To provide more info for everyone: This PT was taken from a tank with known velvet in the system. Another local forum member bought a PT from the same system, at the same time, and it has confirmed velvet. So, when this specimen began swimming into the flow of a powerhead (a symptom unique to velvet), it is only logical to conclude this fish has velvet as well.
The other PT is doing much better now, but it received a FW dip + formalin bath
before ever entering QT. Unfortunately, this specimen did not. I cannot stress the importance of performing a FW dip + chemical bath
ASAP when treating a fish with velvet for two reasons:
- FW dip + chemical bath removes 80-90% of the parasites on the fish, especially the ones inside the gills literally suffocating the fish to death. Copper & CP provides no immediate relief for the fish; it only eradicates the dinospores (free swimmers) which protects the fish from reinfection.
- By doing the FW dip + chemical bath BEFORE the fish ever enters QT, only a limited number of parasites are ever introduced into the QT. This allows time for you to raise the copper (or CP) to eventually eliminate the rest of them. The fish has already received temporary relief via FW dip & chemical bath, so you don't have to be in a panic about it.
@Rickyb1982 has done all he can for this fish and now only time will tell. Some fish just aren't savable.
The other quagmire is we don't really know for sure if the heavy breathing is being caused by velvet in the gills or if the fish is having an adverse reaction to copper. However, since we know this fish has velvet and went untreated for awhile, all we can do is roll the dice and see what happens...
