Reef Obsessed 1981
Community Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2018
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Hi all, sorry if this is a long winded post but looking to provide as much info up front as possible.
So several weeks ago I added a large toadstool and some BTA which all came on some sizeable chunks of LR, prior to this no issues, no recent new additions, week or so later 1st signs of ich. I already feed heavy but upped this further, no signs of a reduction, turned to triple dose and double length course of ployplab medic, now I'm getting losses, added ozone to my system, few days later my amazing moorish idol was a goner. That was the last straw, out I went and set up a QT.
Now I was very heavily, but successfully stocked, around 38 fish at the start, this had now reduced to 30 with losses of my Moorish idol, blue throat trigger, royal Gramma, black ice clown, damsel, female lyretail anthia, bicolour Blenny and Goatfish!
So the best I can manage both space and set up wise was a 220 litre Qt, I know this isn't ideal for that amount of fish but I can't have bigger, nor multiple Qts, was this or a wipeout no doubt. Initial plan was to add some K1 media, as inert, with colony on addition of fish and hopefully keep up with water changes, this quickly became a no! So I quickly added maxspect bio spheres and a large marine pure block from my DT to 1) process some ammonia, 2) seed the K1. This going forward has been fine and stabilised parameters fairly well, just needing a 30-50% water change every 5 or so days. No ammonia and around 0.1-0.25 nitrite. I know I will no doubt have added some nasties in the process but these will all be nuked eventually . For back up I have a Seachem ammonia alert and this shows safe and has throughout with the exception of the very first day or two.
Now I've been treating with cupramine at >0.35ppm for 20 days now, mostly around the 0.5ppm mark, initially there was absorption but this fairly quickly stabilised and now I have a minimal drop, testing twice per day and making small top ups as required, testing with the Hanna copper checker HR. Any water changes new water has copper added prior to being put in the Qt.
Since Qt was setup I lost my purple Tang within the first few days, I put this down to a combination of ich and shock of copper. Since then fish appetite has been ok, few fish have slowed slightly, so I've let absorption reduce the level slightly and appetite has returned. I lost my regal tang 17 days in, no spots but daily flashing, twitching, hiding but still coming out to eat, but after a w/c found him dead. Putting this down to copper treatment length, stress and then a big w/c.
So now to my point, Ive seen no spots on my fish now for close to two weeks, however several fish are flashing, PBT, Harlequin Tusk, Juv Koran angel most frequently, and a few others less so. My overall plan was to run 30 days in cupramine, however with addition of the media from the DT I was planning on 35 days to be sure. So....if I get to this point, I've seen no spots, can I put the flashing down to either copper and/or water quality or should I be more worried?
Due to the size of the QT I am starting a 4 week dosing of my fallow DT this week with H2O2 with a raised temperature to 28c to speed up the life ich life cycle, so I can basically sterilise that tank of ich and get the fish out of the QT quicker. By the time that is done the fish will have completed 35 days cupramine, possibly a course of flubenazole and had a week or so medication free.
Any feedback and answers to my main point welcome, and again sorry for the length of the post!
So several weeks ago I added a large toadstool and some BTA which all came on some sizeable chunks of LR, prior to this no issues, no recent new additions, week or so later 1st signs of ich. I already feed heavy but upped this further, no signs of a reduction, turned to triple dose and double length course of ployplab medic, now I'm getting losses, added ozone to my system, few days later my amazing moorish idol was a goner. That was the last straw, out I went and set up a QT.
Now I was very heavily, but successfully stocked, around 38 fish at the start, this had now reduced to 30 with losses of my Moorish idol, blue throat trigger, royal Gramma, black ice clown, damsel, female lyretail anthia, bicolour Blenny and Goatfish!
So the best I can manage both space and set up wise was a 220 litre Qt, I know this isn't ideal for that amount of fish but I can't have bigger, nor multiple Qts, was this or a wipeout no doubt. Initial plan was to add some K1 media, as inert, with colony on addition of fish and hopefully keep up with water changes, this quickly became a no! So I quickly added maxspect bio spheres and a large marine pure block from my DT to 1) process some ammonia, 2) seed the K1. This going forward has been fine and stabilised parameters fairly well, just needing a 30-50% water change every 5 or so days. No ammonia and around 0.1-0.25 nitrite. I know I will no doubt have added some nasties in the process but these will all be nuked eventually . For back up I have a Seachem ammonia alert and this shows safe and has throughout with the exception of the very first day or two.
Now I've been treating with cupramine at >0.35ppm for 20 days now, mostly around the 0.5ppm mark, initially there was absorption but this fairly quickly stabilised and now I have a minimal drop, testing twice per day and making small top ups as required, testing with the Hanna copper checker HR. Any water changes new water has copper added prior to being put in the Qt.
Since Qt was setup I lost my purple Tang within the first few days, I put this down to a combination of ich and shock of copper. Since then fish appetite has been ok, few fish have slowed slightly, so I've let absorption reduce the level slightly and appetite has returned. I lost my regal tang 17 days in, no spots but daily flashing, twitching, hiding but still coming out to eat, but after a w/c found him dead. Putting this down to copper treatment length, stress and then a big w/c.
So now to my point, Ive seen no spots on my fish now for close to two weeks, however several fish are flashing, PBT, Harlequin Tusk, Juv Koran angel most frequently, and a few others less so. My overall plan was to run 30 days in cupramine, however with addition of the media from the DT I was planning on 35 days to be sure. So....if I get to this point, I've seen no spots, can I put the flashing down to either copper and/or water quality or should I be more worried?
Due to the size of the QT I am starting a 4 week dosing of my fallow DT this week with H2O2 with a raised temperature to 28c to speed up the life ich life cycle, so I can basically sterilise that tank of ich and get the fish out of the QT quicker. By the time that is done the fish will have completed 35 days cupramine, possibly a course of flubenazole and had a week or so medication free.
Any feedback and answers to my main point welcome, and again sorry for the length of the post!
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