Brook, velvet, ich, or something else? Please help!

[LeftyReefer]

Have you started treatment on this fish yet? I would start ASAP if you haven't.

 

[crazyclownlady]

Have you started treatment on this fish yet? I would start ASAP if you haven't.

No, this fish just underwent the Rally bath treatment with the other two fish that died.

i have a QT setup but I don’t know what to treat them with?

 

[LeftyReefer]

copper or hyposalinity. I'd go copper personally, as I've never done hypo before.
Do you have any copper medications on hand? preferably copper power or copper safe?

 

[crazyclownlady]

Currently, I have cupramine and an API copper test kit.

i will have Copper Power tomorrow and a hanna test kit on the 29th.

 

[crazyclownlady]

copper or hyposalinity. I'd go copper personally, as I've never done hypo before.
Do you have any copper medications on hand? preferably copper power or copper safe?

Do you think it is ich?

 

[LeftyReefer]

Sorry, I just assumed it was ICH, but you are correct it may not be.... you've been treating it with Formalin, correct, assuming its brook? and it's still been getting worse?

I'd post some more pics and hope Jay or somebody can positively ID. sorry I jumped the gun assuming it was ICH.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Do you think it is ich?

I can't tell you from the photo - clear pictures are so difficult to get with fish, I know. Even with clear pictures, it isn't always possible to make accurate disease IDs from just a picture. These spots look sort of gray and translucent, but that could just be the focus. Ich are smaller, and are opaque white.

Are the spots changing in number daily, but becoming more numerous? If so, that sounds more like ich.

If it is ich, Hyposalinity might be an option since you don't have access to meds.

Jay

 

[LeftyReefer]

If it is ich, Hyposalinity might be an option since you don't have access to meds.

Jay

She said she has cupramine on hand now and will have Copper Power tomorrow.

 

[crazyclownlady]

I can't tell you from the photo - clear pictures are so difficult to get with fish, I know. Even with clear pictures, it isn't always possible to make accurate disease IDs from just a picture. These spots look sort of gray and translucent, but that could just be the focus. Ich are smaller, and are opaque white.

Are the spots changing in number daily, but becoming more numerous? If so, that sounds more like ich.

If it is ich, Hyposalinity might be an option since you don't have access to meds.

Jay

the fish looked fine yesterday and then lots of spots today. I will try to get better pics under white light.

i have cupramine, metroplex, prazipro, rally, paraguard, rid ich plus

hanna kit doesn’t arrive until the 29th. Was planning to treat with copper power (arrives tomorrow) after the test kit comes, but now I’m worried things are progressing

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

the fish looked fine yesterday and then lots of spots today. I will try to get better pics under white light.

i have cupramine, metroplex, prazipro, rally, paraguard, rid ich plus

hanna kit doesn’t arrive until the 29th. Was planning to treat with copper power (arrives tomorrow) after the test kit comes, but now I’m worried things are progressing

That does sound like ich to me.

If you know the tank's volume pretty accurately, you can dose with Cupramine for that volume and be o.k. until the Hanna kit shows up. If you wait for everything to be in hand, you'll likely lose this fish.

Jay

 

[crazyclownlady]

That does sound like ich to me.

If you know the tank's volume pretty accurately, you can dose with Cupramine for that volume and be o.k. until the Hanna kit shows up. If you wait for everything to be in hand, you'll likely lose this fish.

Jay

here’s fishy in white light. I am going to remove all my water to measure the exact volume and then dose with cupramine (unless you see these pics and think that’s not a good idea anymore).

Thank you endlessly!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

here’s fishy in white light. I am going to remove all my water to measure the exact volume and then dose with cupramine (unless you see these pics and think that’s not a good idea anymore).

Thank you endlessly!

Can you calculate the volume using a less invasive means? One way is to measure the inside of the tank in inches, length, width and water depth. Multiply those three numbers together and divide by 231. That gives you gallons. If your tank has a lot of rock in it displacing water, that gets more confusing, but I generally find that rock usually accounts for about 15%, so reduce the gallons by multiplying them by .85, or .9 if you have fewer rocks. So - it works out like this, let's say the tank measure 24" long, 12" wide and the water depth is 11" = 24x12x11 divided by 231 = 13.7 gallons x .85 for rock displacement = 11.7 gallons. Skip the rock displacement if you don't have items that are displacing water.

Jay

 

[crazyclownlady]

Can you calculate the volume using a less invasive means? One way is to measure the inside of the tank in inches, length, width and water depth. Multiply those three numbers together and divide by 231. That gives you gallons. If your tank has a lot of rock in it displacing water, that gets more confusing, but I generally find that rock usually accounts for about 15%, so reduce the gallons by multiplying them by .85, or .9 if you have fewer rocks. So - it works out like this, let's say the tank measure 24" long, 12" wide and the water depth is 11" = 24x12x11 divided by 231 = 13.7 gallons x .85 for rock displacement = 11.7 gallons. Skip the rock displacement if you don't have items that are displacing water.

Jay

oops i already did the measurement. Its the QT tank so there’s nothing in it because i just moved the snails out.

The hospital has almost exactly 2.75 gallons of water. It is cycled, and only has sponges and fluval biomax (which I’ve read doesn’t absorb carbon). It has a 180gph pump, no powerhead, and no airstone (should I add one?)

cupramine:
20 drops (1ml) per 10.5 gallons
5.24 drops (0.26ml) per 2.75 gallons

Please doublecheck my math before i dose. I was planning to put 5 drops in and repeat after 48 hours as instructed on the bottle.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Since your fish is already covered in spots, I would probably go ahead and do full dosage right off the bat, rather than doing a half dose and waiting 48 hours..... but maybe see what Jay says about that. If you want to take it slow, maybe a half does initially and then the other half 12 hour later... but I wouldn't wait 48 hours to get up to a therapeutic level of copper with this fish.

 

[crazyclownlady]

Since your fish is already covered in spots, I would probably go ahead and do full dosage right off the bat, rather than doing a half dose and waiting 48 hours..... but maybe see what Jay says about that. If you want to take it slow, maybe a half does initially and then the other half 12 hour later... but I wouldn't wait 48 hours to get up to a therapeutic level of copper with this fish.

So I pulled back the syringe plunger to the 0.26ml line, and put 5 drops into the tank. There was, however, still 4 drops remaining in the syringe. I’m confused. Should i go by the ml measurement or the number of drops

 

[LeftyReefer]

Hard to say without knowing exactly what you did, but if your syringe was empty and the plunger was all the way down to the bottom, when you pulled the plunger up to the .26ML line, then you should have .26 ML in the syringe. So put it all in and don't worry about drop sizes, which can vary depending one what tip/dropper/cap you are using.

 

[crazyclownlady]

Hard to say without knowing exactly what you did, but if your syringe was empty and the plunger was all the way down to the bottom, when you pulled the plunger up to the .26ML line, then you should have .26 ML in the syringe. So put it all in and don't worry about drop sizes, which can vary depending one what tip/dropper/cap you are using.

my hanna checker arrived early! I’m at 0.33 copper right now. My understanding is that i need to bring it up to 0.5, but the question is whether i do that now or in 48 hours.

 

[LeftyReefer]

the parasites can survive anything less than full therapeutic levels.
You've lost 2 fish already and this one is covered in spots. I'd say time/waiting is not on your side.
Since you have a checker now, I'd go the full .5 now.

 

[crazyclownlady]

the parasites can survive anything less than full therapeutic levels.
You've lost 2 fish already and this one is covered in spots. I'd say time/waiting is not on your side.
Since you have a checker now, I'd go the full .5 now.

thanks for your help. I will add a few drops and test again.

should i stick with cupramine from this point forward or do a 100% water change tomorrow and switch over to copper power?

with cupramine, should i aim for 0.5-0.55? I have to always keep it above 0.5 right?

 

[LeftyReefer]

I've QT'd clowns in cupramine no issue. it was other more sensative fish like wrasses and angels that didn't do so well in it.

For what its worth, I believe Cupramine is one of the better options for sick fish since it seems to work faster than the likes of copper power and copper safe. Those options are gentler, but also slower working. if you are just QT'ing this clownfish, I'd stick with the cupramine, at least until any spots clear up.