Scratching after copper

Talo’s Reef · Apr 20, 2021

I have a convict tang in qt. I did 14 days of copper checked with Hanna checker. Moved to a sterile tank. He has been scratching all through copper and continues to scratch. I did a fresh water dip and nothing came off. I have never seen any spots on the tang nor any of the other fish in the tank. I have also observed the Pakistan butterfly scratching as well. Everyone is eating well. I’m at a loss as to what could be going on.

Jay Hemdal · Apr 21, 2021

What copper med did you use? I typically run coppersafe for 30 days. You won't see gill flukes in a FW dip unless you use a microscope, and even then, they are difficult to see. Some skin Gyrodactylus are also very small. I would consider treating these fish with Prazipro 3x, seven days apart.

Jay

Talo’s Reef · Apr 21, 2021

I used copperpower at 2-2.3ppm. Thanks again

Talo’s Reef · Apr 22, 2021

Update. I dosed prazi. It seems like the scratching has calmed down. But now my convict tang is sitting in flow of the power head. He is acting fairly calm. Won’t really touch the frozen food but still eats flake food just doesn’t seem as excited. Any recommendations as to what is going on with the convict tang. Also. When do I do a water change after the prazi dose.
Again. I have not seen a single white spot on any dish throughout the entire qt process.

thanks

Jay Hemdal · Apr 23, 2021

Talo’s Reef said:
Update. I dosed prazi. It seems like the scratching has calmed down. But now my convict tang is sitting in flow of the power head. He is acting fairly calm. Won’t really touch the frozen food but still eats flake food just doesn’t seem as excited. Any recommendations as to what is going on with the convict tang. Also. When do I do a water change after the prazi dose.
Again. I have not seen a single white spot on any dish throughout the entire qt process.

thanks

Do you have good aeration in the the tank (not just flow from a powerhead). The solvent in Prazipro can cause bacteria to grow that reduces the dissolved oxygen in the water. Convict tangs are high oxygen fish (they live in the surf zone).

Jay

Talo’s Reef · Apr 23, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Do you have good aeration in the the tank (not just flow from a powerhead). The solvent in Prazipro can cause bacteria to grow that reduces the dissolved oxygen in the water. Convict tangs are high oxygen fish (they live in the surf zone).

Jay

I have a hob filter. An air stone and a power head breaking the surface.

thanks