RIP orchid dottyback

vetteguy53081 · Jun 28, 2020

Oh no and always a gorgeous fish. They don't do well with copper and general cure or hyposalinity may have been better but hard to say not knowing actual symptoms on this fish

iambenfields · Jun 28, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Oh no and always a gorgeous fish. They don't do well with copper and general cure or hyposalinity may have been better but hard to say not knowing actual symptoms on this fish

The mandarin is more an ounce of prevention... No symptoms for her, the clowns, or the potters angel. She’s now the sole inhabitant back in the DT in a breeder box until I know what to do. She doesn’t have any symptoms at all but I don’t want to leave her in there if she’s likely to be the recipient of all of the velvet that now needs a host

fishguy242 · Jun 28, 2020

sorry #reefsquad ..again

saltyhog · Jun 28, 2020

You should know if you can save them in 24-48 hours. Velvet kills fast as you already know. The mandarin is definitely a problem. There is no way I would leave him in the tank and not treat him. Even if he's fine and without symptoms he could house velvet and restart the nightmare when you reintroduce the fish. Some hard decisions lie ahead.

How did you use copper (what type of copper, what level did you keep it at, how did you test the levels, how long did you treat and what did you do with the fish after they completed copper). Was the mandarin quarantined? Is it captive bred or wild caught?

iambenfields · Jun 28, 2020

saltyhog said:
You should know if you can save them in 24-48 hours. Velvet kills fast as you already know. The mandarin is definitely a problem. There is no way I would leave him in the tank and not treat him. Even if he's fine and without symptoms he could house velvet and restart the nightmare when you reintroduce the fish. Some hard decisions lie ahead.

How did you use copper (what type of copper, what level did you keep it at, how did you test the levels, how long did you treat and what did you do with the fish after they completed copper). Was the mandarin quarantined? Is it captive bred or wild caught?

The mandarin was QT’ed when I got her but that was a long while ago - I believe (99%) she is wild caught.

I’m using copper power and for the time being (until 8:00am tomorrow) I’m simply following the instructions on the bottle until I can test my levels.

So far I’m literally 3 hours into the hospital tank so it’s all pretty new - hoping that the dosage on the bottle (1oz for 20 gal) will be a therapeutic dose until I can make changes.

So in terms of tough decisions - how would you treat the Mandarin? The rest of the fish are, for the time being, reasonably active and eating (other than the Kole tang)

saltyhog · Jun 28, 2020

iambenfields said:
The mandarin was QT’ed when I got her but that was a long while ago - I believe (99%) she is wild caught.

I’m using copper power and for the time being (until 8:00am tomorrow) I’m simply following the instructions on the bottle until I can test my levels.

So far I’m literally 3 hours into the hospital tank so it’s all pretty new - hoping that the dosage on the bottle (1oz for 20 gal) will be a therapeutic dose until I can make changes.

So in terms of tough decisions - how would you treat the Mandarin? The rest of the fish are, for the time being, reasonably active and eating (other than the Kole tang)

If it were me I would order a Hanna checker for copper and keep the levels at 2.0-2.5......never treat with copper without good testing of the levels.

The mandarin is going to be tough.....does he eat prepared foods? If so I would treat him with chloroquine phosphate for 10 days and transfer him to a different sterile tank where I could add pods...or better yet if you have a friend with a clean cycled observation tank that would be even better after the CP treatment.

Edit....very important...don't put the full therapeutic dose in at one time. Multiple small doses over 24-48 hours since it's velvet (if they look ok).

iambenfields · Jun 28, 2020

Thanks @saltyhog - appreciate your response.

Copper checker is ordered and should be here tomorrow morning... I’d been using it as a preventative and thus not dosing at a full 30ml for my QT. At 30ml of copper power in 20gal is there a rough calculation I could do before testing?

So the mandarin doesn’t eat anything but pods right now. My tank is full of them and 120gal+55gal sump - lots of rock, lots of macro. She’s never been short of a meal. I’m thinking that I could take some macro algae out of the sump, start a culture of phyto, and grow some pods while I’m treating her - but I don’t know where to get QP...

JMM744 · Jun 28, 2020

Sorry if this is redundant but the entire tank system needs to go fallow for quite some time.
Pm sent

iambenfields · Jun 28, 2020

JMM744 said:
Sorry if this is redundant but the entire tank system needs to go fallow for quite some time.
Pm sent

Not at all... I plan to have the DT fallow for 6 weeks. That’s not a big deal (not ideal but such is life) so long as I can help my fish.

vetteguy53081 · Jun 28, 2020

iambenfields said:
The mandarin is more an ounce of prevention... No symptoms for her, the clowns, or the potters angel. She’s now the sole inhabitant back in the DT in a breeder box until I know what to do. She doesn’t have any symptoms at all but I don’t want to leave her in there if she’s likely to be the recipient of all of the velvet that now needs a host

For the tank, no fish in it for 7 weeks to assure any parasites have perished allowing stocking to be safe again

iambenfields · Jun 28, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
For the tank, no fish in it for 7 weeks to assure any parasites have perished allowing stocking to be safe again

Ok. So then the last step is just figuring out the mandarin. Thanks @vetteguy53081

saltyhog · Jun 28, 2020

iambenfields said:
Thanks @saltyhog - appreciate your response.

Copper checker is ordered and should be here tomorrow morning... I’d been using it as a preventative and thus not dosing at a full 30ml for my QT. At 30ml of copper power in 20gal is there a rough calculation I could do before testing?

So the mandarin doesn’t eat anything but pods right now. My tank is full of them and 120gal+55gal sump - lots of rock, lots of macro. She’s never been short of a meal. I’m thinking that I could take some macro algae out of the sump, start a culture of phyto, and grow some pods while I’m treating her - but I don’t know where to get QP...

If you've already dosed some I would check a level to see where you're at. In my 20 long it only takes about 24 cc to get me to 2.00. If all the fish are looking good and there is no huge hurry I proceed by adding 3-4 cc, check, rinse, lather repeat till I get to 2.0 I usually dose morning and evening and check each evening till I get to therapeutic. However, I'm usually starting with a level of 1.0 in my tank. If the fish look stressed speed up the process accordingly. Some judgement needed, not an exact science.