I posted several days ago regarding the same issue, but something else is happening.
I got a very new valentini (from what I now know to be a less than reputable shop) and a spiny box puffer from a different place, within days of each other. As such, they are in the same QT. Initially, the valentini was not doing so well, and the bicolor blenny he came with died pretty quickly. However, with advice from folks here, combined with advice from a puffer-specific forum, he managed to pull through, and the day after I expected he wouldn't make it, he was acting completely normal again. The suspected diagnosis was marine velvet.
Within the same time, I had the spiny box puffer come in, with another blenny. After getting them acclimated to the QT, the box puffer had some visible spots on his fins that looked exactly like ich.
Given that information, I was using Humblefish's method to treat both. We did a freshwater dip a few days ago, and another last night before a ruby reef rally bath (which I didn't get in until yesterday). During this entire time, they have been at a half-dose of cupramine (puffer-specific directions from a forum that I trusted), and Kanaplex as a precaution, as advised by Humblefish. I've been doing 50% water changes daily, as advised, removed substrate and filter media, and keeping a close eye on parameters. They have, until this point, been acting and looking great, getting used to eating a little, and calming down.
However, as of this afternoon, I noticed that the second blenny was breathing extremely hard, and he was dead within a could of hours. I also noticed the valentini breathing slightly harder, colors getting dark, and is starting to tip to one side or the other occasionally...going back to the same symptoms I saw when I first got him in. The box puffer has seemed a bit more frantic, and his breathing seems slightly labored - enough to make me worry.
After the blenny died and I noticed the labored breathing from both puffers, I decided to do a full water change (to be clear, I have no cycle in QT right now, it's all manual given the circumstance), in order to make absolutely sure that cupramine levels were correct (the Seacham copper test I have is very hard to read accurately), and to pull the plug completely on the Kanaplex, in case that was causing complications. I drip accimated them back in, and they're chilling with the lights off right now.
One of the things I'm pretty worried about is the water itself - I know adding conditioner (Prime is what I'm using, though I have others), can make copper more toxic. But I don't have access to RODI water (it's completely not an option right now, and wouldn't even know where to start with that). I've been under the impression that I can't just give them chlorinated water, and I also can't dechlorinate, so I've been using Prime at half-dose, just as a best guess.
Ultimately, I can't tell if they're just stressed, if the Kanaplex was the cause, or if something to do with the cupramine is not being tolerated. If it's the cupramine, should I pull the plug on that too? Obviously that will mean the velvet/ich will crop back up. To be clear, I definitely don't have the money for chloroquine phosphate right now, or really anything else that's not very reasonably priced...I've spent all the money I have available on saving these two so far. I'm at a loss.
Tank info:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.024
I got a very new valentini (from what I now know to be a less than reputable shop) and a spiny box puffer from a different place, within days of each other. As such, they are in the same QT. Initially, the valentini was not doing so well, and the bicolor blenny he came with died pretty quickly. However, with advice from folks here, combined with advice from a puffer-specific forum, he managed to pull through, and the day after I expected he wouldn't make it, he was acting completely normal again. The suspected diagnosis was marine velvet.
Within the same time, I had the spiny box puffer come in, with another blenny. After getting them acclimated to the QT, the box puffer had some visible spots on his fins that looked exactly like ich.
Given that information, I was using Humblefish's method to treat both. We did a freshwater dip a few days ago, and another last night before a ruby reef rally bath (which I didn't get in until yesterday). During this entire time, they have been at a half-dose of cupramine (puffer-specific directions from a forum that I trusted), and Kanaplex as a precaution, as advised by Humblefish. I've been doing 50% water changes daily, as advised, removed substrate and filter media, and keeping a close eye on parameters. They have, until this point, been acting and looking great, getting used to eating a little, and calming down.
However, as of this afternoon, I noticed that the second blenny was breathing extremely hard, and he was dead within a could of hours. I also noticed the valentini breathing slightly harder, colors getting dark, and is starting to tip to one side or the other occasionally...going back to the same symptoms I saw when I first got him in. The box puffer has seemed a bit more frantic, and his breathing seems slightly labored - enough to make me worry.
After the blenny died and I noticed the labored breathing from both puffers, I decided to do a full water change (to be clear, I have no cycle in QT right now, it's all manual given the circumstance), in order to make absolutely sure that cupramine levels were correct (the Seacham copper test I have is very hard to read accurately), and to pull the plug completely on the Kanaplex, in case that was causing complications. I drip accimated them back in, and they're chilling with the lights off right now.
One of the things I'm pretty worried about is the water itself - I know adding conditioner (Prime is what I'm using, though I have others), can make copper more toxic. But I don't have access to RODI water (it's completely not an option right now, and wouldn't even know where to start with that). I've been under the impression that I can't just give them chlorinated water, and I also can't dechlorinate, so I've been using Prime at half-dose, just as a best guess.
Ultimately, I can't tell if they're just stressed, if the Kanaplex was the cause, or if something to do with the cupramine is not being tolerated. If it's the cupramine, should I pull the plug on that too? Obviously that will mean the velvet/ich will crop back up. To be clear, I definitely don't have the money for chloroquine phosphate right now, or really anything else that's not very reasonably priced...I've spent all the money I have available on saving these two so far. I'm at a loss.
Tank info:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.024