QT problem, could use some help

Smite

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#1
Last day of copper for my fish is today. They all did well until a few days ago I lost my melenarus. It seemed to come out of the blue. I've been checking my copper level (copper power at 2.5 per instructions) with my hanna kit and its been a steady reading. My ammonia alert badge has stayed safe for the duration of QT.

Yesterday my fathead anthias eye was swollen. One eye I assumed injury from darting since its kind of shy. I started feeding with metroplex/kanaplex/focus yesterday. 1 scoop of each in the food and then the remainder of scoops per instructions in the sump. Today I come out and both eyes are huge on the fish. Everyone is eating and acting normal.

I have yet to treat for flukes. I thought my tank contracted velvet so I went straight to copper with these guys.


I plan to do a massive water change today and add some carbon. Tomorrow I'll check my copper level and if 0 I'll start my prazipro treatment for flukes and from there continue with kanaplex + metroplex every two days.

Does this sound about right or is there another step I should be taking specifically for the anthias that has dual pop eyes going on.




Thanks for any help!
 

Smite

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#3
Copper does not treat velvet.
Everthing I've read states the opposite. Most people like to use chloroquine phosphate because you can go straight to theraputic levels right away unlike copper, which betters your odds since velvet is so fast acting.

Do you have a link to the study or article that states copper doesn't work? I'd like to check it out.
 

gonumber24

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#4
Everthing I've read states the opposite. Most people like to use chloroquine phosphate because you can go straight to theraputic levels right away unlike copper, which betters your odds since velvet is so fast acting.

Do you have a link to the study or article that states copper doesn't work? I'd like to check it out.
My bad, I was thinking of brookynella. Haven't had to deal with velvet yet. Hopefully never have to. Good luck with your fish!
 

Smite

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#5
Thanks [MENTION=672]gonumber24[/MENTION]. I hope you never have to, it suuuucks
 
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#6
I never had luck QTing a fish. They always die.
I dont QT anymore. The fish seems to live longer.
I always make sure when I buy a fish that it looks healthy, eating, and no evidence of disease.
I also buy only from 2 LFS.
I feed 4-6 times a day.
 

Smite

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#7
I hear that all the time. I have much less trouble with coral than i do with fish. I feed heavy, usually 2x a day, feed rods along with a blend of other frozen foods. Amminos for both fish and coral. Food soaked in garlic and selcom with focus and metroplex if i see anything pop up. I'm always the annoying customer who wants to see every fish eat, if other fish in their system look iffy i pass.

In the end I still end up with sick fish, so QT for me from now on. Second time I've said this and I regret selling my QT from before the move.


I see some head twitching from my yellow tang so I'm leaning towards flukes. Did a 90% water change today, added cuprisorb and once my copper zeros out I plan to dose prazipro and look for improvements as the week goes on.

Thinking of adding Epsom salt, I read of that relieving swelling of the pop-eye on another forum. Not sure this is safe with prazipro though.
 
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#8
Copper definitely treats Velvet. I dealt with it last March :/ I've always heard popeye is due to poor water conditions. Maybe nitrite levels went up?
When I had to set up an emergency QT last year I added a bag of ceramic rings, the cheap ones for freshwater, and did small doses of Dr. Tim's daily for a couple weeks. Once the Angel was done with treatment I got a few new fish all QT'd at the same time and started redosing Tim's for a couple more weeks. Never had any issues.
I would do a large water change and dose some bacteria, as well as have something like the ceramic rings for bacteria to colonize in. I know you're done with copper now, but I regularly tested and had no issues with the rings absorbing the copper.
The popeye should correct itself with improved water quality.
 
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#9
Matt, I don't know if Epsom salt is safe with prazipro but I used it once for pop-eye on my purple tang and it was very effective.
 

reefes pieces

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#10
get all the medications out until the fish is stabilized. It sucks and might double the QT period but you want to get their health back in order prior to treating with additional meds like copper and prazi. Get that water clean with a very large water change, carbon and treat the eye. Hopefully the copper treatment did it's job of eradicating the Velvet. Good luck
 

Smite

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#11
Copper definitely treats Velvet. I dealt with it last March :/ I've always heard popeye is due to poor water conditions. Maybe nitrite levels went up?
When I had to set up an emergency QT last year I added a bag of ceramic rings, the cheap ones for freshwater, and did small doses of Dr. Tim's daily for a couple weeks. Once the Angel was done with treatment I got a few new fish all QT'd at the same time and started redosing Tim's for a couple more weeks. Never had any issues.
I would do a large water change and dose some bacteria, as well as have something like the ceramic rings for bacteria to colonize in. I know you're done with copper now, but I regularly tested and had no issues with the rings absorbing the copper.
The popeye should correct itself with improved water quality.
Thanks for the input Blaire. I actually used one of my marine pure blocks the same way you did with your ceramic rings from my DT that was seeded. I didn't notice any copper uptake either but I raised my levels over a week so it may have happened slowly then tapped out and stopped scuking it up. I didnt do a water change for the whole 3 weeks so maybe there was a water quality issue.

Matt, I don't know if Epsom salt is safe with prazipro but I used it once for pop-eye on my purple tang and it was very effective.
Good to know! I'll probably hold off on that until I'm chemical free.

get all the medications out until the fish is stabilized. It sucks and might double the QT period but you want to get their health back in order prior to treating with additional meds like copper and prazi. Get that water clean with a very large water change, carbon and treat the eye. Hopefully the copper treatment did it's job of eradicating the Velvet. Good luck
I did a 90% water change and added some cuprisorb. Tested zero today. I haven't seen any spots but do see some spazzing and erratic swimming, head shaking from my tang. I'm a little torn as to what to do. I'd hate to stress them more but if flukes are the culprit then I'd hate to wait longer. I'm still leaning towards dosing prazipro tonight and if i see a decline in fish health then I'll add carbon and have 50g of fresh mix ready to go.

I've read flukes can also be a symptom of flukes, anyone know this to be true? I've also read freshwater dip is the best way to spot flukes but I've killed fish trying to do that as pre dip in the past.
 

Mr V

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#12
You put marinepure block in your quarantine tank?
Even when you treat it with copper?
 

Smite

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#13
You put marinepure block in your quarantine tank?
Even when you treat it with copper?
Yep, needed the fish out quick and no time to cycle my QT. It worked but is pretty much trash once I get these guys finish up quarantine.
 
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