Fish Disease - Help with Diagnosis

[IL-Reef-A4]

Hello - I have two Damsels in my quarantine tank that have gone through 50 days of copper and three treatments of Prazipro and now they have this lovely disease/issue on them. Does anyone know what this is and what the suitable treatment is for it? Thank you in advanced for any help. Bellow are some pictures

 

[MnFish1]

It looks like a scrape. Why are the fish in copper for 50 days? And why 3 treatments of prazipro? (only asking if there might be some hint as to what's going on)

 

[IL-Reef-A4]

Thank you for the quick reply! I have 4 quarantine tanks going at the moment and they had to stay longer than expected in this tank. The prazipro was preventative and the copper was a regular treatment of 0.5-0.6 ppm Cupramine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello - I have two Damsels in my quarantine tank that have gone through 50 days of copper and three treatments of Prazipro and now they have this lovely disease/issue on them. Does anyone know what this is and what the suitable treatment is for it? Thank you in advanced for any help. Bellow are some pictures

This is bacterial and may be from long exposure to copper
Was it coppersafe or cupramine and how did you test copper level
?

 

[IL-Reef-A4]

This is bacterial and may be from long exposure to copper
Was it coppersafe or cupramine and how did you test copper level
?

Thank you vetteguy53081! I used Cupramine and tested the water daily with a Hanna HI702 Copper Checker. I should clarify one point. About two weeks ago the last fish finished the 30-day copper regiment and so now I have washed out the Cupramine with water changes and so these fish are no longer living in therapeutic copper levels.

These Damsel fish are going to be moved to a longer term tank w/o Copper but that can be turned into a hospital tank immediately if needed.

So the questions I have are what treatment would you recommend if any for the Damsel? The primary reason for having this tank going was to get a Powder Blue Tang ready for the display tank. He is showing no symptoms - what should I do with that fish? Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you vetteguy53081! I used Cupramine and tested the water daily with a Hanna HI702 Copper Checker. I should clarify one point. About two weeks ago the last fish finished the 30-day copper regiment and so now I have washed out the Cupramine with water changes and so these fish are no longer living in therapeutic copper levels.

These Damsel fish are going to be moved to a longer term tank w/o Copper but that can be turned into a hospital tank immediately if needed.

So the questions I have are what treatment would you recommend if any for the Damsel? The primary reason for having this tank going was to get a Powder Blue Tang ready for the display tank. He is showing no symptoms - what should I do with that fish? Thank you in advance for the help.

Water changes will reduce but not remove copper 100%
Add cuprisorb to sump or path of running water for removal. This product may have impacted the fish. Ruby rally pro or general cure safer for this fish

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That could just be mucus, possibly as a reaction to the treatments. Are there any other symptoms with the fish? Rapid breathing, not eating are two serious ones to watch for.

 

[IL-Reef-A4]

Water changes will reduce but not remove copper 100%
Add cuprisorb to sump or path of running water for removal. This product may have impacted the fish. Ruby rally pro or general cure safer for this fish

Thank you! Found the general cure I ordered in January and will do another major water change and start the treatment tonight.

 

[IL-Reef-A4]

That could just be mucus, possibly as a reaction to the treatments. Are there any other symptoms with the fish? Rapid breathing, not eating are two serious ones to watch for.

Thank you Jay for the response! There are no other symptoms. Fish is active and has a big appetite. The other Damsel is a little larger and the one with the issues does get banged on by the larger one. This is what I believe to be the cause of the issue. Getting popped on the head/banged on the head. But before I separate them I want to make sure I'm not spreading an infection problem elsewhere. Do you agree with that or would you take a different action?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you Jay for the response! There are no other symptoms. Fish is active and has a big appetite. The other Damsel is a little larger and the one with the issues does get banged on by the larger one. This is what I believe to be the cause of the issue. Getting popped on the head/banged on the head. But before I separate them I want to make sure I'm not spreading an infection problem elsewhere. Do you agree with that or would you take a different action?

Oh, is only one of these fish showing the symptoms? If so, you can more easily conclude that it is from fighting. You may not be able to manage two damsels in a tank long term without fighting. Dealers get away with that by putting a bunch of damsels in one tank which diffuses the aggression against any single fish. They also don't hold them very long. Putting two damsels in a smaller tank long term (except for schooling species) often leads to fighting..