URGENT HELP PLEASE

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

Hey everyone, my cow fish has had ich for a week, noticed when we came back from vacation. Up until tonight he has been acting normal and I thought the ich was getting better. Tonight he is swimming at the bottom of a tank, which is not normal. And I also noticed his eyes are cloudy and seem to be covered with ich. He is the only one and I think showing any signs, and all of my parameters are right where they're supposed to be.

I'm currently getting ready to do a freshwater dip, and put him in a quarantine tank. I've been reading about hyposalinity treatment, and was wondering what the best specific gravity was for it?

Also any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated

 

[Joey waid]

I'm more inclined to believe it's velvet, and it's real bad. It's needs a fresh water dip or formalin fast.

 

[Joey waid]

It will die before hypo works. If it has it they all do.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

He is kind of spasm in the freshwater dip. Is it okay to leave him in for the 15 minutes or should I do less

 

[Joey waid]

He is kind of spasm in the freshwater dip. Is it okay to leave him in for the 15 minutes or should I do less

No, nor more than 5, even less as bad as he is. Don't put him back in the same tank either.

 

[clowner]

Yea cow fish are super delicate to ich or velvet ...i freshwater dip and quarantine with copper will problavly kill him ...id recomen raising tank temp to 84 and when ich leaves quarantine...if its velvet its problably too late

 

[Joey waid]

You really need to get a plan for the rest of your fish fast. Chances are the cow fish is on its way out and as bad as it is the others aren't far behind.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

What's surprising me is none of the other fish are showing any signs or symptoms

 

[Humblefish]

Here is more info on hyposalinity: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hyposalinity.247596/

However, if your fish has velvet (I can't be sure from the photo) then you would need to treat with copper or Chloroquine phosphate instead.

Cowfish are scaleless so Chloroquine would be your best option; however I've read of success using Cupramine on them as well.

 

[Joey waid]

What's surprising me is none of the other fish are showing any signs or symptoms

My experience that's normal.

 

[melypr1985]

I agree that it's difficult to tell if it's ick or velvet from the picture, but I'm more inclined to say ick if he had it before you left for vacation and now has it again. I would think he'd be dead by now if it was velvet. Since we can't be sure either way, though, CP or Copper is your best bet. Take out all the fish and treat everybody. Leave the display fallow for 76 days to clear it of parasites as well. I'm sorry for the troubles I hope you can help the cowfish. They are supremely cute.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

After carefully examining all the fish I can, it seems like my dragon goby has something on his back, and my dwarf lion has spots (first day I see and I study everyone daily), which is causing me to think more velvet now =( trying to pull everyone and place in qt tank. Could velvet show up as multiple spots? Thought it was more of a blanket area which is not on the cow...

Any fish that won't tolerate copper? What about me eels? 2 snowflakes... sorry for all the questions first reef tank to have these problems.

Also my goby will have no sand to sift, what should I do about that?

 

[Joey waid]

Goby will need a bowl of sand. The spotted look is normal to me. If you can get chloroquine phosphate fast that's the way to go. The cow is just eat up with it. Those type of fish deal with it way worse.

 

[melypr1985]

After carefully examining all the fish I can, it seems like my dragon goby has something on his back, and my dwarf lion has spots (first day I see and I study everyone daily), which is causing me to think more velvet now =( trying to pull everyone and place in qt tank. Could velvet show up as multiple spots? Thought it was more of a blanket area which is not on the cow...

Any fish that won't tolerate copper? What about me eels? 2 snowflakes... sorry for all the questions first reef tank to have these problems.

Also my goby will have no sand to sift, what should I do about that?

I'm tempted to say this is ick from the looks of that lion, but it could still be either. Copper isn't the best option with eels, the lion or the boxfish. If you can get CP from a vet and get it filled online that would be the best thing. Though, if you have to use copper, be very careful.

The goby appears to have an infection on his back that will probably need treatment in antibiotics. Kanaplex and Furan 2 are good ones to use and can be combined to widen the spectrum. 10 consecutive days of treatment is needed, and more might be necessary as antibiotics are notoriously slow acting in fish.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

Thank you everyone. Just an update, I broke down my entire tank, to get all the fish out. I only had a 10 gallon tank set up as a quarantine, but obviously that was too small for all of my fish. So I ended up setting up a 30-gallon quarantine and put my protein skimmer on it to help with the bioload. I'm going to end up trading with copper and antibiotics, and hope for the best.

I ended up with a little stand at the bottom of the quarantine from Catching the fish, will that be enough for the Goby?

I also threw a couple pieces of rock from my display tank, probably going to break that tank down and make a frag tank for my corals since come February I'm changing over to a 75 with overflow.

Point of comic relief, while attempting to move in my cluttered Fish Room/storage room, I spilled a 5 gallon bucket on a futon and soaked everything LOL

Wish me luck, I have two clowns, 3 blue damsel, one green chromis, 1 dwarf lion, one yellow eye kole Tang, the cow fish, 1 squirrel, 1 lawnmower, and one dragon goby.

 

[melypr1985]

Great job getting them all out. I would suggest removing the live rock prior to dosing the copper. It will soak up the copper making it difficult to keep the copper levels stable at therapeutic levels. Be sure you have an ammonia alert badge for the QT and the proper test kit for the type of copper you choose to use. Best of luck and keep us posted

 

[Joey waid]

Awesome, good luck.

 

[Humblefish]

I ended up with a little stand at the bottom of the quarantine from Catching the fish, will that be enough for the Goby?

I would still put some sand in a pyrex bowl for him. I would also remove that rock before dosing copper, as it will absorb the copper.

 

[Joey waid]

I would still put some sand in a pyrex bowl for him. I would also remove that rock before dosing copper, as it will absorb the copper.

Saying that, what's the difference between song and rock? You guys always say put loaded sponge and never rock. Thanks..

 

[melypr1985]

Saying that, what's the difference between song and rock? You guys always say put loaded sponge and never rock. Thanks..

Both will absorb copper, but the rock will do the most. The sand is there for critters than need it to feel comfortable or to sleep in. using a small container with a small amount can keep it contained, letting the QT be cleaned easier while not absorbing much copper at the same time.