Flame Hawkfish Breathing Heavy and Not Eating

[kswan]

I have ParaGuard and MetroPlex on hand but can pick up whatever would be best.

 

[kswan]

I’ll see if I can track down NFG. This place is the best BTW. You are all so helpful! Being a fish vet is tough without some guidance.

 

[Big G]

Furan2 is pretty close to NFG. They share the base med. And Furan2 is more readily available than NFG. But as @4FordFamily posted it really works well.

 

[Pbh-reef]

Love seeing people getting help on r2r. I hope your hawk makes it!

 

[Big G]

I’ll see if I can track down NFG. This place is the best BTW. You are all so helpful! Being a fish vet is tough without some guidance.

Great product to have in your med kit. Especially if you have a Butterfly fish in your future

 

[kswan]

I picked up Furan 2 from my LFS. I grabbed enough to dose the entire 40b quarantine. Is that a bad idea or should I remove the hawkfish and treat individually?

 

[Big G]

I picked up Furan 2 from my LFS. I grabbed enough to dose the entire 40b quarantine. Is that a bad idea or should I remove the hawkfish and treat individually?

Furan2 requires some water changes = 40 gallon tank = bigger changes. Many reefers use the 40 for the bigger fish being treated. It's your call.

 

[kswan]

Ok. The water changes were not too bad. Just 25% a few times I think . I’ll give it a shot.

 

[Maritimer]

Keep in mind that you'll likely need to go 10-14 days to fully clear an infection in marine fish. They seem to respond pretty slowly to such things.

~Bruce

 

[kswan]

Keep in mind that you'll likely need to go 10-14 days to fully clear an infection in marine fish. They seem to respond pretty slowly to such things.

~Bruce

Should I do something outside of the Furan 2 instructions? That is about a 1 week cycle.

 

[kswan]

Last night I did the second dose of Furan 2. The hawkfish has moved back to his PVC pipe where he has been for the duration of QT. Still hasn’t eaten and continues to breath heavy but hopefully that is a good sign.

 

[kswan]

Things are getting worse. The hawkfish is having a hard time holding himself upright. My firefish is also breathing hard and now getting picked on by the clowns.

 

[kswan]

I’m starting to worry that I still have velvet. No outward symptoms that I can see but I don’t know what else it could be. There is a royal Gramma and clown pair that are doing good. Should I start copper back up? I also have ruby reef rally.

 

[kswan]

The hawkfish and firefish died this afternoon. It must still be velvet. No signs other than heavy breathing and appetite.

 

[kswan]

@Big G, do you think I should start over with copper? Something must be going on to loose 2 fish so long into QT. I'm afraid the velvet did not get completely removed. I finished copper at the end of August so it has been over a month.

 

[Maritimer]

Is there any possibility of cross-contamination - moving hands, equipment, tools ... anything wet ... between tanks?

That could move velvet from your display to QT.

If you've reason to suspect velvet, then copper or CP would be the go-to.

~Bruce

 

[kswan]

Is there any possibility of cross-contamination - moving hands, equipment, tools ... anything wet ... between tanks?

That could move velvet from your display to QT.

If you've reason to suspect velvet, then copper or CP would be the go-to.

~Bruce

Hi Bruce,

My display is upstairs and the QT is in the basement. I don’t believe I cross-contaminated but it’s also my first time using copper. I did the TTM initially. Mostly not knowing what killed the hawkfish and firefish has me nervous. My 76 day fallow period is up this weekend and I’m not sure if I should add the clowns and royal Gramma. As of now they look good.

Kevin

 

[kswan]

Just had a thought. I was reading some copper/velvet related posts and realized that I didn't use cuprisorb. I added the HOB filter pads that have some carbon and did a few water changes but nothing huge. Could I have poisoned them with copper? I haven't measured the level since I thought the carbon would remove it. That would be over 2 months with some amount of copper. I'll test the water as soon as I get home and pick up some cuprisorb tonight. My royal gramma was breathing hard and laying at the bottom recently too. I saw a post that stated those as copper related issues. That is the same thing my hawkfish and firefish did too. I feel like an idiot! On one hand I hope that I find the cause of this but on the other I hope it is not my ignorance/stupidity that caused 2 more deaths. I'll update after a test and get the fish into fresh salt water.

 

[Maritimer]

That sounds like a plan ... copper is a poison, after all.

That said ... back in the day, some saltwater fish-keepers (not reefers, not in those days) used to just keep a couple of pennies (which were still made of copper back then - that changed when the value of a penny's worth of copper exceeded the value of the coin, and folks started to melt 'em down) in their HOB filters.

~Bruce

 

[kswan]

The test kit showed very little copper if any. I added some cuprisorb just in case.