Blenny flashing in quarentine

[Willbiker]

Hi all

I have a lawnmower blenny in quarentine and its very irritated. It keeps flashing and rubbing itself on the base of the tank. It could be ich, or velvet I suppose? I have started to add cupramine with the intention of reaching 5ppm.

Do you think copper alone should resolve the irritation?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi all

I have a lawnmower blenny in quarentine and its very irritated. It keeps flashing and rubbing itself on the base of the tank. It could be ich, or velvet I suppose? I have started to add cupramine with the intention of reaching 5ppm.

Do you think copper alone should resolve the irritation?

Cupramine is dosed at 0.5 ppm. In many cases, scratching is due to flukes, not protozoans. Copper doesn't help against flukes. However, flukes take longer to kill fish, so it is best to treat with copper and then treat against flukes. Prazipro 2x with good aeration would be a good treatment.

You could give the blenny a 5 minute FW dip in dechlorinated tap water. That will knock some/most of the flukes off, and buy you some time.

That said, quarantining lawnmower blennies is tough. They really need a lot of algae to graze on, and they won't get that in a QT. In these cases, I opt to feed them well (try some nori also) and then reduce the copper time from 30 to 14 days, followed by Prazi, then 8 days later, prazi again, then a day after that move them to the SDT.

Jay

 

[Willbiker]

Thanks Jay. My mistake, I meant 0.5ppm.

I will treat with copper for 2 weeks and then will switch to fluke solve which is apparently a Prazipro equivalent here in the UK.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[hrdneglcry]

Cupramine is dosed at 0.5 ppm. In many cases, scratching is due to flukes, not protozoans. Copper doesn't help against flukes. However, flukes take longer to kill fish, so it is best to treat with copper and then treat against flukes. Prazipro 2x with good aeration would be a good treatment.

You could give the blenny a 5 minute FW dip in dechlorinated tap water. That will knock some/most of the flukes off, and buy you some time.

That said, quarantining lawnmower blennies is tough. They really need a lot of algae to graze on, and they won't get that in a QT. In these cases, I opt to feed them well (try some nori also) and then reduce the copper time from 30 to 14 days, followed by Prazi, then 8 days later, prazi again, then a day after that move them to the SDT.

J

Cupramine is dosed at 0.5 ppm. In many cases, scratching is due to flukes, not protozoans. Copper doesn't help against flukes. However, flukes take longer to kill fish, so it is best to treat with copper and then treat against flukes. Prazipro 2x with good aeration would be a good treatment.

You could give the blenny a 5 minute FW dip in dechlorinated tap water. That will knock some/most of the flukes off, and buy you some time.

That said, quarantining lawnmower blennies is tough. They really need a lot of algae to graze on, and they won't get that in a QT. In these cases, I opt to feed them well (try some nori also) and then reduce the copper time from 30 to 14 days, followed by Prazi, then 8 days later, prazi again, then a day after that move them to the SDT.

Jay

Just wanted to ask a few question. I did not shut off skimmer. Did not even remove cup for first treatment. I treated every three days and did not do a water change. This is with Prazi. Tomorrow I will do a water change. I will hit with Prazi again and will not have the skimmer on. I did a few FW dips. Prazipro tech said leave skimmer off. I may try hydroxy by ruby reef. Did I mess up bad not changing water with Prazi? Will it even work now?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Just wanted to ask a few question. I did not shut off skimmer. Did not even remove cup for first treatment. I treated every three days and did not do a water change. This is with Prazi. Tomorrow I will do a water change. I will hit with Prazi again and will not have the skimmer on. I did a few FW dips. Prazipro tech said leave skimmer off. I may try hydroxy by ruby reef. Did I mess up bad not changing water with Prazi? Will it even work now?

If the skimmer collected a lot of material the first day, it may have removed some of the prazi. Prazipro requires extra aeration, I always tell folks to run the skimmer, just don't collect anything from it. also, some aquariums need additional aeration during a treatment.

The prazipro bottle is one of the few cases where they are wrong and I will correct the manufacturer's instructions. They say dose 2x, 48 hours apart.... praiquantel needs to be dosed 2 to 3 times, but none days apart. This is to try and kill off any new flukes hatching from eggs, prazi does not kill the eggs.

Jay

 

[keephowlin]

If the skimmer collected a lot of material the first day, it may have removed some of the prazi. Prazipro requires extra aeration, I always tell folks to run the skimmer, just don't collect anything from it. also, some aquariums need additional aeration during a treatment.

The prazipro bottle is one of the few cases where they are wrong and I will correct the manufacturer's instructions. They say dose 2x, 48 hours apart.... praiquantel needs to be dosed 2 to 3 times, but none days apart. This is to try and kill off any new flukes hatching from eggs, prazi does not kill the eggs.

Jay

When you said "none days apart", did you mean "nine"?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

When you said "none days apart", did you mean "nine"?

Yep - spell check didn’t catch that, thanks.
Jay