new inverts brought something in

[Big G]

For cuts and bad scratches I like methylene blue in a bath and then treat cuts that are gaping or sores with NFG powder (nitrofuracine) in the qt tank. Works great. Keep an eye out for redness or white film building in the area and then treat with antibiotics. Here's Humblefish's advisory for mb:

Malachite Green/Methylene Blue: Treats ammonia burn, cuts, injuries.

How To Treat - Comes in both liquid and powder form, sometimes mixed in with another medication(s). So, follow the directions on the label. Best used as a 30 minute bath solution, but you also can treat with it in a quarantine tank. Aerate heavily. If you are using it in a bath solution, then it is also a good idea to treat the fish with nitrofurazone (active ingredient found in Furan-2 and Nitrofuracin Green Powder) once he is returned to the quarantine tank. Nitrofurazone is great for treating open wounds or sores.

Pros - Highly effective.

Cons/Side Effects - Depletes oxygen from the water. Malachite Green is considered “harsher” on fish than Methylene Blue.

 

[deedubz]

For cuts and bad scratches I like methylene blue in a bath and then treat cuts that are gaping or sores with NFG powder (nitrofuracine) in the qt tank. Works great. Keep an eye out for redness or white film building in the area and then treat with antibiotics. Here's Humblefish's advisory for mb:

Malachite Green/Methylene Blue: Treats ammonia burn, cuts, injuries.

How To Treat - Comes in both liquid and powder form, sometimes mixed in with another medication(s). So, follow the directions on the label. Best used as a 30 minute bath solution, but you also can treat with it in a quarantine tank. Aerate heavily. If you are using it in a bath solution, then it is also a good idea to treat the fish with nitrofurazone (active ingredient found in Furan-2 and Nitrofuracin Green Powder) once he is returned to the quarantine tank. Nitrofurazone is great for treating open wounds or sores.

Pros - Highly effective.

Cons/Side Effects - Depletes oxygen from the water. Malachite Green is considered “harsher” on fish than Methylene Blue.

Thank you. I'll have to order that stuff.
The closest lfs to me is about 40 minutes one way. I'm between surgeries at the moment and that drive would destroy me....Then there's the whole pain med and driving thing. Given it's Saturday it'll take a few days to get to me. Is there something I could/should do in the meantime?

 

[Big G]

Old school method and still valid is to treat tank with Epsom Salts USP without any additives 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. Usually helps with wounds/cuts that are swollen. May help a bit.

 

[deedubz]

I didn't even think of Epsom salt. I'll try that while I wait. That can be dosed daily, correct?
Thanks again

 

[Big G]

I didn't even think of Epsom salt. I'll try that while I wait. That can be dosed daily, correct?
Thanks again

You can repeat once if necessary.

 

[deedubz]

Ok. I'm actually going to make a trip up to Petco today. It dawned on me this morning they might have the meds and they're much closer to me than the lfs. Now, the clown doesn't look any worse and she's eating/acting just fine, but why put this off. I'll give her a bath in methylene blue and then treat the qt with furan-2.

In his writeup Humblefish said to treat antibiotics for 10 consecutive days. The furan-2 instructions say 1 course is 4 days. Should I do 2.5-3 full courses? Is there any concern with wrasses? I know they can be sensitive in general so I just want to be sure. Thanks again!

 

[deedubz]

Well.. I'm still waiting on the methylene blue to get here. I tried Petco, PetSmart, and the lfs to no avail. The clown is still acting fine and looks no worse than the other day. Nonetheless, tomorrow when the meds arrive I'll give her a bath.

I also went and bought another 29g and stand. It just looks WAY too crowded having 8 fish in there. Go figure though, they had a 40 breeder in stock. I'm going to let a sponge and some biomax soak in biospira tonight and setup the second(technically 3rd) qt tomorrow. All of a sudden my blenny and diamond goby hate each other so I'm going to move the clowns, chromis, and the blenny over to the new tank tomorrow. I think the fish and I will all enjoy the luxury of splitting them up. Otherwise, things are going great. Thank you again everyone for helping me through this. I appreciate all the help you've given me. Happy reefing!

 

[deedubz]

Double post

 

[deedubz]

I apologize for the million questions..

Upon further inspection, that scratch is nothing more than a marking that she also has in the exact spot on her other side.. That said, she does still have the few frayed scales and I'm going to do the bath.

I would like to do a fw dip on her just to confirm that the flukes are in fact gone. Is there a problem with doing a bath immediately after a fw dip? Would this be too stressful? The other qt is finally ready to go. Even with an oversized heater it's taken 24 hours to get to temp. I have fw at temp and I'm heating/aerating her bath water now but wanted advice on a pre-bath fw dip.

 

[deedubz]

Update:
After a few days in observation tanks (post ttm/hypo), I noticed scratching, twitching, yawning, rapid breathing, and some color loss (in both tanks). After pm'ing Humblefish back and forth a couple days, we (he) determined that I'm likely dealing with velvet.

I caught all fish, jammed them into 1 of the 29g, and started dosing (dun dun dun) coppersafe. I have a Hanna checker coming Tuesday(and another on backorder for 3-4 weeks). From what I can tell, I've been therapeutic since Friday 3/23. I have the API kit in the meantime. Color is orange, but not quite 2.0 to my eyes.

There seems to be quite the difference in behavior already. It took me a few days to ramp up the copper because of what is going on with coppersafe. It's all I had and I needed to move quick. Anyway, while there is still some yawning/scratching/twitching, symptoms do appear to be getting a little better (fewer and farther between). Every fish is eating and swimming around doing their thing. I don't want to get ahead of myself, because I know I have 3.5 weeks of copper to go, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

I want to say thank you all again for helping me through this crazy experience.

 

[deedubz]

To make a long story not quite as long, but in all likelihood still long....
Before my current velvet outbreak I talked to Colby @PIA to try to get me a couple wrasses(female flame and female rhomboid) in preparation for my upcoming 180 build. He got them in mid-late February, took a few weeks to condition them, and then sent them out last week. This was obviously before I realized this was velvet.

Given that I likely cross contaminated, I'm going to also treat the new wrasses and my 2 b/w clowns from my nano. I did a fw dip and moved them to a 3rd qt tank in another room that's been "cycling" a couple days. I already broke down and gave away my original 55 and will possibly be doing the same with my nano. The 55 went to my niece and her fiance, who were going to take it anyway, and they're running it fallow for 3 months. Come tomorrow, every one of my fish will be in a qt tank being treated with copper. I am not willing to gamble on all of my remaining fish because I didn't do copper with these two wrasses and the two clowns. I'm actually thinking about getting a Molly to see if the nano has anything. If not, I may very well keep it

 

[deedubz]

I put the clowns in my EA acclimation box so they don't harass the wrasses. I'll let them out in a couple days. This will now be my "qt acclimation box" as I'll never be able to put it into DT.
Guess I'll have to buy another

 

[deedubz]

Anyone have biospira clump up like this before?

 

[deedubz]

I started copper on qt #2 and have been adding 2ml every few hours. I'm right around 16 out of my projected ~30ml. I was terrified about doing this to the new two wrasses but they had been doing a little twitching. Freshwater dips showed nothing(on the wrasses or clowns) so I would have had to treat the wrasses regardless.

All fish in both qts are still eating and swimming around unphased. Hanna test kit gets here today so I'll be able to at least verify levels. Unfortunately my order (with the extra reagents) from the website is on backorder so I'll only have a few tests to do until it arrives

 

[deedubz]

 

[deedubz]

Checker is in! I was pretty darn close. Fish are doing great...I'm feeling pretty good today

 

[Humblefish]

My checker + Reagents are all on backorder.

I won’t be using chelated copper again until I have one of these in hand.

 

[deedubz]

My checker + Reagents are all on backorder.

I won’t be using chelated copper again until I have one of these in hand.

I completely understand. I would not have dared dosing it had I not been facing velvet. I took the risk by winging it(no prior experience with API but, thank God, it seems to have worked

 

[deedubz]

@Humblefish @Big G
How long should I anticipate scratching/twitching during treatment?

Qt1 has been therapeutic since Friday and qt2 since last night. There's still some twitching/scratching going on in both tanks. I figured it's part of the healing process but I was curious as to how long I should expect it. It freaks me out every time

 

[Big G]

The twitching and scratching will vary from fish to fish. Usually it just subsides. Lots of variables: degree of parasite attachment/wounds, thickness of mucus coat, and then there is the occasional sensitivity to the copper itself. So you need to keep an eye on that to watch for sensitive fish that may need to be treated differently or may need to be protected from or treated for secondary bacterial infections that can often result from the parasite and the copper. Copper is after all a poison.

You may want to read this thread by Humblefish on dealing with bacterial infections while treating other things like Ich, Velvet, Flukes, etc. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-bacterial-infection-predicament.310311/#post-3816129