petco purple tang rescue action

Mania25 · May 23, 2016

I'll be tagging along as well, so sad to see them in that state. Good luck. I'm guessing petco is a massive chain of fish shops in America or do they sell other animals to?

Russ265 · May 23, 2016

Mania25 said:
I'll be tagging along as well, so sad to see them in that state. Good luck. I'm guessing petco is a massive chain of fish shops in America or do they sell other animals to?

the sell all sorts of animals. focus more on dogs and cats, but they have sections for aquatic, aviarian, reptile life as well.

petco and petsmart are the big box ones here in the states. although petsmart ditched salt water.

Mania25 · May 23, 2016

Oh ok thanks for clearing that up. It's illegal in the UK for pet shops to sell dogs and cats, they must be sold either from a rescue centre, breeder or privately. We don't really have a massive chain of shop that covers fish, rabbits etc etc. They are normally sold in locally owned pet shops. I can't imagine seeing dogs and cats for sale in a big shop.

Scottsquatch · May 23, 2016

Russ, good luck with the tangs. It'll be pretty sweet if you get them to pull through. I'll be following along for sure.

Griff · May 23, 2016

I stopped by petco as they had some ich infested purple tangs. They must be managing it well because the fish look improved from over the weekend. I was trying to get one for 10 bucks to put in QT based on this thread.

R_C · May 23, 2016

Funny that you decided to post this. I saw that my area petco had 2 purple tangs also and they looked good when they arrived. After a few days they were being segregated and looked like ich. Went back a few more days and asked and they told me they died.

That was within a weeks time. Good luck with saving them, following along.

cmcoker · May 23, 2016

Mania25 said:
Oh ok thanks for clearing that up. It's illegal in the UK for pet shops to sell dogs and cats, they must be sold either from a rescue centre, breeder or privately. We don't really have a massive chain of shop that covers fish, rabbits etc etc. They are normally sold in locally owned pet shops. I can't imagine seeing dogs and cats for sale in a big shop.

Petco sells small "exotics", reptiles, ferret, Guinea pig, freshwater fish, etc
Not all stores have saltwater sections.

They don't sell dogs and cats, they will house rescue animals, available for adoption for a fee. But it's not like they have pure bred animals in there for thousands of dollars..

Pet land, also here in the states, unfortunately will sell puppies, maybe cats but I don't go in there to know.

Humblefish · May 23, 2016

Russ265 said:
I'm not comfortable with CP. I understand you swear by it, but some wrasses and regal tang are not recommended? It is also not easy to come by. There are just too many variables for me to use it with confidence. I know you are well respected on this, and will take suggestions, but realize I have my experience as well that I need to go by. Call it my "gut" I guess you would say.

As such I plan on administering hydrogen peroxide baths (salt water) for an hour each evening. - Brown's work in '31 is constantly referenced on the subject and the statistics look promising.

For me, Im all to familiar with peroxide. I've dosed more bottles in my tank than anyone would like to know. Funny that it was because of dinoflagellates, not dinospores. (dinos are dinos right?) I plan on giving them 60 minute baths every evening and returning them back in to the coppered out tank.

I'll be sure to document the process and I appreciate everyone's feedback, (whether we agree or disagree on some things)

Just offering advice, but I also understand we all need to do things our own way. Good luck, and I look forward to reading about your progress.

Russ265 · May 23, 2016

24 hours in. huge improvement.

/awaits the honorary flaming

anyway got a wc to perform.

tj w · May 23, 2016

Peroxide baths? That's a new one for me. Don't know I really understand the expectations of doing that. Interesting to say the least. Look forward to following as well. Good luck.

Greenstreet.1 · May 23, 2016

Hmmmm Peroxide. Russ did you do this before ?

Russ265 · May 23, 2016

Greenstreet.1 said:
Hmmmm Peroxide. Russ did you do this before ?

yup. my main display got 300 ml of 3% h202.

that is 1/3 of a typical 1 qt bottle.

and it stayed in there.....

Russ265 · May 23, 2016

tj w said:
Peroxide baths? That's a new one for me. Don't know I really understand the expectations of doing that. Interesting to say the least. Look forward to following as well. Good luck.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php

go down to hydrogen peroxide.

also look up brown 1931 in google scholar.

there are a number of white papers giving fantabulous statistics of saving fish infected with velvet.

the fact ive bombed my main display for 3+ months with over 1ml per gallon to dripping gives me a little more confidence applying it. (i had dinos last year)

BoneXriffic · May 23, 2016

Totally hoping this works out! And following

Mr V · May 23, 2016

Good Karma. Following.

Russ265 · May 23, 2016

Humblefish said:
Just offering advice, but I also understand we all need to do things our own way. Good luck, and I look forward to reading about your progress.

yeah buddy. please dont take it as me disregarding your advice at all. i value it. even the ones (advice/suggestions) i dont agree with. an option is better than none. heck, im treating for velvet because of your id.

its just wayyyy out of my comfort zone. i hope more success stories are awarded to CP and your work.

Pewmichael · May 23, 2016

Hi Russ265.
Fingers crossed they live.
What you've done sounds good but if possible I'd also add UV sterilization. Lets hope you've treated them in time. I've also tried surrounding the tank with pictures of the same tangs as they are schooling fish. Should claim them down to a point. All the best.

JoseNovoa · May 23, 2016

Ok, just a few obsevations on how I perform a freshwater dip, I think is a bit less aggressive to the sick fish.

1.- I usually put them in qt first matching the salinity to the water they came in, let them get used to it and then perform the freshwater dip.

2.- For the dip, It can be tap, but you'll have to use a declorinator first, and I'll put an airstone there to oxigenate water.

3.- You'll need to match the temperature and ph of the tank they're in and watch over the fish at all times, laying on their sides is normal but heavy breathing and trying to jump is not.

For the treatment itself, I always use Cupramine when it comes to Tangs, specially if you can actually see the desease, just follow the instructions on the label and you'll be fine, seachem specialist are always helpful if you have any questions.

Usually you'll have to go up to 0.5 mg/l for 14 days to be effective. This treatment is all I use for crypto and velvet, wich will treat both of them, other species such as gobbies and blenies, I usually try different approaches, tank transfer or hiposalinity just because they're more sensitive to copper. After that being said, I've found that fw dips stress the fish a lot and it's only a momentary relief, if the parasites are all over it's worth the try to make the fish a bit comfortable, still treating with copper or other method is in order