Auriga Butterfly Fading

Hello,

We are new to the forum, but are having an issue with our Auriga Butterfly. Last nite we added a juvenile blue hippo tang to our 30 gallon saltwater tank. The whole tank is a juvenile tank. There is 1 clown, 1 b. cardinal, 1 auriga butterfly and now the latest (and last) addition of the baby tang.

Everyone has been doing fine, water chemistry/levels are perfect. We felt confident about adding a new fish. So last nite we added the baby tang. He hid for quite some time, which tangs tend to do, and the other fish didn't seem bothered by his introduction. We went to bed lat nite and everything was fine. This morning I just got up and found that the Auriga Butterfly's color (usually bright, bright yellow) has faded to a dull yellow. I cannot understand this. He has never looked ill or the slightest bit unhealthy until this morning. Any ideas on what this could be or what may have caused this?

Side note:

To acclimate the blue tang, we read on a few sites that we should keep the aquarium light turned OFF for several hours. We turned the light off at about 6pm yesterday (10k), and I just turned it on this morning at 730. Could the light not being on for so long have anything to do with the coloration?

Any input would be fantastic.

Thanks!

 

More than likely he's just scared of the new addition and those are stress colors. This is not uncommon in rabbitfish, tangs, and butterflys.

 

ich?

well, what i am concerned about and forgot to mention....he has white spots on his tail fin (not on his body), which i have researched and found to be marine ich. could these white spots be anything BUT marine ich? none of the other fish in the tank have any signs of this...but now i am really scared that this is what it is. what to do now? :-/

 

i would start using a basic vitamin and garlic dip on the food.
you could also add a cleaner shrimp or wrasse

as far as reef safe cures with medication, the results are questionable, with the majority not improving the infection

 

also tangs and some other fish dull at night, so that might explain the coloration change. if they dont gain it back after a hour or too of light its stress that cuasing it

 

i'm just not sure where to start. do i have to quarantine just that fish since the others are not exhibiting any signs of illness, or do i treat the whole tank? should i quarantine and treat every fish? any information will be extremely helpful....

 

Hi Reeftrons, not sure if Inwall and Sostoudt are still on site

its could be the new fish has stressed the Butterlfy
it could be the additional dark period that has caused the colour to change

is the butterfly eating? if so dont try and net and quarantine at this stage
a few spots on an otherwise healthy fish are not always anything to panic over

Inwall and Sostoudt both recomend Garlic ( common garlic as used in cooking) I use it regular myself

get some cloves, crush them in a garlic press and add some of the liquid you get to the food you feed your fish - this is often a good way to bolster the fishes strength/ immunity to fight the infection

try this and monitor for next 24 hours , before adding to the fishes stress levels by trying to catch it


Steve

 

his color is actually coming back...just got a report from my boyfriend at home who has been monitoring him all morning...but he still has white spots on his tail fin and apparently his head....the boyfriend says he has had the white spots on his tail fin since we got him but he just identified the ones on his head as of today. we are both new to all of this, so i suppose we should have spotted ich when we got him...he eats well and doesn't appear to be sick or ailing as far as his behaviour goes. we have had his 2.5 weeks and he has never seemed to be ill.

will do the garlic treatment today. he ate the live brine today, and ate well.

 

Are the live brine baby brine shrimp that have been gutloaded? Once live brine becomes adults, they basically contain the same nutrition as candy. Can you get it to eat frozen (enriched brine, enriched mysis) shrimp?

 

live/frozen brine

the fish in that tank always eat a steady diet of frozen brine shrimp. we were just at the pet store picking up our hippo tang and saw the live brine and decided to get it for them as a treat....last nite was the only time they have ever had live brine, at least fed from our hands...