This hobby is very discouraging.

[Sordfish]

What therapuetic level did you treat with copper and how did you test the copper level. Theront stage has the longest cycle up to 18 days and if copper was low, the life cycle may not have been interrupted but paused.
Please provide clear pics under white lighting for best assessment

I followed Humblefish’s protocol. 2.5 for copper power, checked with Hanna checker daily. I’ll post pics in the morning. Right now the lights are out and don’t want to stress them any further. However, it is most likely ich - it does not seem to match what I have seen of velvet

 

[Aspect]

I've never qt'd and I have ich in my DT for a year now, never lost a fish. Couple spots will show on fish when I add a new one. You have a UV so you're good just make sure to feed often 5-10 times per day and keep water quality high and you shouldn't lose any fish.

 

[Sordfish]

My baby blue hippo scratches all the time. I feed him metro plex and focus in his food for a few days then he is fine. Repeats all the time. Blue hippos are stress balls Ive decided! My little one has nothing to be stressed about and isnt being bullied but he for some reason goes through phases where he hides every time he sees me and then he doesn't hide. Weird fish. I freaked out the first couple times this happened but now its kinda his norm. He is about to go in a 6 foot tank so maybe that will stop. Who knows, I keep my water perfect and feed him all good frozen food and nori on a clip all day!

Do you see any white spots on him - or is it just scratching? My baby hippo schools/ hangs out with the chromis and is quite outgoing. Downright aggressive at feeding time (still even with ich).

 

[Sordfish]

I've never qt'd and I have ich in my DT for a year now, never lost a fish. Couple spots will show on fish when I add a new one. You have a UV so you're good just make sure to feed often 5-10 times per day and keep water quality high and you shouldn't lose any fish.

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback. Good idea re water changes. I actually set up a water change system so I can do daily 2% changes. I’ll up it for the next couple of weeks. I feed 3 times a day. I’ll up that as well.

 

[Spare time]

Why did you use all of the medication when you got them? Were they sick when you purchased? If not the copper Probly stressed them out causing ick

There is a lot wrong with this statement. Stress doesn't cause ich, and copper is used as a to prevent ich from making it into the display.

 

[Spare time]

What was the temperature in the qt?

 

[Spare time]

Do you know if its ich or something like mucus plugs or lympho?

 

[Shibaken3]

this... I'm in the process of QT one by one. I'm paranoid that ich will somehow get in.
The positive thing I can say to OP is at least its not velvet.

 

[Sordfish]

Won’t happen as they will fight each other to death. Salt is nothing like fresh… so there’s really no reason to your madness as it will it work

I am not sure that it is as black and white. I have a friend who has 12 in his 90 gallon tank. He has had them for 3 years , starting as babies and only one died. He tried to replace it and had to remove the new one within a week Otherwise they bicker but have been stable. Based on his success I decided to give it a try as well. I guess time will tell whether he is onto something or whether they’ll go the way you are predicting.

 

[Sordfish]

Do you know if its ich or something like mucus plugs or lympho?

it looks very much like ich. I’ll post pictures in the morning. I do not know what mucus plugs or lympho look like so I’ll have to look it up.

 

[coralconor]

My baby blue tang used to scratch against a rock and I was worried at first but it has stopped and he’s getting bigger and he’s healthy.

 

[Sordfish]

What was the temperature in the qt?

I set it at 80 to speed up any potential parasite reproduction cycle.

 

[Aspect]

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback. Good idea re water changes. I actually set up a water change system so I can do daily 2% changes. I’ll up it for the next couple of weeks. I feed 3 times a day. I’ll up that as well.

Easiest thing you can do imo to keep water quality high is to change filter socks out daily/bidaily.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I am not sure that it is as black and white. I have a friend who has 12 in his 90 gallon tank. He has had them for 3 years , starting as babies and only one died. He tried to replace it and had to remove the new one within a week Otherwise they bicker but have been stable. Based on his success I decided to give it a try as well. I guess time will tell whether he is onto something or whether they’ll go the way you are predicting.

It’s not that black and white - if you do a bit of digging on the forum here, you’ll find a lot of failures with schooling fish and a fair number of successes. The quote below discusses the major factors that I’ve seen come into play with what makes a school successful and what makes a school fail (you can click my username in the quote below to jump to the thread the quote came from - there are a few people on the thread who discuss some successes for a couple of examples):

My understanding is that keeping a large school can theoretically work, but - as mentioned above - there are a number of things to keep in mind with schooling:

- The number of schooling fish in the tank (I've heard odd numbers are preferred, and the preferred number of fish that I've seen seems to be 9 to 11 at a minimum; the more fish, the more diluted the aggression is between them)

- The size of the tank (for quality of life purposes for your fish, bigger is better - yes, some animals will be calm when shoved into tiny spaces with large numbers of conspecifics where if there was just one or two conspecifics, it would be a deathmatch, but they obviously wouldn't be happy in that situation long-term)

- The amount fed, the quality of the feed, and the frequency of feedings (basically more food = less aggression; and better food = better health = happier, less aggressive fish [theoretically])

- Tankmates (big, scary tankmates that the schooling fish could view as a threat may act as an outside force that keeps the schooling fish focused on not getting killed rather than on fighting amongst themselves)

- The scape of the tank (lots of fish need lots of places to hide/sleep - the more hiding places, the safer the fish feel; line-of-sight-breaks can also help with feeling safe)

That's all I've got for the moment (and pretty much all of it has been mentioned above), but basically - to my understanding - it's a balance of making the fish feel threatened enough by external sources to prevent infighting while also making them feel safe enough (largely through their numbers, the tank's scape, and food security) to not be too stressed. If you're able to strike that balance, you should be able to see schooling behavior (to the best of my current understanding).

Also, while most people don’t mention if they added all the fish at once or in waves, it probably would be wise to introduce as many as your tank can handle at a time to prevent any territorial aggression.

 

[CoralB]

Imo too much too soon . Patients = success in this hobby

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Imo too much too soon . Patients = success in this hobby

I think you meant to say patience. I agree in that his bioload couldn't handle so many fish at one time.

 

[Sordfish]

Also, while most people don’t mention if they added all the fish at once or in waves, it probably would be wise to introduce as many as your tank can handle at a time to prevent any territorial aggression.

This is exactly what my thinking was.

 

[CoralB]

I think you meant to say patience. I agree in that his bioload couldn't handle so many fish at one time.

Your right I did mean to say patience, it must have been a auto correct issue with their A.I.
Thanks for the catch !!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I followed Humblefish’s protocol. 2.5 for copper power, checked with Hanna checker daily. I’ll post pics in the morning. Right now the lights are out and don’t want to stress them any further. However, it is most likely ich - it does not seem to match what I have seen of velvet

And how long did you treat.
Also understand UV helps but is not an eraser. It will address free floating organisms and what passes through the unit and not address what is preexisting. You can still have disease with a UV unit. Mucus cones are raised white con shaped spores but lets get this confirmed BEFORE making any protocols or treatments.

 

[Sordfish]

Easiest thing you can do imo to keep water quality high is to change filter socks out daily/bidaily.

Agreed. I knew I’d never do that so I have a Clarisea roller filter.