help. ich, velvet, something else?

sunken3 · Sep 1, 2021

Hi -

having a disease issue in my main tank.. came back from vacation and saw what looked like ich.. .but worse... started pulling fish out for QT/cupramine... but it is a process.. I have 25 larger fish in a 300g tank and only so many 10g QT tanks for them.. (plus they are really hard to catch ... in a reef tank).

so far i have had 3 successes (looking way better).. 3 deaths.... (one looked good then just died)... and my female crosshatch looks to be on death row.. (looks worse after 2 days in copper)..

any thoughts? I am using cupramine ...

Jay Hemdal · Sep 2, 2021

Can you post a short video of some of the affected fish? Can't really tell you anything from the photo. Ich and Velvet have the same treatment (mostly). If the fish aren't eating and breathing really fast it is either velvet or a really advanced case of ich. With flukes, some fish will still likely look o.k.

I worry about the process of setting up a bunch of small tanks to treat with Cupramine - you'll have a terrible time managing the ammonia, and copper takes up to three days to start to work, and some of the really sick fish won't have that long.

Is it a FOWLR? If so, you could consider hyposalinity. That won't help with velvet, but it will control ich and flukes.

Whatever you do, avoid the junk idea of "ramping up slowly"....either copper or hypo. You need to get them under full treatment in 24 hours. Hypo can be done that fast, you just need to wake up and do some lowering at night. Copper can be dosed in two sets, tested in between to ensure you don't miss the dose amount.

You're probably aware, but the standard thought is - once you've begun to lose fish due to a parasitic infection, you usually can't stop it fast enough not to lose any more....I live in the east, and was asleep by the time you posted - sorry!

Jay

sunken3 · Sep 2, 2021

thanks Jay - She died shortly after the post. My thought a while back to treat Ich was to combine TTM and copper (other than the potential stress moving fish) it seemed the best of both worlds. i do get the copper up to full strength immediately and I transfer the fish every 24 hours (because of ammonia).

The trigger actually was breathing slow and methodical...

I still need to catch the rest of my fish this weekend and get them treated. I expect some will not make it at this point.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 2, 2021

sunken3 said:
thanks Jay - She died shortly after the post. My thought a while back to treat Ich was to combine TTM and copper (other than the potential stress moving fish) it seemed the best of both worlds. i do get the copper up to full strength immediately and I transfer the fish every 24 hours (because of ammonia).

The trigger actually was breathing slow and methodical...

I still need to catch the rest of my fish this weekend and get them treated. I expect some will not make it at this point.

I would say then that the trigger had marine ich, not velvet.
I’ve not tried TTM and copper, so I can’t say how hat might work.
Jay