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A resistant strain is always possible. However, a ciliate that copper does not fully treat (e.g. Brook, Uronema, Trichodina) is more probable. (This is assuming flukes are not the cause.) I've seen both Uronema and Trichodina cause the symptoms you are describing. With uronema, the red sores typically only show up on chromis, anthias, angels and butterflies. More resistant fish have heavy breathing, lack of appetite, etc. because the parasites primarily attack the gills (of these fish).
About a year ago I got in a batch of chromis w/uronema that NOTHING slowed down. I tried metro, formalin, Chloroquine, acriflavine, FW dips. I euthanized the remaining chromis and bleached all my QTs after that. I'll never order from that particular wholesaler ever again lol
So should I start over and just keep these fish separate from other fish for life?
Also, do you think the cause is frozen food or improper quarantine of the older fish?
I use LRS myself, so I think that would only make them sick if you gotten a bad batch, or it had spoilt and was refrozen. You'd have to cut the fish open and see if there was any damage to the GI tract.
I don't see how flukes could linger this long without causing prior symptoms. I'm leaning more towards Uronema and/or Trichodina because both a) Can linger in a tank for a long while without affecting any fish b) Have no fallow period because they can subsist off of detritus.
The last part is key. If a tank is kept really clean, you can have low levels of either pathogen... but their numbers aren't strong enough to afflict most fish. The parasites are in the substrate or down in the sump searching for detritus to sustain themselves. But get a little lax with maintenance, allow nitrates to climb or detritus to accumulate... The little ******** now have the fuel needed to propagate themselves and travel to other regions of the aquarium where contact with fish becomes more likely.
So best to raise salinity and use metro/copper?
Can the hypo not kill tricho or uronema.
It surprises me how hypo worked so well to stop the symptoms.
Was there rock, sand, or filter media in the tank?I didn't test but used cupramine as directed on the bottle.
I just bought copper powder and the hanna test kit on amazon.
Was there rock, sand, or filter media in the tank?