Sigh...ick again?

[madducks42]

After dealing with a few ick outbreaks in our tank we decided to catch all the fish, two clownfish and a yellow watchman goby, and let the tank sit fallow for 76 days. We’re nearing the home stretch and can add the fish back in mid-June. I used the TTM on the fish, including two rounds of prazipo that I used on the 2nd and 4th round. They’ve remained in QT after finishing up the TTM and seemed to be doing fine. Just noticed these white spots on one of the clownfish yesterday. It doesn’t look the same as the previous outbreaks of ick though. It’s hard to tell in the picture but the white specs don’t really look like grains of salt. They’re a little bit longer if that makes sense. The fish itself seems to be fine. It’s swimming around and eating as normal. I try to keep up with water changes on the QT but ammonia creeps up fast, doesn’t seem to look like ammonia burns though. So is this ick again and the TTM didn’t work? Something else that is just popping up now?

 

[melypr1985]

That actually looks a bit more like velvet to me. However, the treatment for it and ich are similar.... the speed of getting the treatment started is very important.

 

[madducks42]

Is it possible for velvet to remain dormant for months? We’ve had these fish for a year or so and they’ve been in qt since March. I do have copper on hand but I’ve never used it, I went the TTM way just so I could not have to deal with using copper.

 

[melypr1985]

While it's possible for that to happen, I think it's more likely that the transfer into the QT, followed by the TTM slowed it down enough to allow the fish to live with it for a while before again showing signs of it. It can be difficult to diagnose velvet vs ich in some cases. I think using copper will be the best bet for now.

 

[Maritimer]

Any possibility that's early stage Brooklynella?

~Bruce

 

[madducks42]

I started copper treatment, I'm using Cuprion (https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cuprion-stabilized-ionic-copper-solution-brightwell-aquatics.html) but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right and I'm really worried that I'm going to kill the fish. I haven't been able to find clear instructions on what the therapeutic levels for treatment are. I've found some posts/articles that say it's 0.2 and that you shouldn't go over 0.4, others's have said 0.4, 0.4-0.6. Also haven't been able to find at one point copper becomes deadly to the fish. The other issue is it's really hard for me to read the test kit. I'm using the Salifert copper test but I honestly can't tell the difference between a lot of the colors. My best guess right now is that the copper is between 0.5-1.0, but closer to 0.5. The fish seem to be doing fine but I'm considering stopping the treatment. I feel like if I do this wrong I'm going to cause more harm and I don't know for sure if the fish are actually sick or not. The white spots showed up on one clownfish quickly and then disappeared a day later.

 

[Maritimer]

You should be able to use Brightwell's copper product the same way you'd use Cupramine (also an ionic form of copper). I can't for the life of me understand Brightwell's philosophy in phrasing their directions the way they do - and then marketing their product through retail channels.

~Bruce

 

[madducks42]

Well the watchman goby died, I suspect because of high copper levels since it didn't appear to be sick before starting treatment. I'm going to do some water changes to get the copper out of the system and then I'm just going to monitor the fish for a few weeks. I'm assuming if they actually have velvet or something serious they'll start showing symptoms in a few weeks. How long can fish have velvet before showing symptoms and dying? I don't want to put them back in the tank if they have something but I also don't want to continue with copper treatment since I'll probably kill them if I do that anyway.

 

[Decat]

I dealt with Ich and Velvet for months and months, until I finally broke down and started using CopperSafe. Since then I have never had an issue, and have gotten 4 or 5 new batches of sick fish through quarantine and into my display tanks. You do need to test the water for Copper levels especially if you are using a new bottle of CopperSafe. I always keep my levels between 1.5 and 2.0 ppm, and I have yet to have a fish respond negatively to the CopperSafe. I have put most types of fish through quarantine now (Angels, Gobies, Dartfish, Lionfish, Basselts, Clownfish, Cardinals, Groupers, Rabbitfish, Hogfish, Wrasse, Jawfish, Tangs, Filefish, Damsels, Dottybacks, Puffers, Blennies, etc.).
HumbleFish helped with all the details. I have dealt with Ich, Velvet, Flukes, Flatworms, and all kinds of bacterial infections. It is nice that even when I am running CopperSafe, I can medicate the frozen food to address any additional signs of secondary infections.