A case of stupidity...

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hi all, I was at the market here in BKK and decided to pick up a small cowfish from a shop that is clean, well stocked, and seems to take care of their fish. I asked him to feed the fish which he did and the fish ate. I didn't notice at the shop but on the car ride back home I noticed a few mild signs of Ich which I didn't take too seriously because I know I already have Ich in my aquarium system but its well managed by polyp lab medic and an occasional low dose of hydrogen peroxide. Well I woke up this morning and my sailfin tang is sick with what I think is a bad case of Ich...he's active but breathing heavily. The cowfish looks about the same...last night he was tasting everything to see if it was food. Is this Ich alone I'm dealing with or something else as well? I feel like velvet would have killed the cowfish already and he wouldn't have had such an appetite to taste everything in the tank...just a stupid case of failure to quarantine because I thought I was already well managing an already present sickness. Please help guys.

 

[GHOSTLY]

quick QT Tank with copper

 

[GHOSTLY]

also I love That tang. Always wanted a tank with one

 

[Uncle99]

Certainly looks like ick.
It’s a tang, you could put him in hypo salinity (1.009)
Will take a week or two but if you have ick in your DT, it must go without fish for 76 days (safe) or 45 with elevated temperature.
Otherwise, your tang or tangs will have future outbreaks.

 

[Wick3d_1]

You can treat the Tang with copper or if you wanna just relieve symptoms and hope he/she fights it off, a freshwater dip. The Cowfish is intolerant to copper so a freshwater dip and TTM is the only way to treat it (if that's the route you wanna go.) Boosting their immune system and keeping them eating will go a long way if you are just trying to manage having ich in the system versus eradicating it. If you want eradication, it's copper or TTM with hospital tanks and a 76 day fallow period for the DT.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Certainly looks like ick.
It’s a tang, you could put him in hypo salinity (1.009)
Will take a week or two but if you have ick in your DT, it must go without fish for 76 days (safe) or 45 with elevated temperature.
Otherwise, your tang or tangs will have future outbreaks.

I'll go with hypo since it appears to be Ich alone...I have a friend and even read a post

You can treat the Tang with copper or if you wanna just relieve symptoms and hope he/she fights it off, a freshwater dip. The Cowfish is intolerant to copper so a freshwater dip and TTM is the only way to treat it (if that's the route you wanna go.) Boosting their immune system and keeping them eating will go a long way if you are just trying to manage having ich in the system versus eradicating it. If you want eradication, it's copper or TTM with hospital tanks and a 76 day fallow period for the DT.

I'm going to treat and try to manage at this point because prior to this outbreak, management was working just fine

 

[SaltwaterGuruNeeded]

I'll go with hypo since it appears to be Ich alone...I have a friend and even read a post

I'm going to treat and try to manage at this point because prior to this outbreak, management was working just fine

If he looked fine yesterday and he has this many spots already I would guess velvet, but I'm no expert.

 

[Wick3d_1]

If it's velvet, that's a different ball game. Fish don't survive velvet for very long once symptoms show. Velvet is treated the same way. It's a copper treatment.

 

[SaltwaterGuruNeeded]

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal Some help for this guy please.

 

[SaltwaterGuruNeeded]

Nvm on my response I'll go with ick being how big the spots are compared to velvet, but in my seeing, there's alot of ich there.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi all, I was at the market here in BKK and decided to pick up a small cowfish from a shop that is clean, well stocked, and seems to take care of their fish. I asked him to feed the fish which he did and the fish ate. I didn't notice at the shop but on the car ride back home I noticed a few mild signs of Ich which I didn't take too seriously because I know I already have Ich in my aquarium system but its well managed by polyp lab medic and an occasional low dose of hydrogen peroxide. Well I woke up this morning and my sailfin tang is sick with what I think is a bad case of Ich...he's active but breathing heavily. The cowfish looks about the same...last night he was tasting everything to see if it was food. Is this Ich alone I'm dealing with or something else as well? I feel like velvet would have killed the cowfish already and he wouldn't have had such an appetite to taste everything in the tank...just a stupid case of failure to quarantine because I thought I was already well managing an already present sickness. Please help guys.

Ich doesn’t cause rapid breathing until the infection is pretty far along. I couldn’t tell - how long ago did you add the cowfish to your tank? Upon first read I thought the sailfin looked like this the day after you added the cowfish, but in re reading things, it wasn’t clear…..
Jay

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Ich doesn’t cause rapid breathing until the infection is pretty far along. I couldn’t tell - how long ago did you add the cowfish to your tank? Upon first read I thought the sailfin looked like this the day after you added the cowfish, but in re reading things, it wasn’t clear…..
Jay

Yes, this is the morning after adding the cowfish...he did have Ich previously though but it didn't look serious and he fought it off just using Polyp Lab Medic....he is currently eating a little

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes, this is the morning after adding the cowfish...he did have Ich previously though but it didn't look serious and he fought it off just using Polyp Lab Medic....he is currently eating a little

Ok, then the cowfish didn’t cause this, way too fast, even for velvet. The tang must have had this cooking beforehand.
Cowfish can be treated with coppersafe, but I ndetstand people being leery about it. Hyposalinity is also fine for ich.
Jay

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Ok, then the cowfish didn’t cause this, way too fast, even for velvet. The tang must have had this cooking beforehand.
Cowfish can be treated with coppersafe, but I ndetstand people being leery about it. Hyposalinity is also fine for ich.
Jay

Will cupramine work in place of coppersafe?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree with jays' comments and cowfish very prone to disease and quite difficult to treat and feed.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Agree with jays' comments and cowfish very prone to disease and quite difficult to treat and feed.

I'm preparing the water for treat me right now

 

[vetteguy53081]

Will cupramine work in place of coppersafe?

Coppersafe best and dont give cow FW dip- theyre delicate as it is

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Wi

Coppersafe best and dont give cow FW dip- theyre delicate as it

Coppersafe best and dont give cow FW dip- theyre delicate as it is

Ok will do...thanks guys!!! I hope they make it. And thanks Jay for identifying that it probably isn't velvet

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Will cupramine work in place of coppersafe?

I don’t think Cupramine is as safe on cowfish/puffers as coppersafe…but I don’t have a lot of direct experience.
Jay

 

[Wick3d_1]

I wasn't sure on the FW dip for the cowfish. I know they are super delicate and hard to treat when they get parasites.