My Copperband butterfly fish needs help

[Rowey]

I purchased this fish about 3 weeks ago and he was settling in quite fine, But 5 days ago I noticed he had stopped eating but still seemed physically fine. This morning however his bill appears to be reddish and he is constantley nosing it out of the water.
His diet prior to this was only mysis shrimp frozen food and he was sharing a tank with a now breeding pair of black and white Osselaris and a blue star fish.

I have now placed him in my grow out tank by himself and according to my local fish store all the paremiters are fine.
I had an issue of my main tank being too salty prior to him becoming ill which has been remedied now but I have no idea of what illness he has.

He has no spots of any kind on his body and his eyes appear normal, The snout being an abormal colour and him not eating and poking his nose out of the water is quite worrying for me, any Ideas ?

[Jessie Nicoletti]

[QUOTE=Rowey;235443]

I purchased this fish about 3 weeks ago and he was settling in quite fine, But 5 days ago I noticed he had stopped eating but still seemed physically fine. This morning however his bill appears to be reddish and he is constantley nosing it out of the water.


When feeding if all else fails you cant go wrong with live food, as for the reddish that i would have no idea about try takeing some garlic xtreeme and soak a bit of food in it. also buterfly fish are specialzed feeders they do eat bristleworms witch most tanks have

[twisted]

maybe try some brine...mine dug it

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Like Twisted said, give brine a try. Brine shrimp have very little nutritional value and doesn't make a good food (even when soaked in vitamins and fats) but fish usually love the stuff. I trained my mandarin fish to eat prepared food by starting with brine and slowly introduced other, better foods.
Its also a good idea to soak the food in vitamins and fats before feeding.

Can you post a picture of the discoloration? Is it getting better or worse? How's the fish's breathing?

[leebca]

Sounds like the fish is not making the acclimation to captive life. Nothing is to be done if this is the case, other than to make sure water quality is right. If the fish comes around on its own, it will proceed to eat, at which time you want to make sure it is fed properly and properly nourished.

[Rowey]

Thanks for all your replies, but unfortunatly he ceased to thrive, upon showing hin to my LFS I was advised he had sum form of bacteria and I had to dose my tank.
Lovely fish but I will not get one again.

Thanks again ppl.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Sorry to hear about the loss Rowey.