Is this velvet or brook?

[Renee180]

This is the first she has looked like this. But off and on for months/ years she has had torn fins and slimy white stuff on her body and fins. She stopped eating for 2.5 days, totally not like her. How do I treat this. Gave her a 7 min fw dip last nite , and this morning she ate and is in qt. I have coppersafe on hand, but now not sure what I am treating. I have had her for ten years.
Need help quick. I did have 2 lyretails stop eating out of the blue. No other symptons, then 1-2 weeks later look pale and scales looked "puffy" . Treated with furan 2 one died on day 4 and the other one is eating and doing grat on day 10 . (This started about a month ago)
No new fish for years, but a new anemone about 2-2.5 weeks ago. Was hoping it would help the clowns slimy white skin issues, he had been housing grren tree sinulari and I though it was irritating him.

 

[Renee180]

The clamped fin on top , not sides. No heavy breathing or other symptoms
Today she is swimming peaceably and no clamped fin. still has a sugary look

 

[Humblefish]

She is going back & forth with battling brook: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brooklynella.247938/

I've seen hardier species of clownfish go asymptomatic for awhile and then symptoms come back.

I would give her a formalin bath, and then treat with copper + metro for 1 month in QT. The metro will eliminate any residuals from brook, while 1 month in copper will eradicate ich/velvet just in case she is also carrying those diseases.

The DT itself needs to be left fallow (fishless) for 6 weeks, or she will just get reinfected upon return to the DT.

 

[Renee180]

what i can het my hands on tonite is rid x or ich x. Which would you recommend for the formalin bath
And then for the copper I have coppersafe and can get the metroplex, will these two work together?

So how lomg a bath and then into qt. I have 18gal water snd some live rock (already copper contaminated)
With a hangon back filter and an airstone. Will this work? And how much of each in the 18 gal water?

 

[Renee180]

Oh and of course, in my display I have 3 tangs, shall I pull them as well and qt with her? Along with the lyretail? I have a 40 gal I could put the 3 tangs in there and treat or just put all 5 fish in the 40 and treat?
Hippo, purple and kole
I am going to tear the dt down and replace all live rock in 6 weeks if that changes anything on how I should proceed.

 

[Renee180]

Thanks for your confirmation on this fish, the link is very helpful too!

 

[Maritimer]

what i can het my hands on tonite is rid x or ich x. Which would you recommend for the formalin bath
And then for the copper I have coppersafe and can get the metroplex, will these two work together?

So how long a bath and then into qt. I have 18gal water snd some live rock (already copper contaminated)
With a hangon back filter and an airstone. Will this work? And how much of each in the 18 gal water?

Copper and Metroplex should work together well enough - make sure your oxygen levels don't drop, as sometimes happens when mixing meds. (These two better than some others I can think of...) I'm not sure that Rid-x or ich-x will do anything at all. Ich-x seems to be mostly Malachite Green, and the only "Rid-x" I could find is for septic systems - going to go out on a limb here, and tell you not to put _that_ in your tank!

You can find formalin in Quick-Cure by Fritz-Mardel.

In order to remove Brook from the tank, all the fish will have to be treated outside - you're probably the best judge of who will get along together in the 40-b, and who should be treated separately, if any.

~Bruce

 

[Humblefish]

@Renee180 Is this the product you are using? http://www.hikariusa.com/solutions/healthaid/ich-x/

If so, it does contain formaldehyde (<5%) and should work if you use it as a prolonged bath (90 minutes).

 

[Renee180]

Sorry it is rid ich plus - formaldehyde 4.25% (formalin (11.25%) made by Kordon
What I don't understand is the amount to use for a bath. Instructions say 10 drops per gallon, but this is for in tank treatment. Does it stay the same for a bath? And a 45min bath sound about right?
And if this isnt what I should use, can I start the coppersafe and metroplex meds now and do a formalin bath later after I get the quickcure. I do not have a way to measure oxygen levels, but I can run the HOB filter with less water to splash in and also have an airstone and also can add a power head with a air hose

 

[Humblefish]

What I don't understand is the amount to use for a bath. Instructions say 10 drops per gallon, but this is for in tank treatment. Does it stay the same for a bath? And a 45min bath sound about right?

A little formalin can still be highly effective if the bath is extended to 90 mins.

 

[4FordFamily]

I agree that this is Brook and humble has you all taken care of! 10 years with that fish, I must say, is commendable. Thanks for your diligence!

 

[Renee180]

Thanks! I had her hosting anemone up until about 6 months ago. Bought them together and she/he was a baby and the anemone was all bleached and not even sticking for food, that was a battle too, but it pulled through and grew to be the size of a basketball in the 9.5 years I had it! My tank has been having major issues and I couldn’t save it. It has been a frustrating time for quite a while now lots of money, time and no good results, but I keep trying

 

[Renee180]

Had the anemone I bought with her up until about 6 months ago. A devistatung loss. Was the beauty of the tank at the size of a basketball!
It was almost dead when I bought it all bleached out from the lfs.

 

[Renee180]

Sorry about the duplicate , still learning how to post ! Lol

 

[Renee180]

Update. I am writing this out for anyone else who ever needs to do this. I was terrified through this whole process as I have heard so many horror stories of overdosing , mishaps, etc with meds. I don't know if what I did was 100% right , but she is alive and eating well and looks much better, swimming well and her color looks great and her eyes too. She is up to full strength copper at this time of 2.0, coppersafe. 1/2-1 measure of metroplex every other day and a tiny bit on her food with garlic guard.
This is what I did and how we arrived to this point. (Keep in mind, she has been a hardy fish and is a hardy breed) .
The first step I did was a 7 min fw dip, which helped greatly, (I think 5min would have been ok, but she at this point was tolerating it well so I stuck to the plan of 7 min) Next day I did rid ich plus by kordon, .5 ml (1/2) ml for 90 min bath, with an air stone (formalin). I think this is suppose to be done rt after the fw bath , but I didn't have any formalin meds on hand. Still not sure if this amount was right as I found no information on a bath with this type of formalin. If anything it was probably not strong enough ,but I did not want to do more harm than good. And she handled the 90 minutes with no issues at all.
Then into a rinse bath with saltwater 5 min.
While she was in the 90 min bath I added 1/2 of the coppersafe dose, and 1 level measure of metroplex into the quarantine tank, making sure to have plenty of aerating on., A hang on back filter, a power head and an air stone. This brought the level to 1.19.
The next day I added the other 1/2 dose of coppersafe, and 1 level measure of metroplex. Copper was now 1.59. At this point she had not eaten for the last 6 days.
The next day i brought the level of copper to 1.95 , no metroplex and she finally ate a morsel or 2
The next day the tank was at 2.07 coppersafe, and she started to eat well
That brings us to now, today eating like a pig and copper at 2.0, and 1 level measure metroplex every other day., i add the metroplex slowly over a little bit of time, same with the coppersafe and at different times. She will be in these meds for 30 days.
She made it through all steps with very little issues, except she was a little fiesty once or twice through the fw bath. I used a colander , not a net, if you choose to do this keep your hand over them when transfering from tank to bath and bath to qt as she just about jumped out of the colander twice and then again almost right out of the tank when I put her back in the saltwater qt after the fw bath and she has never been a jumper so that caught me a little off guard once she was back in the qt. I hope this helps anyone else having issues like this.
And Thanks to all who offered advice here to me!

 

[Renee180]

Update, she is doing great. Copper levels are staying consistant, but ammonia levels are now becoming a problem. Water changes do not seem to make any difference. I started the process with my tangs too in a much larger qt. Also, ammonia is a problem in their tank . Does anyone know if I can or should use microbacteria7 ?
With coppersafe?
I have a brand new bottle on hand.
Levels are .5-1, for days now. Not getting better even with wc. I have made large 55%, medium 25%, small 10% and 0% , nothing seems to change the test color. The maroons qt was 0 for the first 14 days. The tangs qt was high almost immediately. And has not changed. Any suggestions?

 

[Humblefish]

Are you using a liquid test kit to check ammonia? If so, you will get nothing but false positives. This is the workaround:

 

[Gmj4409]

Update, she is doing great. Copper levels are staying consistant, but ammonia levels are now becoming a problem. Water changes do not seem to make any difference. I started the process with my tangs too in a much larger qt. Also, ammonia is a problem in their tank . Does anyone know if I can or should use microbacteria7 ?
With coppersafe?
I have a brand new bottle on hand.
Levels are .5-1, for days now. Not getting better even with wc. I have made large 55%, medium 25%, small 10% and 0% , nothing seems to change the test color. The maroons qt was 0 for the first 14 days. The tangs qt was high almost immediately. And has not changed. Any suggestions?

Can I ask what copper test you’re using? Thanks

 

[Renee180]

I am using Hanna. I realize they do not back their product for this, however , I have 2 local pet stores that use this and swear by it. I also took 2 different tanks samples to a testing store they use a photo /digital tester that is a $350 machine . Both my tests were almost dead on with theirs, so that said , I trust what I am using a lot more than I do the guessing game with any of the existing “color” chart kits. I was able to get the badges and both tanks are at .05 “alert”, which is a lot better than the 1.0 reading from the api color chart, what a relief!

 

[Renee180]

Hanna. I realize they do not back this product for salt water, but I had it tested against a $350 photo/digital meter kit that one of the pet stores uses on their tanks and it was spot on with 3 different tank(s)water samples that I had with my Hanna kit. I trust that more than I do trying to use those crazy color charts. My badges now show .05 “alert”, better than the false reading of 1.0 , what a relief!