Copperband Swimming Upside Down?!?

[NastayNatron]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I would leave him in quarantine because if you end up needing to treat him it will be much easier to do so in the quarantine. Plus you don't know if he does not have something else after only 2 weeks.

Do you have any liverock in there? if not, then maybe you can put a few pieces so that he has something to examin. MIne like to pick on the liverock during the day.

If he is eating well I would not worry and I would leave him in the quarantine for another 2 weeks and observe.

Do you have a strong light? mine absolutely hate strong light and do all sort of gooffy thing to try to hide itself from the light. Maybe using a dimmer light may help him. Mine is most active under the actinic or low light.

No there is no liverock in there. I did add sand for the leopard wrasse. I have previously used cupramine in this tank so if I added some rock that would be its new home. But it may be worth it. The light is actually extremely dim. It is a 60 dollar marineland LED but I have a screen over the tank which blocks at least half the light. This makes sense though as when he does his upside down thing he always does it almost behind the power filter which is the only place away from the light. I think I will add a cave of some sort for him maybe this will help.

[daniella3d]

yes that would be good because the LED may not seem bright to your eye but it might still be very strong as our eyes adjust very easily to bright light and copperband butterfly fish really hate bright light. Just try to give him a place where there is some shade and I am sure it will help.

Without any place to hide, or any shelter, the copperband is stressed. If you can put something like a cave, it would be best or at least shade some part of that tank so there is no light.

Originally Posted by NastayNatron

No there is no liverock in there. I did add sand for the leopard wrasse. I have previously used cupramine in this tank so if I added some rock that would be its new home. But it may be worth it. The light is actually extremely dim. It is a 60 dollar marineland LED but I have a screen over the tank which blocks at least half the light. This makes sense though as when he does his upside down thing he always does it almost behind the power filter which is the only place away from the light. I think I will add a cave of some sort for him maybe this will help.

[ScubaSteve]

Most people have already said it, but they are challenging fish and are probably one that should be left in the ocean. That being said, hes in your care now... So let's do our best to give this guy the best chance possible.

The upside down thing... Can you describe it? If he's struggling to stay upright, you might be out of luck. If he's just doing to the upside down thing for fun he's probably just messing around from being bored in a small tank. I had a long nose butterfly who did this all the time for s***s and giggles. Butterflies have a surprising amount of personality and do do this to entertain themselves.

Now, I actually recommend getting that leopard into the main tank. That's one fish I recommend NOT Qting. Is the leopard eating?

[NastayNatron]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

Most people have already said it, but they are challenging fish and are probably one that should be left in the ocean. That being said, hes in your care now... So let's do our best to give this guy the best chance possible.

The upside down thing... Can you describe it? If he's struggling to stay upright, you might be out of luck. If he's just doing to the upside down thing for fun he's probably just messing around from being bored in a small tank. I had a long nose butterfly who did this all the time for s***s and giggles. Butterflies have a surprising amount of personality and do do this to entertain themselves.

Now, I actually recommend getting that leopard into the main tank. That's one fish I recommend NOT Qting. Is the leopard eating?

I would say hes not struggling to stay upright but it seems now like he's just messing around. Ill see if I can get a video of it. As for the leopard he eats like a pig and im feeding him 3 times a day. He is doing great. Im not sure if I should maybe just transfer him to the display and leave the copperband in QT for another couple weeks.. . .

[daniella3d]

If h'es eating well and seem confortable in the QT, why risk putting it in the display tank too soon? I would not do it unless the fish would seem very stressed but it does not seem to be the case here, so why risk?

There is no point doing a quarantine if it's not done long enough.

Originally Posted by NastayNatron

I would say hes not struggling to stay upright but it seems now like he's just messing around. Ill see if I can get a video of it. As for the leopard he eats like a pig and im feeding him 3 times a day. He is doing great. Im not sure if I should maybe just transfer him to the display and leave the copperband in QT for another couple weeks.. . .

[paddyob]

Just curious... I hear a lot of " he is entertaining himself." With all due respect, is there any science behind this or is this something reefers choose to believe.

What us hobbiest think are probably, more times than not, wrong.

It's nice to think he might he playing but I find it hard to believe.

Again, no offense. Just being realistic here.

I do agree with the fact it is too late for other options and do your best.

Even if it makes it through this, the road is full of turns yet. And realistically, there is next to nothing we as reefers can really do or tell you asides from other observations. Any guess to the issue is exactly that. A guess. If there are any marine biologists who specialize in fish illness, I am sure they would tell you autopsy would be the way to know.

Trying to diagnose a fish disease would be more difficult for us than diagnosing a human. Think of that. Humans talk.

I'm probably gonna get flack from all the experts in here. I feel for yah. And the fish. It's crappy.

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

Most people have already said it, but they are challenging fish and are probably one that should be left in the ocean. That being said, hes in your care now... So let's do our best to give this guy the best chance possible.

The upside down thing... Can you describe it? If he's struggling to stay upright, you might be out of luck. If he's just doing to the upside down thing for fun he's probably just messing around from being bored in a small tank. I had a long nose butterfly who did this all the time for s***s and giggles. Butterflies have a surprising amount of personality and do do this to entertain themselves.

Now, I actually recommend getting that leopard into the main tank. That's one fish I recommend NOT Qting. Is the leopard eating?

[NastayNatron]

Here is a video of some of his daily activities.

http://youtu.be/zI0NP9mXRAA

[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.

[daniella3d]

Ok, he's skinny and pinched on top of the head which is not good..he's twitching his head and that's often a sign of flukes. I would suggest a treatment or two of liquid prazipro according to instruction.

When I got my copperband he was twitching his head like that and he was skinny as can be. He was not eating a lot mind you...

I did a prazipro treatment for 10 days if I remember well and a very long worm came out of is belly...and Prazipro killed the flukes so he stopped twitching his head.

If your fish eats as much as you say he eats (like a pig?) then he should not be skinny and pinched like that, so maybe he's got worms like mine did.

He really does not look normal and he looks bothered by something. That fish does not look in good health at all.

Prazipro is reef safe, I used it in my nano with coral SPS, soft etc and it did not kill anything in my tank, not even the pods or the snail or the feather dusters. It does cut back the fish appetite for a few days but that resolve itself after the med is over. I think that is due to the worms being killed and expulsed. I think that light is too strong and the fish is obviously stressed.

Originally Posted by NastayNatron

Here is a video of some of his daily activities.

http://youtu.be/zI0NP9mXRAA

[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??