ichish looking clowns. Can anyone ID this illness (pic).

[Humblefish]

One question concerning the CP: if you get a prescription from a vet/doctor, I would imagine that the pharma would likely fill it with pills instead of the powder. How can you be sure to get the powder form?

Insist upon it. They may try to push the pills on you because that's all they have it stock. However, any pharmacy can order powder CP from a place like this: http://www.pccarx.com/

If all else fails, you can still use the tablets. Besides having to crush them up, the downside is you get less "chloroquine base" out of them so less bang for your buck. The following was taken from Bob Goemans online book, THE LIVING AQUARIUM MANUAL:

In most cases, 250 mg tablets have an equivalence of 150 mg chloroquine base, and 500 mg tablets have an equivalence of 300 mg chloroquine base. Although the purity mentioned above is generally accurate, it would be best to verify the chloroquine base contained in the tablets of your choice in order to be able to properly calculate the exact dosage. Keep in mind if you decide to use the tablets, there are some inactive ingredients, which you may have to deal with, e.g., Camauba Wax, Colloidal Silicon Dioxide, Dibasic Calcium Phosphate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Magnesium Stearate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Polyethylene Glycol, Polysorbate 80, Pregelatinized Starch, Sodium Starch Glycolate, Stearic Acid, and Titanium Dioxide. And as mentioned earlier in this chapter there are occasions where some medicines are not in their pure form (100% pure), i.e., mixed with a substance called a 'carrier,' which should be noted on its label. If so its potency is reduced, and if not sure about the exact amount of medication needed, suggest contacting a more experienced aquarist for the way to resolve this situation.

 

[dangros]

Thanks @Humblefish. It wasnt easy but I found a local vet to prescribe some CP. Had it filled at a local compounding pharmacy. They even put it in 400mg capsules which I could open so I wouldn't have to measure anything. I still purchased a small scale, just in case.

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks @Humblefish. It wasnt easy but I found a local vet to prescribe some CP. Had it filled at a local compounding pharmacy. They even put it in 400mg capsules which I could open so I wouldn't have to measure anything. I still purchased a small scale, just in case.

Congrats! It sucks that this drug is so hard to get. I've probably already told you about it, but this thread explains all the ins & outs of CP: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chloroquine-phosphate.192309/

 

[wishnewfish]

This is very helpful discussion on Ich.

I have a question on fallow period of display tank, I have seen that 72 days is the minimum recommended.
Is this 72 days same for Ich or velvet or brooklynella? or its only effective against Ich and velvet?

 

[Humblefish]

I have a question on fallow period of display tank, I have seen that 72 days is the minimum recommended.
Is this 72 days same for Ich or velvet or brooklynella? or its only effective against Ich and velvet?

This thread lists the fallow periods for most of the major diseases: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fallow-periods.190324/

As you can see, ich is the longest as it has the longest known total life cycle. So if you go fallow for ich, you are covered for everything else too. I recently tweaked the fallow period for ich to now be 76 days. My reasoning is below:

Please be advised the fallow period for Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) has been adjusted to now be 76 days. Based upon new calculations (see below):

Let's do the math and tweak the fallow period for ich using the parasite's known life cycle & worst case scenario:

1. Let's say a trophont drops off the last fish you catch before going fallow. We know that the protomont can only crawl around 18 hours max before beginning the encysting process. The process itself takes no longer than 12 hours until it has hardened around what is now called a tomont. 18+12=30 hours, but I'm just gonna call it 2 days to err on the side of caution.
2. The longest known time period it took for theronts (free swimmers) to be released from a group of tomonts is 72 days. However, I want to make it clear that this 72 days has only been encountered once; one study involving a single strain of ich. In most other studies, 7-14 days has been "the norm" for theront release.
3. Once released from it's tomont, a theront must find a fish host to attach to within 48 hours (2 days) or it dies. Thus ending ich's presence in your fallow tank. Although in actuality, a theront's infectivity is greatly reduced just 6 - 8 hours after it leaves the cyst. It's non-infective after just 8 hours, but still able to move for up to 48 hours. So again, to err on the side of caution, we're gonna say 2 days for this "final phase" of it's life cycle.

So, let's add it all up. 2+72+2 = 76 days. That would be the true maximum fallow period for ich. Probably a bit of overkill, but I will make the necessary adjustments to the stickies and start recommending 76 days from this day forward.

 

[dangros]

Thanks @Humblefish https://goo.gl/photos/5w8o89wBZm5yLRK66
That was today. I now have a purple firefish, baby eel, ocellaris, and bicolor blenny happily living together in a thriving, disease free tank. The post-fallow period tang death is still unexplained but it wasnt ich and it hasnt impacted my current fish. Instead of going w/a tang, I went with the above fish. One clown died right away which had me on edge for a couple weeks. But all are fine and eating well. I'm still hesitant to get a tang and feel that I have room for more fish but I'm pretty happy w/how things have turned out! Thanks for your posts and QT protocols.

 

[Humblefish]

@dangros Awesome! You're very welcome!