ICH, despite my efforts

melypr1985 · May 30, 2017

Mundeez said:
@Humblefish and @melypr1985 and @4FordFamily, today is the 30th day the fish have been in therapeutic levels of coppersafe. Neither fish has shown any additional symptoms since the initial outbreak 10 days ago. Where should I go from here?

Remove the copper from the QT and observe for two weeks.

4FordFamily · May 30, 2017

Mundeez said:
@Humblefish and @melypr1985 and @4FordFamily, today is the 30th day the fish have been in therapeutic levels of coppersafe. Neither fish has shown any additional symptoms since the initial outbreak 10 days ago. Where should I go from here?

I would go 35 days from the LAST spot seen, to be safe. Nothing like starting all over, believe me I know!

ngoodermuth · May 30, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I would go 35 days from the LAST spot seen, to be safe. Nothing like starting all over, believe me I know!

*1, I'd let it go a little longer to be sure

Mundeez · Jun 7, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I would go 35 days from the LAST spot seen, to be safe. Nothing like starting all over, believe me I know!

Ok guys, now I'm starting to lose my mind! While observing her today, i watched her start scratching herself on the pvc....i don't see any white spots, but it's obvious SOMETHING is bothering her. Today is the 38th day she's been in therapeutic levels of Coppersafe...i just checked it again today and levels look therapeutic to me! Any additional insight on where i should go from here? It's obvious that my current course of action isn't working.

ngoodermuth · Jun 7, 2017

Maybe pull the copper and observe for a bit now. Sometimes the copper itself can cause irritation, so she could be responding to that, or just be itchy from the little bug-bites healing.

4FordFamily · Jun 7, 2017

ngoodermuth said:
Maybe pull the copper and observe for a bit now. Sometimes the copper itself can cause irritation, so she could be responding to that, or just be itchy from the little bug-bites healing.

X2, this exactly.

Mundeez · Jun 8, 2017

@Humblefish, @melypr1985 i moved them into clean saltwater with NO copper a few minutes ago. They spent 39 days in copper. As i mentioned earlier, the hippo tang started scratching again yesterday. While i was changing the water, i was able to take a few high res photos and found she has this powdery stuff on her all the sudden. Any thoughts?

4FordFamily · Jun 8, 2017

I can't tell much but powdery does tend to indicate velvet -- but I cannot imagine how. I've never had issues eradicating velvet with copper, although I'm starting to see an uptick in this issue.

It's possible (albeit unlikely) that a strain is now copper resistant because fish are being kept in low levels of copper the parasite is becoming tolerant of CU.

I would observe, for now. Is it breathing heavily?

@melypr1985 does that look anything like any brook you've ever seen?

Infection?

Brew12 · Jun 8, 2017

My Hippo tang still scratches on occasion, I think it may just be common for the species. Never any sign of a parasite or flukes other than his rubbing up against rocks.
I like that you moved him to clean water. Just keep an eye on him for now IMO and see if the powdery area gets better or worse.

melypr1985 · Jun 8, 2017

That looks like it could be more bacterial than anything. How long has it been on him? You only just noticed it right?

Mundeez · Jun 8, 2017

melypr1985 said:
That looks like it could be more bacterial than anything. How long has it been on him? You only just noticed it right?

Yeah i just noticed it today. She hides a lot, so hard to know exactly...but I'm reasonably certain it showed up within the last 24-48 hours

Mundeez · Jun 8, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I can't tell much but powdery does tend to indicate velvet -- but I cannot imagine how. I've never had issues eradicating velvet with copper, although I'm starting to see an uptick in this issue.

It's possible (albeit unlikely) that a strain is now copper resistant because fish are being kept in low levels of copper the parasite is becoming tolerant of CU.

I would observe, for now. Is it breathing heavily?

@melypr1985 does that look anything like any brook you've ever seen?

Infection?

I wish i had a way to upload the photos so you could see the original quality...you lose so much when they get uploaded