Coppersafe or Hyposalinity?

cmoresps · Nov 14, 2020

Heres my conundrum. Have 12 inch vlamigi in 180 with purple tang, emperator, scopas, and chevron. All fish have been together for several years. The scopas is a senior, Ive had him for 12 years, the vlamingi at least 10 years, they were supposed to go in my new 360 set up but tank delays####. Long story short, month ago notice all fish in tank are trying to dominate and banish the scopas, then I see the battle marks on my purple tang! Fed more, things got better, they are in a fowl. Auto topoff stuck and dropped salinity to 1.010, I have hypoed before so I wasnt concerned. A few weeks later notice vlamingi breathing fast but eating well, no one is flashing at that point. Adjusted alk and ph just in case. Fast forward to today, vlamingi and scopas have some ick, I have let salinity creep upwards to 1.018 because of the fast breathing of the vlamingi hoping it would stop. Tank is super oxygenated. Did water change, now vlamingi hiding and not eating. I think copper safe is my only remedy or set up two different tanks, if one fish has ick they are all will eventually. Im thinking copper power is my only option given vlamigi reaction to hypo? Comments?

Reefahholic · Nov 14, 2020

cmoresps said:
Heres my conundrum. Have 12 inch vlamigi in 180 with purple tang, emperator, scopas, and chevron. All fish have been together for several years. The scopas is a senior, Ive had him for 12 years, the vlamingi at least 10 years, they were supposed to go in my new 360 set up but tank delays####. Long story short, month ago notice all fish in tank are trying to dominate and banish the scopas, then I see the battle marks on my purple tang! Fed more, things got better, they are in a fowl. Auto topoff stuck and dropped salinity to 1.010, I have hypoed before so I wasnt concerned. A few weeks later notice vlamingi breathing fast but eating well, no one is flashing at that point. Adjusted alk and ph just in case. Fast forward to today, vlamingi and scopas have some ick, I have let salinity creep upwards to 1.018 because of the fast breathing of the vlamingi hoping it would stop. Tank is super oxygenated. Did water change, now vlamingi hiding and not eating. I think copper safe is my only remedy or set up two different tanks, if one fish has ick they are all will eventually. Im thinking copper power is my only option given vlamigi reaction to hypo? Comments?

I wouldn’t do hypo anyway. Copper Power is much more effective. Best of luck!

Jay Hemdal · Nov 14, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Im not sure that the vlamingi is reacted to hypo, it shouldn’t react any differently than other tangs, and I’ve never had any issue getting them through hypo.
You’re seeing ich, but I can’t figure out where it would have come from after 2 years of no symptoms...I don’t subscribe to the idea that ich is always in every tank. Did you add anything recently?
Yes- copper would be the best course of action in case the rapid breathing is due to Amyloodinium (velvet). Be sure to use a good test kit or a Hanna checker.
Jay