Another fish treatment question

[Jay Hemdal]

I just received the notification that the copper power and Hanna test is here by tomorrow. Please let me know if I should do any change with the QT process. Should I stop the Prazi treatment and start with copper? They're already in the second Prazi dose. Next Wednesday should start the third dose.

Please see the pictures of the stuff I found when doing the water change and cleaning the tank: Is this actually flukes? There were multiple of them.

Only one species of fluke is visible to the naked eye - Neobenedenia, and those do not look like that.

Jay

 

[Gungo]

Sorry - couldn't get the video to work.

Jay

please try again

 

[Jay Hemdal]

please try again

Thanks, that worked. Is that a doctorfish in the background? I see what I think is ich on both fish. Luckily, the respiration rate is fine, so we can rule out velvet.

Jay

 

[Gungo]

It is a doctor fish I had on my sump due to aggression with my sailfing. since I needed to take all fish out I QTd him too. He was very healthy and ate everything. This morning the doctorfish was dead. The scopas and the pijama cardenal that are with him in the same tank are looking ok. No heavy breathing but they have white spots. Should I stop the prazi and start with copper? or Should I finish the prazi treatment to and start copper in 2 weeks?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It is a doctor fish I had on my sump due to aggression with my sailfing. since I needed to take all fish out I QTd him too. He was very healthy and ate everything. This morning the doctorfish was dead. The scopas and the pijama cardenal that are with him in the same tank are looking ok. No heavy breathing but they have white spots. Should I stop the prazi and start with copper? or Should I finish the prazi treatment to and start copper in 2 weeks?

In this case, I would start the copper right away and treat the prazi at the same time. Get the copper up to a full dose in 24 hours.
M concern is that the doctor fish didn’t seem to have ich bad enough to kill it, so there could be some other issue at play here.
Jay

 

[Gungo]

almost 2 weeks have passed and all fish are still in copper treatment. No more visible symptoms since copper treatment started. All fish eat fine.

Quick question:

Ammonia is not going above .25 ppm but nitrates are about 80ppm and nitrites are above 5. Should I do a water change or just focus on ammonia?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

almost 2 weeks have passed and all fish are still in copper treatment. No more visible symptoms since copper treatment started. All fish eat fine.

Quick question:

Ammonia is not going above .25 ppm but nitrates are about 80ppm and nitrites are above 5. Should I do a water change or just focus on ammonia?

Nitrate at 80 ppm isn't an acute problem, but it is a bit high given the circumstances. Nitrites are no issue - despite what you might read, this does not harm marine fish (but it is deadly to freshwater fish at this level). The salt in the water renders nitrite non-toxic to marine fish. I would consider doing some water changes to reduce the nitrate. Of course, you'll need to redose any meds afterwards.

Jay

 

[Gungo]

Nitrate at 80 ppm isn't an acute problem, but it is a bit high given the circumstances. Nitrites are no issue - despite what you might read, this does not harm marine fish (but it is deadly to freshwater fish at this level). The salt in the water renders nitrite non-toxic to marine fish. I would consider doing some water changes to reduce the nitrate. Of course, you'll need to redose any meds afterwards.

Jay

Thanks, I did a 50% waterchange and matched 2.5 ppm of copper in the new water. so I have a new question. Today I found my cardenal pijama flashing like he wants to throw something that is inside him. I've seen this behavior in the past and i Thought it was because of the flukes. When I started the copper dose they were in the 2nd prazi treatment. Is it possible that they still have flukes?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks, I did a 50% waterchange and matched 2.5 ppm of copper in the new water. so I have a new question. Today I found my cardenal pijama flashing like he wants to throw something that is inside him. I've seen this behavior in the past and i Thought it was because of the flukes. When I started the copper dose they were in the 2nd prazi treatment. Is it possible that they still have flukes?

Egg laying flukes can be really tough to treat - if you don't time things just right, some of the eggs remain, reinfecting the fish. One person made a computer simulation for Neobenedenia, and it can take up to 5 treatments to eliminate those.

Here is another treatment calculator, but I KNOW this one is flawed, you cannot stop Neobenedenia with just two treatments like they say:

Marine Parasites

Marine Parasites is a resource for the study of parasites in south Australian fishes.

www.marineparasites.com

Jay

 

[Gungo]

So what do you recommend? when finishing the copper treatmet should I go back to prazi doze and treat 3 times or combine prazi with freshwater dips?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So what do you recommend? when finishing the copper treatmet should I go back to prazi doze and treat 3 times or combine prazi with freshwater dips?

What about 35 days of hyposalinity? I know that’s a hassle, but it works for a variety of fluke species.
Jay

 

[Gungo]

This thing is harder than I expected.

 

[Gungo]

Not to mention how hard it is to keep nutrients on a tank without fish.