HELP! Copper treating white spots but death continues

[Bensea]

Hey there,

I stupidly did not quarantine new fish. I noticed white spots on a couple of new tangs after they were in my tank about a week. I gave it some time and it slowly got worse. Assuming it was ich I removed everything from my DT and began Copper Power treatment, ramped up to 2.5ppm over a 3 day period starting Aug. 8th. The condition of the tangs looked like it wasn't getting worse and then my flame angel appeared covered in the white spots a few days after 2.5ppm was reached. I had only seen 2 small white dots on the flame angel before treatment began. It died 2 days later. The day after death I noticed the powder blue tang also covered in the white dots when it had just looked like it was improving. I found it dead yesterday morning. My clownfish is now the new fish to be covered in the white dots. I had only seen one white dot on the clown prior to treatment. The naso tang who was recently in great shape now has some dots on one pectoral fin and the purple tang has never looked healthier after being the first one I ever noticed with white spots. No spots on any of the green chromis. There is a small hippo tang in the tank as well that seems to be doing ok, he hides whenever I get close to the tank so hard to get a good look. All fish are eating great.

I left some live rock in the sump for fear of ammonia becoming a problem during treatment. I have a hanna copper checker and have been checking the copper level every couple days. It never dipped below 2.4ppm and I add what I need to bring it back to 2.5. All other water parameters are good.
Any suggestions on what I could be dealing with?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

@vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey there,

I stupidly did not quarantine new fish. I noticed white spots on a couple of new tangs after they were in my tank about a week. I gave it some time and it slowly got worse. Assuming it was ich I removed everything from my DT and began Copper Power treatment, ramped up to 2.5ppm over a 3 day period starting Aug. 8th. The condition of the tangs looked like it wasn't getting worse and then my flame angel appeared covered in the white spots a few days after 2.5ppm was reached. I had only seen 2 small white dots on the flame angel before treatment began. It died 2 days later. The day after death I noticed the powder blue tang also covered in the white dots when it had just looked like it was improving. I found it dead yesterday morning. My clownfish is now the new fish to be covered in the white dots. I had only seen one white dot on the clown prior to treatment. The naso tang who was recently in great shape now has some dots on one pectoral fin and the purple tang has never looked healthier after being the first one I ever noticed with white spots. No spots on any of the green chromis. There is a small hippo tang in the tank as well that seems to be doing ok, he hides whenever I get close to the tank so hard to get a good look. All fish are eating great.

I left some live rock in the sump for fear of ammonia becoming a problem during treatment. I have a hanna copper checker and have been checking the copper level every couple days. It never dipped below 2.4ppm and I add what I need to bring it back to 2.5. All other water parameters are good.
Any suggestions on what I could be dealing with?

These are secondary bacterial lesions associated with brooklynella.
The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Start with a prolonged 60 minute bath of ruby rally pro then at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
Since a formalin solution is often not available for use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey there,

I stupidly did not quarantine new fish. I noticed white spots on a couple of new tangs after they were in my tank about a week. I gave it some time and it slowly got worse. Assuming it was ich I removed everything from my DT and began Copper Power treatment, ramped up to 2.5ppm over a 3 day period starting Aug. 8th. The condition of the tangs looked like it wasn't getting worse and then my flame angel appeared covered in the white spots a few days after 2.5ppm was reached. I had only seen 2 small white dots on the flame angel before treatment began. It died 2 days later. The day after death I noticed the powder blue tang also covered in the white dots when it had just looked like it was improving. I found it dead yesterday morning. My clownfish is now the new fish to be covered in the white dots. I had only seen one white dot on the clown prior to treatment. The naso tang who was recently in great shape now has some dots on one pectoral fin and the purple tang has never looked healthier after being the first one I ever noticed with white spots. No spots on any of the green chromis. There is a small hippo tang in the tank as well that seems to be doing ok, he hides whenever I get close to the tank so hard to get a good look. All fish are eating great.

I left some live rock in the sump for fear of ammonia becoming a problem during treatment. I have a hanna copper checker and have been checking the copper level every couple days. It never dipped below 2.4ppm and I add what I need to bring it back to 2.5. All other water parameters are good.
Any suggestions on what I could be dealing with?

While that could be brooklynella, angels and tangs rarely get that, certainly not before all of the clowns would have died from it.
Brooklynella causes sheets of mucus on fish prone to it and clowns that get it stop eating and begin swimming in a stilted manner.
This sure looks like uncontrolled ich, and while copper power is slow to cure active ich infections, the disease just shouldn’t get worse while the fish are at a full dose.

 

[Bensea]

All of the fish including the clown are eating great. I got a good look at the clown this morning and I don't see any abnormal slime and the breathing doesn't look to be any quicker than the rest of the fish. I did notice the naso tang using his pectoral fin that has some white spots on it to scratch at his eye. Other than that the rest of the fish are acting normal. I also got a good look at the hippo tang and didn't see anything on it either. I'm afraid to stop the copper treatment to do something different, like treating for brooklynella, because some of the fish have drastically improved like the purple tang who looks great. But at the same time if the clown's condition doesn't improve it would have to mean that whatever is happening with it the copper treatment isn't going to solve it

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

All of the fish including the clown are eating great. I got a good look at the clown this morning and I don't see any abnormal slime and the breathing doesn't look to be any quicker than the rest of the fish. I did notice the naso tang using his pectoral fin that has some white spots on it to scratch at his eye. Other than that the rest of the fish are acting normal. I also got a good look at the hippo tang and didn't see anything on it either. I'm afraid to stop the copper treatment to do something different, like treating for brooklynella, because some of the fish have drastically improved like the purple tang who looks great. But at the same time if the clown's condition doesn't improve it would have to mean that whatever is happening with it the copper treatment isn't going to solve it

Can you post some videos of the fish? Hosting on YouTube works well. Sometimes I can see things in a video that don’t show up in still pics.

 

[Bensea]

Can you post some videos of the fish? Hosting on YouTube works well. Sometimes I can see things in a video that don’t show up in still pics.

I just cleaned a section of the glass to get a clearer view and the naso took a big nori dump so the water looks a little cloudy. I did notice the hippo tang has some cloudiness to one of it's eyes though. Let me know what you think

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I just cleaned a section of the glass to get a clearer view and the naso took a big nori dump so the water looks a little cloudy. I did notice the hippo tang has some cloudiness to one of it's eyes though. Let me know what you think

The water looks a bit turbid, but that may be from your glass cleaning. The naso is breathing a bit hard, also may be an artifact of the tank work - but, ensure the tank has good aeration, not just circulation.

 

[Bensea]

The water looks a bit turbid, but that may be from your glass cleaning. The naso is breathing a bit hard, also may be an artifact of the tank work - but, ensure the tank has good aeration, not just circulation.

I'll add an aerator. I turned off the powerheads when I started treatment and just have the return pump running. Should I turn them on a little or leave it with minimal flow?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I'll add an aerator. I turned off the powerheads when I started treatment and just have the return pump running. Should I turn them on a little or leave it with minimal flow?

The powerheads may have been adding aeration, and once that stopped, it caused issues. If the fish can handle the currents, I'd turn them back on as well as add aeration.