What is going on with my fish in QT?

[SaltlifeHokie]

I’ve got 4 fish in QT.
Medium Kole Tang
Small Purple Tang
Small Hippo Tang
Melanarus Wrasse

The’ve been in QT now for about 2 weeks with no major issues. I’ve been running Copper Power but yesterday the tangs started losing color, loss of appetite and the Purple Tang shows it the most which I think is Velvet. The Hippo is not doing good at all. The Kole Tang appears to have sunken belly as you can see in one of the pictures. I’ve been doing Metroplex in the water column as I thought maybe they had Brook. I’ve got some Ruby Reef on the way. Other than that I’ve got about everything in the medicine cabinet to treat. Just at a loss and can’t figure out what I’m missing. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

More pictures

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

What level is the copper power? How are your water chemistry values? (Especially salinity and ammonia.). Are the fish breathing fast?

I’m leaning towards Amyloodinium, velvet here, just trying to get a clearer idea of what’s going on.
Jay

 

[Spongking1]

Baffled how velvet would be culprit if running proper level of treatment. Now I also know some ppl also say copper doesn’t really help. I’ve never known of issue personally wherecopper didn’t help. But that’s my experience.

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

What level is the copper power? How are your water chemistry values? (Especially salinity and ammonia.). Are the fish breathing fast?

I’m leaning towards Amyloodinium, velvet here, just trying to get a clearer idea of what’s going on.
Jay

Copper is at 2.04 just tested it.
Salinity is 1.024
Ammonia is in the green on the Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge .05ppm.

Just did a 25% water change to lower it.

yes they’re breathing fast.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’m not familiar with copper power, is 2 a full dose? Velvet is a tough one- it doesn’t respond to copper as well as ich. Do you happen to have any formalin? You should read the sticky at the top of this section for ideas. Ruby Reef is acrifkavine and formalin I think. Trouble is, the dose is pretty low to keep it safer for inverts.
Jay

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

Yea Humblefish says 2.0 is therapeutic.
I just got done doing a 45 min bath in Safety Stops Methelyne Blue which contains formalin but I’m not sure how much formalin is In it but decided it could t hurt since that’s all I have at the moment. The Ruby Reef should be here in 2 days if they make it.

 

[Smite]

Man it's hard to tell from the pictures if that's just them super stressed or actual powder sugar looking spots like velvet. I always ran copper power at 2.5ppm and never had an issue. I'm sure 2.0 is fine if humble fish says it's good but seems like maybe your running a fine line if your kit is off. Do you have the hanna checker and calibration reagent?

It almost looks like HLLE to me on the purple and possibly starting on the hippo. But hard to tell. Are they eating well? I almost suspect poor water quality of there is any ammonia showing at all on that badge. Did you test nitrites?

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

Man it's hard to tell from the pictures if that's just them super stressed or actual powder sugar looking spots like velvet. I always ran copper power at 2.5ppm and never had an issue. I'm sure 2.0 is fine if humble fish says it's good but seems like maybe your running a fine line if your kit is off. Do you have the hanna checker and calibration reagent?

It almost looks like HLLE to me on the purple and possibly starting on the hippo. But hard to tell. Are they eating well? I almost suspect poor water quality of there is any ammonia showing at all on that badge. Did you test nitrites?

yea I’ve got the Hanna checker.
The Purple does have HLLE and I had been feeding it well with Selcon and it was eating like a pig up until today.
I haven’t tested nitrites since I had been doing water changes roughly every 2-3 days.

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

Why do you think the Kole Tang has that sunken hump in his belly area all the sudden?

 

[Bon Koo]

I’ve got 4 fish in QT.
Medium Kole Tang
Small Purple Tang
Small Hippo Tang
Melanarus Wrasse

The’ve been in QT now for about 2 weeks with no major issues. I’ve been running Copper Power but yesterday the tangs started losing color, loss of appetite and the Purple Tang shows it the most which I think is Velvet. The Hippo is not doing good at all. The Kole Tang appears to have sunken belly as you can see in one of the pictures. I’ve been doing Metroplex in the water column as I thought maybe they had Brook. I’ve got some Ruby Reef on the way. Other than that I’ve got about everything in the medicine cabinet to treat. Just at a loss and can’t figure out what I’m missing. Thanks for the help in advance.

It is painful to look at those photos that remind me of what I did qt. Qt is not easy at all. I failed and killed tangs during qt. My recommendation is to ask fish shop to do qt for you next time although you pay more. That was what I did. Cole tang has to have a lot of space to hide and rocks. And sand. If you don't give that environment, it won't eat at all and die. My recommendation is to find oyster and grind it and feed it. Oyster is very nutritious. I feed tangs with pallet and shrimp but I feed cole tang with oysters once a week. Cole tang is very wary.

 

[Smite]

Why do you think the Kole Tang has that sunken hump in his belly area all the sudden?

That's hard to say. Was it nice and fat before, are you sure it's been eating well this whole time? I've never had a tang do that over a few days time, I've had a yellow eye kole do that in QT but over a long period of time. No bullying between the 4 tangs?

I agree @Bon Koo out of all the tangs I've QT'd for some reason kole type tangs I struggled the most with. For some reason they tear their mouth apart glass surfing endlessly. I pack my QT with large PVC fittings for hiding too. That being said I have a small white tail tang almost 2 weeks into QT and eating like a pig with a group of sunset anthias. The main difference was adding a piece of LR into the tank for me I believe. I was able to attach nori to it and it seemed to flip a switch in his mindset and got him grazing and not surfing all day. I now only treat for flukes and internal parasites with General Cure and observe for awhile, then copper if needed.

Honestly the rock was added as it was a somewhat spontaneous purchase and I need a quick cycle. I've lost more fish to a non-cycled QT than to chemical issues I believe. The stress of handling constantly and needed to work in the tank is a whole stress factor in itself IMO. But that's just my experience.

I've beat velvet with copper power before but at just under 2.5 ppm. Have you done a freshwater dip for flukes or did you go straight to copper?

 

[Smite]

honestly i dont see a single spot on that kole tang which makes me question velvet. So you see lots of spots on the hippo and kole?

 

[Velcro]

It is painful to look at those photos that remind me of what I did qt. Qt is not easy at all. I failed and killed tangs during qt. My recommendation is to ask fish shop to do qt for you next time although you pay more. That was what I did. Cole tang has to have a lot of space to hide and rocks. And sand. If you don't give that environment, it won't eat at all and die. My recommendation is to find oyster and grind it and feed it. Oyster is very nutritious. I feed tangs with pallet and shrimp but I feed cole tang with oysters once a week. Cole tang is very wary.

I treated (velvet) and qt'd a yellow tang, kole tang, clown pair, two fairy wrasses, a melanarus, springers damsel and decorator in a freshly setup 20 gallon with no rock. Ideal? No, but possible.

 

[SaltlifeHokie]

I’m still not sure what it is/was but all 3 tangs are dead and the wrasse is perfectly fine. None were covered in ich/velvet like sugar/salt spots. It was more of loss of color and just wasn’t vibrant and struggling to breathe.

 

[artieg1]

In my experience, ammonia and oxygen depletion are the biggest risks in QT. I don't trust Seachem badges, after several issues with them. I would look at your QT protocol and compare it to Humblefish's, and make sure you moved very slowly. Also, I never QT more than 1 or 2 fish at a time, even in a large tank. 4 fish is a lot (again, ammonia or oxygen issues can sneak up on you before you have time to react). I would urge you to go slower, try 1 or 2 fish at the most, and greatly overcompensate for bioload.

 

[Smite]

I’m still not sure what it is/was but all 3 tangs are dead and the wrasse is perfectly fine. None were covered in ich/velvet like sugar/salt spots. It was more of loss of color and just wasn’t vibrant and struggling to breathe.

Ah man, I'm sorry to hear. It's always tough losing them like that.

 

[Bon Koo]

I’m still not sure what it is/was but all 3 tangs are dead and the wrasse is perfectly fine. None were covered in ich/velvet like sugar/salt spots. It was more of loss of color and just wasn’t vibrant and struggling to breathe.
It is very hard to keep water without ammonia for qt tank. Although you cycle with rocks and sand, ammonia level never drops unless you change water perhaps every 2 day. Qt tank is small. High level ammonia, no rocks and sand and toxic copper. All these give bad things to fish. Fish can't survive if you don't have large well cycled qt. So as I said, don't do the same mistake, just ask fish stores to do that for you in large tank with well feeding. You pick up in 1 month.

 

[Bon Koo]

I’m still not sure what it is/was but all 3 tangs are dead and the wrasse is perfectly fine. None were covered in ich/velvet like sugar/salt spots. It was more of loss of color and just wasn’t vibrant and struggling to breathe.

It is very hard to keep water without ammonia for qt tank. Although you cycle with rocks and sand, ammonia level never drops unless you change water perhaps every 2 day. Qt tank is small. High level ammonia, no rocks and sand and toxic copper. All these give bad things to fish. Fish can't survive if you don't have large well cycled qt. So as I said, don't do the same mistake, just ask fish stores to do that for you in large tank with well feeding. You pick up in 1 month.