Anthias QT death, can I save the Blenny?

[Indytraveler83]

Hey all,

I bought 4 anthias and 1 Midas blenny yesterday and put them in my QT tank. Used drip method for about 30 min, used water from my DT to fill tank.

Immediately something seemed wrong. The smallest female was almost white and gasping for air. The rest of the fish weren't doing very well either, gasping and showing stress coloration.

I double checked basic water parameters and salinity is 1.026, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate in the 10-15 range. I added 2 airstones to help, treated with metro as well.

The first female died shortly afterward, about 2 hours after being introduced. They seemed to stabilize in the evening, but everyone was still gasping.

Woke up this morning to all of the anthias dead, all agape. Most had white spots at this time. The Blenny is still hanging on, but covered in white spots.

This morning ammonia hit readable levels of 0.05 (tank full of dead fish) so I hit it with Prime real quick. I also gave the Blenny a short 2 minute freshwater bath.

I'm out of newly mixed saltwater, and need to make more, but can't refill the qt right yet.

Is this likely velvet? What is the best way to try and save the Blenny, given my situation? His breathing has calmed and the spots vanished after the bath.

Meds onhand are reef rally, metro, focus, kansplex, cupromine and general cute.

Keep in mind I used prime recently, and I know it's toxic with copper

 

[Big G]

Sounds like velvet with those rapid deaths. Are/were the spots very fine and numerous, uncountable there were so many?
Prime is OK to use with "chelated coppers" like Copper Power or Coppersafe, but NOT with "ionic" coppers like Cupramine or Brightwells Copper.
Velvet damages the gills as you saw with the anthias. A freshwater dip will remove a tremendous number of velvet parasites from the Blenny's gills allowing it to breathe better. Remember the white spots are the marks left "after" the parasites have dropped off. You can bet that there is a new batch of parasites attached to the gills right now. Best to do the following to save the blenny:

Give the blenny a 3-5 minute freshwater dip.

Follow the FW dip immediately with a 60 minute bath in Ruby Reef Rally. It's antiseptic and antibiotic qualities will help the blenny's immune system to fight off bacterial infections.

Predose the tank half way to the therapeutic levels and then add the blenny. Then over 48 hours, use small regular doses (am, lunch, pm) until you reach therapeutic level.

As you are doing the increasing of the copper add the Kanaplex. This will help prevent a bacterial infection.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Sounds like velvet with those rapid deaths. Are/were the spots very fine and numerous, uncountable there were so many?
Prime is OK to use with "chelated coppers" like Copper Power or Coppersafe, but NOT with "ionic" coppers like Cupramine or Brightwells Copper.
Velvet damages the gills as you saw with the anthias. A freshwater dip will remove a tremendous number of velvet parasites from the Blenny's gills allowing it to breathe better. Remember the white spots are the marks left "after" the parasites have dropped off. You can bet that there is a new batch of parasites attached to the gills right now. Best to do the following to save the blenny:

Give the blenny a 3-5 minute freshwater dip.

Follow the FW dip immediately with a 60 minute bath in Ruby Reef Rally. It's antiseptic and antibiotic qualities will help the blenny's immune system to fight off bacterial infections.

Predose the tank half way to the therapeutic levels and then add the blenny. Then over 48 hours, use small regular doses (am, lunch, pm) until you reach therapeutic level.

As you are doing the increasing of the copper add the Kanaplex. This will help prevent a bacterial infection.

Got it. I just need to brew up more saltwater before I can dose with copper. I will get the freshwater and reef rally baths started immediately though.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Despite my best efforts, the Blenny died too. He had dark, deep discoloration on his abdomen during death. Just for future reference (and my current argument with the lfs owner) does anyone have a good idea on what would have caused it? Internal parasites?