Powder Blue hasn't eaten in 3 weeks, starting to look bad in treatment.

[Dakota_reef]

The skin on my Powder Blue (she's new) is looking ugly. She's not eating and she's been in copper treatment for about 11 days now (in quarantine for 3 weeks, but started showing white specs). PPM of copper was 2.2 this morning, but I still can't seem to get her to eat. Nori, algae pellets, 4 different kinds of regular pellets, and even live brine, all ignored. She was picking on the rocks at the LFS so I"m not sure if she is just a wild fish with no idea how to eat aquarium food.

I've read some things to try, but at this point, I think she might be better off at the LFS since I'm started to feel super guilty I'm killing her. Water parameters are stable, salt 1.025, pH 7.95, temp 80, ammonia 0.

Thoughts on her skin?

 

[piranhaman00]

That’s a bacterial infection. Do you have another QT tank? You can transfer to new tank and start abx, 11 days in copper is long enough.

 

[Jekyl]

#fishmedic

 

[Jekyl]

How is breathing?

 

[I never finish anythi]

Tangs are quite shy . Any places it can take cover in QT ?? Or is it just a bare tank ?

 

[Dakota_reef]

How is breathing?

Very fast now that I actually pay attention. way faster, crap why didn't I think to look at that!?

Tangs are quite shy . Any places it can take cover in QT ?? Or is it just a bare tank ?

She has PVC peices to hide in, plus there is a dark tinted partition to give her a dark area of the tank.

 

[Sharkbait19]

This long in copper I doubt ich or velvet would show up - fast breathing is usually indicative of velvet though. Overall, it looks bacterial to me as well.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

That’s a bacterial infection. Do you have another QT tank? You can transfer to new tank and start abx, 11 days in copper is long enough.

What is abx?

 

[Jekyl]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The skin on my Powder Blue (she's new) is looking ugly. She's not eating and she's been in copper treatment for about 11 days now (in quarantine for 3 weeks, but started showing white specs). PPM of copper was 2.2 this morning, but I still can't seem to get her to eat. Nori, algae pellets, 4 different kinds of regular pellets, and even live brine, all ignored. She was picking on the rocks at the LFS so I"m not sure if she is just a wild fish with no idea how to eat aquarium food.

I've read some things to try, but at this point, I think she might be better off at the LFS since I'm started to feel super guilty I'm killing her. Water parameters are stable, salt 1.025, pH 7.95, temp 80, ammonia 0.

Thoughts on her skin?

What copper are you using and how long have you been at 2.2? Partial/low copper doesn’t really help much, so any time spent below full dose allows the disease to progress. 2.5 is needed to control velvet with Coppersafe or copper power.
I see bacterial issues secondary to so protozoan (with the rapid breathing noted, probably velvet).
Jay

 

[Dakota_reef]

What copper are you using and how long have you been at 2.2? Partial/low copper doesn’t really help much, so any time spent below full dose allows the disease to progress. 2.5 is needed to control velvet with Coppersafe or copper power.
I see bacterial issues secondary to so protozoan (with the rapid breathing noted, probably velvet).
Jay

coppersafe, but 2.2 just means I'd have to re-dose to bring it up to 2.5ppm. It doesn't stay at 2.5 indefinitely.

Others here said 11 days was more than enough, so I just did a 50% water change and threw carbon in there in case the copper was stressing her. I had been told by LFS that tangs are sensitive to copper and as long as I'm over 2.0, she would be okay. This was AFTER someone ELSE told me to use Noxich which I did, but later changed to copper because, someone ELSE-else said noxich was terrible and only copper was safe and effective

I admit this hobby throws a lot of different advice/strategies out so at this point I'm too stressed out to know what to do and I'm probably going to just give her back, eat the money, and hope they can save her. I'm not setup nor prepared for this.

 

[Steph72]

Poor baby! I agree that this sounds like velvet. I would put as much air circulation in the tank as possible and give her a water change. Antibiotics for secondary infection wouldn’t hurt. As far as returning her to the lfs this will just add to her stress and weaken her even more - I would give them a call. You’re smart for quarantining her and this isn’t your fault so please don’t blame yourself.

 

[Dakota_reef]

Poor baby! I agree that this sounds like velvet. I would put as much air circulation in the tank as possible and give her a water change. Antibiotics for secondary infection wouldn’t hurt. As far as returning her to the lfs this will just add to her stress and weaken her even more - I would give them a call. You’re smart for quarantining her and this isn’t your fault so please don’t blame yourself.

This IS my fault if I didn't treat her properly.

So if this is velvet, I have to put her back up to 2.5ppm copper? What antibiotic should I use?
And what about her not eating? She's lost some weight and I'm going to kill her if she doesn't eat

 

[Ironwill723]

Looks bacterial to me. I would transfer to new qt with no copper and observe. Velvet kills way quicker than 3 weeks.

 

[Dakota_reef]

Looks bacterial to me. I would transfer to new qt with no copper and observe. Velvet kills way quicker than 3 weeks.

what kind of anti-biotic should I use? There's a large amount on there and I'm sure 1/2 of them don't even do what they say they do.

 

[Ironwill723]

what kind of anti-biotic should I use? There's a large amount on there and I'm sure 1/2 of them don't even do what they say they do.

API general cure is a good place to start. Honestly some good clean saltwater without any chemicals might help the most.

 

[Jekyl]

Might want to stick to the recommendation of the guy who's career revolves around fish.

 

[Ironwill723]

Might want to stick to the recommendation of the guy who's career revolves around fish.

I would agree. Too bad it is my industry as well. Good luck.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I would go with Jay Hemdal's advice. He is the staff marine biologist. The fish is really infected, so if you can also get hold of Hydroplex or Rally Pro, I would do a saltwater dip which is low stress and will kill any parasites on her body. The further extended treatment still needs to be done.

I would be surprised if the LFS would accept the fish back. It would also probably stress it so much further it would probably lead to death.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

coppersafe, but 2.2 just means I'd have to re-dose to bring it up to 2.5ppm. It doesn't stay at 2.5 indefinitely.

Others here said 11 days was more than enough, so I just did a 50% water change and threw carbon in there in case the copper was stressing her. I had been told by LFS that tangs are sensitive to copper and as long as I'm over 2.0, she would be okay. This was AFTER someone ELSE told me to use Noxich which I did, but later changed to copper because, someone ELSE-else said noxich was terrible and only copper was safe and effective

I admit this hobby throws a lot of different advice/strategies out so at this point I'm too stressed out to know what to do and I'm probably going to just give her back, eat the money, and hope they can save her. I'm not setup nor prepared for this.

Sorry about your stress. While there are a lot of opinions out there, and often there is more than one way to proceed with an issue, choosing one way and then another often ends up being an issue of none of the comprises working. Once a problem has advanced to a point, there is often no good solution.

Tangs are not sensitive to coppersafe, so removing it if there is an active protozoan issue can be an issue. Nox Ich isn’t a good medication for use in cases like this.