Sick Clown Diagnosis.

[cglawe]

Could someone please help me identify the affliction with my clown so I can treat. Recently had an outbreak of Ich which I thought I successfully treated but this guy looks different to me. Had an unfortunate incident with my QT tank and setting a new one up tomorrow. New to this hobby, and man, it’s been tough for sure. So much heartbreak!

 

[TX_REEF]

#fishmedics

 

[Sharkbait19]

Welcome to the forum! Sorry it’s under these circumstances.
That looks like late stage ich to me - what did you do for treatment?

 

[cglawe]

I quarantined the fish that were symptomatic and treated with Ich-x. This guy looked fine so he didn’t get the treatment, then overnight this.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Ich is best treated with copper, and all fish that were exposed need to be treated. As your clownfish shows, they don’t need to be showing white spots to already be considered infected.
Your best bet is to treat all fish with copper in qt.

 

[cglawe]

Thanks. I’ll get that started as soon as I get my new QT tank up tomorrow.

 

[cglawe]

Ich is best treated with copper, and all fish that were exposed need to be treated. As your clownfish shows, they don’t need to be showing white spots to already be considered infected.
Your best bet is to treat all fish with copper in qt.

Ok. So I set up a new QT tank and moved fish. It was incredibly stressful on fish, but I guess I had no choice at this point as they were going to die without treatment and I had expensive inverts in my DT too. I did lose my urchin. Not sure why exactly. New QT not cycled which worries me but I did put some of my live rock and sand in there to help. I know I can’t move it back now. I treated the QT with copper aid. The instruction didn’t say anything about redosing. Is this a 1 and done thing? At some point should I add activated carbon to try to remove the copper? And it’s my understanding I now need to keep my DT fallow for 6 weeks. Correct? So far all the other inverts in DT tank seem ok thoug I really don’t want to lose the anemone. Have I missed anything. Since the DT has no fish now, , are there tips for keeping it balanced or should it be ok?

 

[FOWLROOKIE]

I’m my experience I’ve used copper power,
And a Hanna copper test kit to keep at therapeutic levels , but raise the copper slowly as it can be harsh

 

[Sharkbait19]

Use a test kit to get to 2.5 ppm - from there you’d only need to redose after a water change.
For ich, it’s best to fallow for at least 60 days.
Keep treating the dt as usual, though you can cut back on feeding as you only have to worry about inverts and not fish.
Don’t mix equipment between the dt and qt.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

+1, this looks like late stage ich to me also. At this point, it is tough to tell from brooklynella, but I’d say this is ich, especially since the tank has a recent history of that.
Copper power works at 2.25 ppm, but please understand that this fish is close to dying, and copper takes a few days to work.

Jay

 

[cglawe]

So the clown seems to be making a full recovery. Unfortunately I think the stress of the move has made the fish that were showing no symptoms at all now on the verge of death. My timid fire fish has not eaten since the move and stays in one place, my pajama cardinal broke out in an even much worse case of ich and won’t eat, and my flame cardinal has been laying on the bottom upside down gasping for the last 24 hrs. Not sure if it’s the copper or something else. I’m wondering if I should euthanize because he seems in pain. None of these guys seemed sick at all but I guess it could have been just starting. The other 2 fish are fine. The copper level seems therapeutic but I messed up and got the stupid test strips instead of just spending the money on the Hanna checker. That should be here tomorrow so I can be sure. Any chance on saving the flame cardinal? I feel so terrible about all of this…

 

[Idech]

New QT not cycled which worries me but I did put some of my live rock and sand in there to help.

You are going to have to get rid of the rocks and sand since copper will have absorbed into rocks and sand.

I don’t know if bleaching would help. Someone will.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Do you know ammonia levels?

 

[cglawe]

You are going to have to get rid of the rocks and sand since copper will have absorbed into rocks and sand.

I don’t know if bleaching would help. Someone will.

Thanks. Was totally on the fence about that. Only did it because it wasn’t cycled yet.

 

[cglawe]

Do you know ammonia levels?

Zero.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So the clown seems to be making a full recovery. Unfortunately I think the stress of the move has made the fish that were showing no symptoms at all now on the verge of death. My timid fire fish has not eaten since the move and stays in one place, my pajama cardinal broke out in an even much worse case of ich and won’t eat, and my flame cardinal has been laying on the bottom upside down gasping for the last 24 hrs. Not sure if it’s the copper or something else. I’m wondering if I should euthanize because he seems in pain. None of these guys seemed sick at all but I guess it could have been just starting. The other 2 fish are fine. The copper level seems therapeutic but I messed up and got the stupid test strips instead of just spending the money on the Hanna checker. That should be here tomorrow so I can be sure. Any chance on saving the flame cardinal? I feel so terrible about all of this…

In newly set up treatment tank, ammonia is very often a problem. You said the ammonia is zero. What are you testing it with?

Jay

 

[cglawe]

In newly set up treatment tank, ammonia is very often a problem. You said the ammonia is zero. What are you testing it with?

Jay

API Satlwater Mater Test kit.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

API Satlwater Mater Test kit.

API kits are tough to read. I would call that 0.25 ppm ammonia, a true zero reading is more yellow.

Jay

 

[cglawe]

API kits are tough to read. I would call that 0.25 ppm ammonia, a true zero reading is more yellow.

Jay

Yeah. That was this morning so did a water change. Will be investing in better testing supplies. Flame Cardinal didn’t make it.

 

[Dom]

I quarantined the fish that were symptomatic and treated with Ich-x. This guy looked fine so he didn’t get the treatment, then overnight this.

When you have a diseased fish in your tank, you must assume that all fish in the tank are infected, wether showing signs of disease or not.