of spasmes and die from it.

I am guessing than when you put the prazipro it triggered the reaction on the flukes and that surely was not pleasant for the fish. That's not a good sign though as maybe he had a LOT of them.

Watch out for infection after the prazipro treatment. Poor fish, I hope everything goes well.

Alright well thats a good thing I guess at least something was wrong with him that is treatable. I just hope everything gets better throughout the treatment. Bad luck he has Lymph as well as flukes
What should I specifically watch for as for infections? Anything specific or just close monitoring? Thanks for all the help so far I am doing all I can to help this guy out!

[daniella3d]

yes close monitoring after the treatment. Like red inflated gills. It is usually visible.

Lymph should go on its own and I doubt it is very hard on the fish on its present location. It's not on the gills or does not impair breathing or vision so not so bad.

How does the wrasse react? Prazipro is gentle on fish and pretty much all creatures except internal worms and flukes. It can cut back the appetite a bit though, but that should not be too bad.

Flukes lay eggs so the treatment must be done for about 10 days so it will be best to fallow the direction, do a water change after the first treatment (after 4 to 5 days I think?) and then do a second one if the fish is eating well, just to be sure that none survived. I don't think prazipro can kill fluke eggs, why the second treatment.

YOu are surely doing all your best.

Originally Posted by NastayNatron

Alright well thats a good thing I guess at least something was wrong with him that is treatable. I just hope everything gets better throughout the treatment. Bad luck he has Lymph as well as flukes
What should I specifically watch for as for infections? Anything specific or just close monitoring? Thanks for all the help so far I am doing all I can to help this guy out!

[NastayNatron]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

yes close monitoring after the treatment. Like red inflated gills. It is usually visible.

Lymph should go on its own and I doubt it is very hard on the fish on its present location. It's not on the gills or does not impair breathing or vision so not so bad.

How does the wrasse react? Prazipro is gentle on fish and pretty much all creatures except internal worms and flukes. It can cut back the appetite a bit though, but that should not be too bad.

Flukes lay eggs so the treatment must be done for about 10 days so it will be best to fallow the direction, do a water change after the first treatment (after 4 to 5 days I think?) and then do a second one if the fish is eating well, just to be sure that none survived. I don't think prazipro can kill fluke eggs, why the second treatment.

YOu are surely doing all your best.

The wrasse was already asleep in the sand when I added the prazi. The diamond head goby did not react at all. I will leave the prazi in for 5 days, do a waterchange and re-treat. Ill keep you updated on how everything is going. Thanks again for the help!