SoFlo Reef
Community Member
Hi all,
I am having an issue with a midas blenny (and possibly others) in copper QT. I have quarantined quite a few fish over the years but haven't encountered this before. I purchased a fish that had supposedly gone through a full copper treatment, but that apparently failed and I inadvertently added what I believe was velvet (although possibly ich) to my DT.
I caught all of the fish and moved them to a QT with copper power @ 1 ppm. All 5 fish were given a 150 ppm peroxide bath en route to the QT to help knock off some of the parasites, presuming it was velvet. Copper power was ramped up to 2.55 ppm within a few days and fish have shown no signs of illness since reaching full dosage. Metro was dosed @ 25 mg/gallon day one of full strength copper.
At day 2 of full strength copper I added a new midas blenny to the QT. I had lost one to jumping prior and since I was already doing a full QT thought I may as well add that in. The blenny had been in copper at the LFS for a day or two so I added him straight in to full strength. All fish are active and eating well, but the blenny has been flashing at its gills since being added. Within 6-8 hours of the blenny being added I also noticed my clown and gramma flashing occasionally (much less than the blenny), also targeting their gills.
The following day I gave the clown and blenny a freshwater dip, and saw what could have been a couple of flukes come off, but not what I am used to seeing with infected fish. Fish were put back in QT and general cure was dosed. It has now been 48 hours since GC dosing, and the blenny is still flashing quite a bit (even more than before it seems). I will be dosing GC again in 7 days, but am trying to decide what to do in the meantime. All fish are still active and eating, and are being fed GC medicated food.
I am suspecting gill flukes, although I am wondering if it could possibly just be irritation from the copper/metro given that they haven't seemed to respond to treatment thus far. I am also wondering if gill flukes would spread quickly enough to notice other fish flashing within such a short amount of time after adding the blenny.
On hand I have General Cure, Prazipro, and Formalin (over 1 year old though). Normally I would dose Prazipro every 48-72 hours but with a fairy wrasse I am reluctant to do that, as they seem particularly sensitive to the liquid form.
I am leaning toward dosing formalin in tank @ 25 ppm to see if they improve, but am unsure of how that may interact with the metro remaining in the water, and how the formalin being over a year old would impact results.
Any suggestions/anecdotes are appreciated!
I am having an issue with a midas blenny (and possibly others) in copper QT. I have quarantined quite a few fish over the years but haven't encountered this before. I purchased a fish that had supposedly gone through a full copper treatment, but that apparently failed and I inadvertently added what I believe was velvet (although possibly ich) to my DT.
I caught all of the fish and moved them to a QT with copper power @ 1 ppm. All 5 fish were given a 150 ppm peroxide bath en route to the QT to help knock off some of the parasites, presuming it was velvet. Copper power was ramped up to 2.55 ppm within a few days and fish have shown no signs of illness since reaching full dosage. Metro was dosed @ 25 mg/gallon day one of full strength copper.
At day 2 of full strength copper I added a new midas blenny to the QT. I had lost one to jumping prior and since I was already doing a full QT thought I may as well add that in. The blenny had been in copper at the LFS for a day or two so I added him straight in to full strength. All fish are active and eating well, but the blenny has been flashing at its gills since being added. Within 6-8 hours of the blenny being added I also noticed my clown and gramma flashing occasionally (much less than the blenny), also targeting their gills.
The following day I gave the clown and blenny a freshwater dip, and saw what could have been a couple of flukes come off, but not what I am used to seeing with infected fish. Fish were put back in QT and general cure was dosed. It has now been 48 hours since GC dosing, and the blenny is still flashing quite a bit (even more than before it seems). I will be dosing GC again in 7 days, but am trying to decide what to do in the meantime. All fish are still active and eating, and are being fed GC medicated food.
I am suspecting gill flukes, although I am wondering if it could possibly just be irritation from the copper/metro given that they haven't seemed to respond to treatment thus far. I am also wondering if gill flukes would spread quickly enough to notice other fish flashing within such a short amount of time after adding the blenny.
On hand I have General Cure, Prazipro, and Formalin (over 1 year old though). Normally I would dose Prazipro every 48-72 hours but with a fairy wrasse I am reluctant to do that, as they seem particularly sensitive to the liquid form.
I am leaning toward dosing formalin in tank @ 25 ppm to see if they improve, but am unsure of how that may interact with the metro remaining in the water, and how the formalin being over a year old would impact results.
Any suggestions/anecdotes are appreciated!
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