Black ich

[Unthinkable]

I have a yellow tang and Melanurus wrasse in qt with Copper power at therapeutic levels and noticed my tang has black ich. I know prazi is the course treatment, but do I need to remove the copper and treat black ich first? I don’t see any signs of crypto ich. These fish have been in copper for 3 days, 1 day in therapeutic levels.

 

[Unthinkable]

Or would it be better to FW dip both fish and continue the copper treatment?

 

[Big G]

It's OK to dose praziquantel with copper.

Best to use the powdered form (General Cure) as it does not contain the oxybispropanol that Prazipro uses to keep the praziquantel in liquid solution. The oxy bis absorbs oxygen and can cause the fish to struggle to get enough oxygen.

Make sure to have a powerhead in your QT pointing up to the surface where it is "actively" rippling the water surface to maximize the O2 exchange.

 

[Unthinkable]

It's OK to dose praziquantel with copper.

Best to use the powdered form (General Cure) as it does not contain the oxybispropanol that Prazipro uses to keep the praziquantel in liquid solution. The oxy bis absorbs oxygen and can cause the fish to struggle to get enough oxygen.

Make sure to have a powerhead in your QT pointing up to the surface where it is "actively" rippling the water surface to maximize the O2 exchange.

I added the general cure to the tank along with an air stone and power head pointing at the surface. Should I just follow the general cure instructions and redose in 48hrs? or can I do a water change and add activated carbon after 24 hours? with prazipro I usually remove it after 24 hrs with Wrasses, but it's a Melanurus so maybe it's more tolerant of the General Cure in the Water.

I know I'll definitely need a 2nd dose for any potential eggs in 6-7 days.

 

[Big G]

Black Ich can be a bit tougher to beat than regular fluke/worms with a praziquantel product. Best to dose and then wait 5-7 days and let the fish linger with the GC as while it is true that it does most of its work wihin 24 hours it remains in the water column doing more work. Do water change and then re dose. Wait 5-7 days and observe.
If the results are poor and the Black Ich remains, the next step is a formalin bath or hyposalinity (this can take days or in some cases weeks).