Black Splotches on Yellow Longnose Butterfly

richl

Member
I have a Yellow Longnose Butterfly in a 20 gal QT with a Flame Angel. They have been in about 3 1/2 weeks of which the past 2 weeks have been at hypo 1.009. In one more week I would start to increase SG. For the past several days I have noticed black splotches on the Longnose. It's very easy to see because his body is a bright yellow. It doesn't look like the tiny diffuse dots in the black ick pictures and with hypo I doubt it's parasitic. It looks more like a bacterial issue, but I'm not sure. I have never seen any aggression by either fish toward the other. I can only think it might be bacterial or environmental. The parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and about 20-40 nitrate, sg 1.009 and temp 78. PH is 8.0 though I had found it at 7.8 and have been adjusting it up slowly. I did a 25% water change 2 days ago. The Flame Angel looks fine, though both fish are not as active as when I got them. I feed mostly vitamin soaked frozen food - mysis, brine with spirulina, angelfish formula, etc with Selcon or Vitachem. Neither fish seems very interested in seaweed sheets or spirulina flakes. They are both eating, but not aggressively. They are either not eating as much or I am overfeeding as I find a lot of uneaten food on the bottom. I plan to do another 25% water change tonite. I'm undecided about trying any meds since I don't know what it really is. I'm sure they are unhappy in a 20 gal, but I absolutely won't move them to the DT until their hypo is complete. I could move one fish to a cycled 10 gal QT if that migth help. Any ideas? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
 

richl

Member
I have tried, but I can't get a clear shot. I have a digital camera, but it's not good close up. If the fish was made out of paper, I'd say that someone dabbed him with charcoal and it's easy to see because of his yellow color. Like I said, definitely not like specks like ick. When I got home tonite, he looked the same, but he was swimming around and came to the Angel/Butterfly formula food when I put it in the tank, not aggressively but he was interested in eating a bit. I see quite a bit of uneaten food on the bottom, so I'll syphon it out and do a 25% water change tonite. I also changed the charcoal filter bag in the drip filter. Any suggestions? Thanks
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
What are your water readings? Have the fish have ich, since you are doing hypo?
 

richl

Member
Beth, I started in the hobby 9/08 and had awful experience with ick over the first 6 months. Had at least 2 total tank whipeouts. My LFS never told me about QT's or hypo, but I came across SWF and read everything I could. Ever since, I have hypo'd all new arrivals in a QT and have not had any disease problems at all in my 125 FOWLR for the past 10 months or so. Anyway, that's why they are in hypo. Both fish looked healthy when I bought them and put them in the QT. I have lost several fish while in QT and they were probably stress/environment related. The QT has been cycled for a long time, but maybe 20 gal is too small or I haven't done water changes ofetn enough. Water parameters as of tonite are 78 degrees, 8.1 PH, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and about 20 -40 Nitrate. I know I tend to over feed, so I often have higher nitrates. About a week ago, I noticed that the PH was a bit low at around 7.8. I probably wasn't carefull enough when adding fresh (RO) water when bringing the SG down. It's close to ok now. Do you think that was the problem. I'm doing a 5 gal (25%) water change right now with 1.009 water at 8.3 PH and I also changed the filter media and carbon in the drip filter. Anything else I should do? Thanks.
 

richl

Member
Tonite when I got home, the Butterfly is swimming listlessly, nose straight down toward the bottom and sometimes upside down. I don't see much gill action so it doesn't look like he's struggling for oxygen, just very listless. He was not at all interested in eating. This is the worst I have seen him, so I removed the carbon and treated with Maracyn Two since I feel I should try something. The Flame Angel seems fine. Have no choice but to wait and see. Any suggestions?
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, proceed with the M2. Be sure to maximize water circulation and do a small water change before each redose.
Are you feeding the butterfly appropriate foods using a butterfly clip?
Be sure that appropriate pH is maintained.
 

richl

Member
I had been using small pieces of green seaweed sheets on a clip, but sometimes it would remain untouched, sometimes it would disappear. I have 3 butterflies and a yellow tang in my DT and they go crazy for it. The yellow longnose seemed to like frozen formula two or agel/butterfly formula which I always soak in either Selcon or Vitachem. For a 'small' water change, do you mean 10%-15% ? Let me know if I should do anything else.
Thanks
 

richl

Member
Unfortunately, the Butterfly died. I probably should have treated with Maracyn sooner, but I didn't know exactly what the problem was and still don't. The Flame Angel that was with him in the QT still looks fine. Since I dosed the tank with Maracyn Two last night, would it make sense to complete the Maracyn treatment as a precaution for the Flame Angel? The butterfly deteriorated very quickly over only a few days, so it must have been something very serious. What do you think?
 
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