Pearl scale butterfly experiances

[toytech]

On the weekend when I was out and about I saw a pearl scale butterfly at a lfs and I remembered way back at the genesis of my first tank I had one of these fish . I had it for just over a year and then lost it in a nem explosion , it was a good eater but was twitchy from day 1 and the one I saw had the same twitch (though it was not in the best of stores ) . Does anyone else own one of these fish , did you have problems with parasites/desease ? And when I had one I didn't have much for corals and I would really like to have one in an sps dominant tank that's in the works so if there sps friendly let me know.

[rayjay]

I had mine in a butterfly tank with no corals for around 12 years.
I doubt your corals will survive with this fish in the tank as he'll pick at any polyps available.
I don't remember now if that particular one was twitchy, but with all my tanks and all the fish in them, I DID have fish that would twitch, most likely due to parasites, but as long as the tanks are kept well and the fish properly nourished, their immune systems should be able to keep the parasites from getting out of hand.

[brotherd]

Run away. Seriously.

[sphelps]

I believe twitching is a sign of flukes, common in butterfly fish. I recall you can generally have good success treating the fish for them in a QT tank but it's a bit of a process as the larvae is immune to treatments. Flukes are also contagious so wouldn't be wise to introduce any fish showing signs into an established tank.

[toytech]

The more I read the less likely this fish will be on my list , seems it has a taste for coral of every kind . As far as the flukes when I get the tank up and running all fish will get a 6 week QT and will be treated with pirazipro , ive had good luck with it in the past .