Considering Hyposalinity for newly acquired fish

[flyfisher2]

Hello, I acquired a few fish during Thanks giving weekend and I've had them in quarantine since that time. I've seen no signs of illness but just want to be safe so I've been considering hyposalinity. The fish are Ocellaris clowns, Royal Gramma, Pajama Cardinals.
All appear healthy and are eating.
I'd just like to know if they are all candidates for hypo to be safe, go the copper and or praxipro route, or just leave them in observation?
I have the clowns seperate from the Gramma and the pajama cardinals as they were purchased from different shops.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Personally, I use copper/prazi as I think it is more effective. Hyposalinity doesn't really control Uronema (actually can make it worse) and isn't a big help with velvet or gryodactylus flukes. It mainly treats ich and Neobenedenia flukes. You need to have utmost confidence in the accuracy of your measuring device, refractometers may not be good enough. I use a German laboratory grade hydrometer. You need to go as low as 1.009 SG (but not below) and I keep it there for 30 days and then VERYT slowly raise it back up.

Jay

 

[flyfisher2]

Thanks for the quick response. Seems that all things being considered I’d be better off going the route of Prazi and Copper
Do you see any of the fish I mentioned being too sensitive to the meds?
And what type of copper would you recommend in this case?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Treat rather than hypo as Jay mentioned

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the quick response. Seems that all things being considered I’d be better off going the route of Prazi and Copper
Do you see any of the fish I mentioned being too sensitive to the meds?
And what type of copper would you recommend in this case?

Those three species are fine in copper. I like Coppersafe, but copper power would be my second choice. 30 days, followed by 3x prazi, a week apart is what I do, then 2 weeks observation (unless they are the first fish going into the DT)
Jay

 

[flyfisher2]

Those three species are fine in copper. I like Coppersafe, but copper power would be my second choice. 30 days, followed by 3x prazi, a week apart is what I do, then 2 weeks observation (unless they are the first fish going into the DT)
Jay

By 3X you mean three treatments, each lasting 7 days?
So we're talking about two months of quarantine... very close to the 70plus days of the hypo but with a broader treatment of potential diseases?

 

[flyfisher2]

I see the mention of General Cure and other Bacterial treatments in other articles. Would you recommend any additional treatments or do you feel the Coppersafe and Prazipro to be enough?

 

[AcanthurusRex]

Don’t do Prazi and copper at the same time. GC is fine with other meds but Prazi can cause issues. I have never had a fish develop issues with GC. Prazi seems harder on the fish in my limited experience.

 

[flyfisher2]

I was going to do Copper for 30 days and then do the prazi as Jay advised. So you feel Coppersafe and GC? Keep in mind this is just a prophylactic. I see no signs of desease. Just want to cover all possible outcomes prior to adding the fish to display tank

 

[flyfisher2]

Follow up... I've just done my 4th Prazipro treatment. Update... Since my previous pastings the Royal Grama started scrapping against objects in the quarantine so I immdiately began Prazipro. I've done weekly treatments and just did a fourth. Its eating okay as are the 4 cardinal fish in the quarantine with him and its not scratching as much as it was when I began treatment. I'm wanting to do the 30 days of Copper as Jay Recommended but being that the scratching hasn't totally stopped I'm not sure. Any ideas?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

At this point, you’ve treated pretty much all you can do. The only other possibility would be to try hyposalinity - a specific gravity of 1.012 for 35 days. That a big step, so I would first wait for a couple of weeks and see if the symptoms diminish.
Jay

 

[flyfisher2]

Thanks Jay... I appreciate your prompt response and guidance. Will go that route if scratching persist. So Don't do the copper treatment?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Jay... I appreciate your prompt response and guidance. Will go that route if scratching persist. So Don't do the copper treatment?

Sorry! I was working off my phone during lunch and I misread that....no, I think you should run the copper treatment. I mistakenly thought you had already run it.....

Jay