Help with Threadfin Butterfly!!!

[lockdown]

Hi all,
Came home from work today and was told my wife and kids that our new Threadfin Butterfly ("Swimmy" according to my kids) has developed a blackened look over his white body sections. After looking around 5 pm, yep, he's definatly darker than I think he should be.
Now a little about our tank.
55 Gal.
Residents: 2 sallylightfoot crabs, 1 emerald crab, 2 white sand stars, numerous Cerith snails and Turbo/Florida snails, 1 flame dwarf angel, 2 clowns, 1 yellow clown goby, and 1 threadfin Butterfly. About two months ago, we lost all our fish except the yellow clown goby to ich. We treated the tank for 15 days, did numerous water changes, including a 20 gallon one, and did a 10 gallon water change just before adding the flame angel, clowns, and butterfly. Prior to the replacement fish, all was in balance.
As of right now, here's the chemical balance in our tank:
Salinity: 1.022
80 degrees F
Ammonia: between 0 and .25
pH: approx. 8.2
alk: 300
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40 (yeah, not as good as I wanted, but still not terrible).
He continually pics at the LR, and has eaten some of the brine shrimp we feed them.
We put in the replacement fish on July 7th. Here's the before and after pics of the butterfly (July 7th 1st, July 11th last)
ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT'S ON MY FISH?????
Thanks!!
Also just noticed that the butterfly has ONE white dot on a fin, the same with the two clowns... just one dot on one fin each....

 

[lockdown]

After looking at Beth's 2004 posts of photos of diseased fish, I still don't know what my Butterfly has.... BUT, I did learn that my first threadfin butterfly (the one we lost a few months ago to ich) had a bacterial infection first... Don't think that'll help me right now though...

 

[lion_crazz]

That discoloration is most likely from stress. Both your alkalinity and nitrates are too high. Usually, nitrates of 40 ppm is not too bad, but butterfly fish are extra sensitive to nitrates. You need to have them as close to 0 as possible for a butterfly.

 

[emperor11]

Were these pictures taken at night? ...or dawn or dusk... If so, its totally normal for butterflies to change color. The pics you showed look completely normal, as long as they were taken at night. They will change color like that either because of stress, or as "camouflage" from predators at night.

 

[lockdown]

Lion & Emperor - Thanks.
Looks like I'll be doing a 10 gal water change tomorrow. Hopefully that will lower the Nitrates. I haven't really figured out my new protein skimmer yet either. Is there any other way to lower the Alkalinity, and what jacks it up like that?
Also: I'm hoping that those single white dots on their fins aren't lymphocystis. I thought that the single dot on one was salt, but on three fish???
Emperor: Both pics were taken around 5 p, but that's not close to dusk here in SW FL this time of year, and the tank's lights were on too.

 

[lion_crazz]

Smaller water changes won't really bring down nitrates. Smaller water changes maintain low nitrates, but they will not bring them down. I would do a larger water change, such as a 20 gallon water change.

 

[lockdown]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Smaller water changes won't really bring down nitrates. Smaller water changes maintain low nitrates, but they will not bring them down. I would do a larger water change, such as a 20 gallon water change.

Ok, so it looks like I'm going to have to rent two more 5 gal jugs to total 20 gals. Let me ask you this: Since I have a 55 gal tank with about 80lbs of LR and 1.5" to 2" of live sand, I'm guessing that I'm probably closer to 45 gallons of actual water. How many gallons would be good to change once a week to help prevent the elevated Nitrates?

 

[lion_crazz]

Well, once you get the nitrates down, 10 gallon water changes will maintain low nitrates just fine.

 

[lockdown]

ok, sounds good - Thanks!

 

[scsinet]

I've seen basically this exact thing happen with a Koran Angel I had in a QT. Pomacanthus angels have similar nitrate demands to Butterflyfish. My 'trates climbed too high and he started discoloring and getting all "frayed" looking in the body. I did a 100% water change in the QT and he recovered within only a few hours.
Everyone here is correct as far as I'm concerned. Knock those nitrates down as fast as you can.
The more water you can change at one time, the easier this will go. By change at one time I mean the more you can remove then replace in one "go" will be better. Doing a 20 gallon water change by removing the entire 20 gallons then replacing the entire 20 gallons is much better than removing 5 gallons, replacing 5 gallons, then repeating 3 more times, because if you do it this way, as you go along you are removing some of your new water the 2nd, 3rd, 4th times, so do one really big change if you can.

 

[lockdown]

Thanks. I changed about 20 gallons at once the other day. I also started using Melafix and Primafix for the white dots on my clowns' fins. Added a new skunk shimp to help clean up any junk on the fishies too. I noticed that since the other day, the butterfly only likes to eat off the LR. Not sure if thats ok or not....
BTW - nitrates down to what appears to be just under 20 by the color of the test.... Will do another water change in 5 days after the medication is done with it's cycle.

 

[scsinet]

Picking at live rock, soft corals, clam mantles, etc is a Butterfly's natural eating habits. As long as he keeps picking at the LR but refusing your food, that probably means he's getting enough food from what he's doing, so I'd not worry too much.
Keep a close eye on his shape. If he's not eating well, his body will thin. You might also try smaller foods. I have a flame angel that could easily swallow mysis, but won't for some reason... he only eats brine, so I have to dope brine with Selcon and feed that.
The other thing you can try is Entice, Garlic Extreme, etc to see if you can get him to eat what you offer.