Heavy metals?

[Doglips56]

I’ve been fighting some unknown disease in my tank. I have absolutely no idea what is going on. I thought it was ich. I treated the tank for 15 days with Plyp Labs Medic. All corals and inverts seems to be doing very well, fish not so much.
I’ve lost a file fish, a cardinal fish (had bodies) can’t find Royal Gramma or Fire Goby but were acting fine. Now my large red head Solon fairy wrasse is acting BERY strangely but still too fast to catch.
we made our own reef frenzy type fish food using commercially prepared pellets and red and green Nori type algae’s supplemented with garlic and several other dry ingredients. They’ve been eating it for months. I’m beginning to wonder if the frozen seafood I bought and used in it contains heavy metals or what the problem can be. It’s a slow killer whatever it is and it doesn’t seem to affect their appetites at all. I do have an ICP test here but don’t know how long it would take to get results. The seafood we used from the local Asian market are: frozen peeled raw shrimp,raw frozen tuna roast, frozen raw scallops, frozen raw squid, frozen raw oysters, fresh roe (I’m told the green one has wasabi but my son ate some of it and said there was no wasabi) there were no ingredients listed other than roe.
please let me know your thoughts. I have cycled tanks up and running that I can rearrange fish. One has copper but not sure that is why it needs. We did a recent water change about a week after the last dose of Medic, about 10 days ago.

 

[Saltyreef]

Corals with copper is a no no.
There really isnt a good way to reliably treat ich in the tank either.
Most junk is snake oil.
Youll want to pull the fish and place into a QT container/tank and then use copper.

Follow this thread. Ive never lost a fish in QT this way and havent seen ich or velvet since.
I also went fallow for 90 days.

My Current QT Process

UPDATE, 10/9/22: For those looking for quarantine information, our current process is kept updated on the first page of this thread (post any questions at the end of the thread). https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/ Thanks, Jay Hemdal I am frequently...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Doglips56]

You misunderstood. These fish are in my DT. I have a separate hospital tank, no corals or anything in it that has copper, it is my QT tank

I have a FOWLR tank with only 3 fish, I use it to propagate several varieties of Macroalgae. I’m worried that possibly thefrozen seafood we used to make our own reef frenzy type food, which we’ve been feeding for months now could possibly have been contaminated with heavy metals from the ocean. I’m wondering if heavy metals could cause odd illness or death. The currently affected fish is swimming oddly but still eating with no blemishes, spots, fin damage, ets...just acting odd

 

[Saltyreef]

You misunderstood. These fish are in my DT. I have a separate hospital tank, no corals or anything in it that has copper, it is my QT tank

I have a FOWLR tank with only 3 fish, I use it to propagate several varieties of Macroalgae. I’m worried that possibly thefrozen seafood we used to make our own reef frenzy type food, which we’ve been feeding for months now could possibly have been contaminated with heavy metals from the ocean. I’m wondering if heavy metals could cause odd illness or death. The currently affected fish is swimming oddly but still eating with no blemishes, spots, fin damage, ets...just acting odd

Got it. But....
I still dont think the food is your issue.
I think incorrectly treating the ich is the cause. They could also have flukes...

Polyp lab in your FOWLR tank will not rid the ich. No matter what the reviews say lol.

I would remove all the fish to the hospital tank and dose according to that thread. IIRC the new max dose is 2.5ppm.

You can do a freshwater dip to get relief to the fish if it has gill flukes.

Id do the prazi, metro and copper treatment as that will clesn them out inside too.

After treating my fish in the QT by following hotrocks protocol i have not had any issues.

Mind you the fish i bring home are very ill from the get go.

 

[Paul B]

Your tank does not have heavy metals, don't worry about that. Metals would turn your corals and inverts to snot almost instantly

 

[Doglips56]

Your tank does not have heavy metals, don't worry about that. Metals would turn your corals and inverts to snot almost instantly

Ok thank you for putting my mind at ease on that. I forgot the first to get sick and die was my mandarin goby. I tried a freshwater dip on it and zero flukes. It was the worst 5 minutes of my life. He died anyway several days later but to see him suffering so much in that freshwater dip almost killed me. Can you mix copper and prazipro pro in the same tank? I will have to prematurely remove the guys I have in copper right now (in QT prophylactic not sick just newer) but my hospital tank is only 13 gallons so can’t keep too many in there. Could move the 2 in QT into my FOWLR with just Prazipro Pro for the rest of their QT and see if I can get the wrasse but you can’t even use copper on Wrasses. Ugh

 

[Saltyreef]

Ok thank you for putting my mind at ease on that. I forgot the first to get sick and die was my mandarin goby. I tried a freshwater dip on it and zero flukes. It was the worst 5 minutes of my life. He died anyway several days later but to see him suffering so much in that freshwater dip almost killed me. Can you mix copper and prazipro pro in the same tank? I will have to prematurely remove the guys I have in copper right now (in QT prophylactic not sick just newer) but my hospital tank is only 13 gallons so can’t keep too many in there. Could move the 2 in QT into my FOWLR with just Prazipro Pro for the rest of their QT and see if I can get the wrasse but you can’t even use copper on Wrasses. Ugh

Your madarin likely died of starvation. Unless youre raising pods and seeding tank every now and then.

 

[Paul B]

I can't tell from here why your fish died, but I am not a fan of quarantine or medications of any kind, especially copper.

Good luck I hope you find the cause.

 

[Doglips56]

Your madarin likely died of starvation. Unless youre raising pods and seeding tank every now and then.

I don’t think so. I had tons of pods before I got him then added half a gallon of pods from a local guy who breeds them and phyto. The body condition seemed normal, no pinched abdomen but of course I can’t know for sure. Had a much more experienced reefer come before it died and he used a flashlight to check for pods and said I had plenty but again how would I know for sure. It is for that reason we won’t get another. Only had it a month, didn’t qt it because they don’t do well in QT. Thanks for your help