Hello Everyone! I wish I had a more exciting discussion topic for my first post on R2R but we deal with the hand we are dealt. I recently decided to get back into the hobby after being out of it for almost 10 years (tragic story there). Either way, I decided I wanted to do it 100% the right way this time. I have a brand new Waterbox Reef Pro 180.5 sitting in the garage waiting to be set up. (Build thread?????)
I thought I’d plan ahead and start QT (30 gallon) on the first few fish additions. I started the QT with an observational phase and my 3 fish. A pajama cardinal, shark nose goby, and flame angel. Everything seemed good for the first 7-10 days with the exception of what I thought were a few Ich spots on the goby. Within 36 hours my angel started to display spots and my goby was covered in spots. I was not treating with any medications at this point. I quickly realized this was velvet, not ich. I began working up the copper levels (copper power) in the tank slowly because I saw adverse effects at levels of .5PPM already. I lost the goby on day 2 at 1PPM of copper. Over the course of a week. I have worked the level up to 2.5PPM and even a little above. As of yesterday, I could only find one spot on the angelfish and both the cardinal and angel were eating and energetic. However, today I came home from work to find the angel with about 20-30 very small and almost imperceptible spots. I tested my copper level today at 2.64PPM with the Hanna Copper Checker. The fish are still eating and energetic but I am worried. I don’t want to go any higher with the copper, but I’m not sure it's working. Interestingly, the cardinalfish has not been affected through the whole process. No visual signs of distress or disease. Have I stumbled across a copper resistant form of velvet? Could this be anything other than ich or velvet? Any thoughts on what I should try next?
I did take pictures and have included them but the spots are so tiny that they do not appear well on camera. They are most evident on the fins. Than you in advance everyone! This wasn’t how I was hoping my reintroduction into the hobby would go…..
I thought I’d plan ahead and start QT (30 gallon) on the first few fish additions. I started the QT with an observational phase and my 3 fish. A pajama cardinal, shark nose goby, and flame angel. Everything seemed good for the first 7-10 days with the exception of what I thought were a few Ich spots on the goby. Within 36 hours my angel started to display spots and my goby was covered in spots. I was not treating with any medications at this point. I quickly realized this was velvet, not ich. I began working up the copper levels (copper power) in the tank slowly because I saw adverse effects at levels of .5PPM already. I lost the goby on day 2 at 1PPM of copper. Over the course of a week. I have worked the level up to 2.5PPM and even a little above. As of yesterday, I could only find one spot on the angelfish and both the cardinal and angel were eating and energetic. However, today I came home from work to find the angel with about 20-30 very small and almost imperceptible spots. I tested my copper level today at 2.64PPM with the Hanna Copper Checker. The fish are still eating and energetic but I am worried. I don’t want to go any higher with the copper, but I’m not sure it's working. Interestingly, the cardinalfish has not been affected through the whole process. No visual signs of distress or disease. Have I stumbled across a copper resistant form of velvet? Could this be anything other than ich or velvet? Any thoughts on what I should try next?
I did take pictures and have included them but the spots are so tiny that they do not appear well on camera. They are most evident on the fins. Than you in advance everyone! This wasn’t how I was hoping my reintroduction into the hobby would go…..
