argcargv
New Member
Hi R2R,
I've had my Blue Tang in quarantine since the 20th of November 2020. After the initial purchase, I noticed that my Blue Tang had started to develop what I initially had thought was Cryptocaryon irritans (Marine Ich), but upon further reading and observing the behavioural and visible symptoms [0] of my Blue Tang I was certain that my Blue Tang had Amyloodinium ocellatum (Marine Velvet).
I moved with a sense of urgency and began treatment in my quarantine tank immediately using Cupramine [1]. In the first two weeks of treatment my Copper levels were relatively lower than the recommended therapeutic levels of (< 0.3 ppm - 0.5 ppm) as at the time I didn't have an accurate low range Copper test kit and I was scared that I'd dose too much and kill off my Blue Tang. There appeared to be significant improvement after these initial two weeks of treatment in the sense that my Blue Tang skin looked very clean, colouration was back to normal and was exhibiting positive behavioral characteristics. However, this didn't last long and what appeared to be a second outbreak took place over a span of approximately 24 hours. My thought at this point was that this was a direct result of not holding Copper levels at the appropriate therapeutic levels, which may very well have been the case, but now I'm completely confused.
As a result of the second outbreak, I purchased the Hanna Low Range Copper Checker [2] so that I could completely rule out the possibility of reinfection being a direct result of not holding therapeutic Copper levels for a long enough period. It's been several weeks now since the purchase point of the Hanna Low Range Copper Checker and the Copper levels within the quarantine system being consistently within acceptable therapeutic ranges (> 0.3 ppm < 0.5 ppm) and I'm still out of luck. It feels like a forever ending cycle of my Blue Tang getting better and then worse off again. However, the only difference with each iteration is that it feels like it's becoming less severe than the last, specifically referring to the visible physical symptoms with the behavioural symptoms being relatively consistent throughout the time my Blue Tang has been quarantined. Throughout the Copper treatment I've been sporadically giving my Blue Tang freshwater dips, which initially appears to have a positive effect, but then soon enough the relapse occurs. I thought that this may have been a result of putting my Blue Tang back into the same quarantine system after the freshwater dip and not a completely sterile quarantine system, but I'm not entirely sure about that? One of my other running farfetched thoughts, which I don't believe is possible, was that the Amyloodinium ocellatum (Marine Velvet) had built up resistance to the Cupramine treatment and as a result could not be killed off.
I must say, I'm rather perplexed at this point and I'm not sure about what I should be doing to eradicate this disease moving forward.
I attempted to capture some images of my Blue Tang in the quarantine system.
[Date captured: 2021-01-02]
[Date captured: 2021-01-02]
[Date captured: 2021-01-07]
On the positive side of things, my Blue Tang remains to eat crazily throughout this entire process.
[0] https://humble.fish/marine-velvet/
[1] https://www.seachem.com/cupramine.php
[2] https://hannainst.com.au/hi747-copper-lr.html
I've had my Blue Tang in quarantine since the 20th of November 2020. After the initial purchase, I noticed that my Blue Tang had started to develop what I initially had thought was Cryptocaryon irritans (Marine Ich), but upon further reading and observing the behavioural and visible symptoms [0] of my Blue Tang I was certain that my Blue Tang had Amyloodinium ocellatum (Marine Velvet).
I moved with a sense of urgency and began treatment in my quarantine tank immediately using Cupramine [1]. In the first two weeks of treatment my Copper levels were relatively lower than the recommended therapeutic levels of (< 0.3 ppm - 0.5 ppm) as at the time I didn't have an accurate low range Copper test kit and I was scared that I'd dose too much and kill off my Blue Tang. There appeared to be significant improvement after these initial two weeks of treatment in the sense that my Blue Tang skin looked very clean, colouration was back to normal and was exhibiting positive behavioral characteristics. However, this didn't last long and what appeared to be a second outbreak took place over a span of approximately 24 hours. My thought at this point was that this was a direct result of not holding Copper levels at the appropriate therapeutic levels, which may very well have been the case, but now I'm completely confused.
As a result of the second outbreak, I purchased the Hanna Low Range Copper Checker [2] so that I could completely rule out the possibility of reinfection being a direct result of not holding therapeutic Copper levels for a long enough period. It's been several weeks now since the purchase point of the Hanna Low Range Copper Checker and the Copper levels within the quarantine system being consistently within acceptable therapeutic ranges (> 0.3 ppm < 0.5 ppm) and I'm still out of luck. It feels like a forever ending cycle of my Blue Tang getting better and then worse off again. However, the only difference with each iteration is that it feels like it's becoming less severe than the last, specifically referring to the visible physical symptoms with the behavioural symptoms being relatively consistent throughout the time my Blue Tang has been quarantined. Throughout the Copper treatment I've been sporadically giving my Blue Tang freshwater dips, which initially appears to have a positive effect, but then soon enough the relapse occurs. I thought that this may have been a result of putting my Blue Tang back into the same quarantine system after the freshwater dip and not a completely sterile quarantine system, but I'm not entirely sure about that? One of my other running farfetched thoughts, which I don't believe is possible, was that the Amyloodinium ocellatum (Marine Velvet) had built up resistance to the Cupramine treatment and as a result could not be killed off.
I must say, I'm rather perplexed at this point and I'm not sure about what I should be doing to eradicate this disease moving forward.
I attempted to capture some images of my Blue Tang in the quarantine system.
[Date captured: 2021-01-02]
[Date captured: 2021-01-02]
[Date captured: 2021-01-07]
On the positive side of things, my Blue Tang remains to eat crazily throughout this entire process.
[0] https://humble.fish/marine-velvet/
[1] https://www.seachem.com/cupramine.php
[2] https://hannainst.com.au/hi747-copper-lr.html
