Help with Ich treatment.

[Deiblerj]

Have had success with copper treatment. I’m not an expert on this, and there are people on here with a lot more experience than me. Here is a good post about copper treatment

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copper-treatment.193343/

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

Copper, cheleted copper (copper power) is easier on fish. Therapeutic minimum is 1.50 ppm but I would target 1.75ppm using a Hanna checker. Treat for 14 days then transfer into a sterile tank or treat for 30 days without transfer. Your DT will need to be fallow for 6 weeks (fishless)

Hopefully the LFS can keep the fish for the two weeks while I set up a qt tank, and then I'll go from there. Is there any way to speed up the fallow period? And could this possibly benefit the corals and my nem which are currently recovering from some accidental melafix?

 

[Deiblerj]

In wouldn’t try to speed anything up in this hobby. Take your time and do it right the first time. This will cause less pain and headache down the road. It will also put less stress on your DT inhabitants while in your fallow period.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Hopefully the LFS can keep the fish for the two weeks while I set up a qt tank, and then I'll go from there. Is there any way to speed up the fallow period? And could this possibly benefit the corals and my nem which are currently recovering from some accidental melafix?

No, there isn’t any way to speed up the fallow period unfortunately but I would call your LFS so you can get your fish into meds.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

No, there isn’t any way to speed up the fallow period unfortunately but I would call your LFS so you can get your fish into meds.

I'll do that the minute they open today. Thank you everyone for your help, hopefully things turn out alright

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

also this is quite unrelated to this topic but my nem was having some issues but I think he's recovering now, he's open more often and he reacts to stimuli, at he accepted some mysis yesterday, do you think this is a good sign of recovery?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

also this is quite unrelated to this topic but my nem was having some issues but I think he's recovering now, he's open more often and he reacts to stimuli, at he accepted some mysis yesterday, do you think this is a good sign of recovery?

Yes it sounds like he’s coming back around. Eating is a huge sign of recovery

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

awesome, thank you for the reassurance.

 

[Deiblerj]

Yes it sounds like he’s coming back around. Eating is a huge sign of recovery

^agree!

They will fluctuate in size (adjusting for flow, light, nem water change). Eating is a good sign of good health

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

^agree!

They will fluctuate in size (adjusting for flow, light, nem water change). Eating is a good sign of good health

great, his tentacles have been really small and stubby recently and his mouth was inflated slightly

 

[Deiblerj]

They can tank a while to recover. I’ve had one of mine in a breeder box for 2/3 weeks now and it’s just now getting some small tenticles back. I’ve found BTAs (at least mine) to be pretty tough critters. I’ve had one get sucked in the blower and shrivel up to nothing. Lost almost all tenticles, the ones left were small nubs. It laid low for a while but came back and is massive now! Beautiful bubble tips everyday.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I know you mentioned that you were going to try to take him to the LFS, but as a back-up or future reference...

Here is a write-up on marine velvet, with emergency treatment protocol in post #2

Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...(Amyloodinium-ocellatum).217570/&share_type=t

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

I know you mentioned that you were going to try to take him to the LFS, but as a back-up or future reference...

Here is a write-up on marine velvet, with emergency treatment protocol in post #2

Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_fid=1020&share_tid=217570&url=https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Velvet-(Amyloodinium-ocellatum).217570/&share_type=t

Thank you!! I have a lot of reading to do when I finish with school >.<

 

[PicassoDan]

I would definitely try to determine if it's Ich or Velvet first.

I don't have any experience with velvet, but if it's ich...
--> I would remove the clown and start the tank transfer method (TTM) instead of copper. There's lot of information out there on this, and in my opinion, it's the least stressful on the fish. I do it with every new fish; it ensures that ich never gets into your display tank.
You also need to leave your display tank fallow (fishless) for at least 72 days to be sure ich is no longer present. The TTM takes about two weeks, and after that you'll have to have a quarantine tank for him to live in until the 72 days is up. I went through this exact process, and all the fish survived. If you get through it - and do TTM with every new fish - no more ich - ever!

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

I would definitely try to determine if it's Ich or Velvet first.

I don't have any experience with velvet, but if it's ich...
--> I would remove the clown and start the tank transfer method (TTM) instead of copper. There's lot of information out there on this, and in my opinion, it's the least stressful on the fish. I do it with every new fish; it ensures that ich never gets into your display tank.
You also need to leave your display tank fallow (fishless) for at least 72 days to be sure ich is no longer present. The TTM takes about two weeks, and after that you'll have to have a quarantine tank for him to live in until the 72 days is up. I went through this exact process, and all the fish survived. If you get through it - and do TTM with every new fish - no more ich - ever!

I'll remember that, I just got off the phone with my LFS and they said to continue feeding medicated food, and to set up a qt tank when I return, and then to dose that with melafix and ich x and leave the tank fallow for a month.

 

[ngoodermuth]

There’s no medicated food that is going to treat velvet long enough to wait for your return, unfortunately.

I’m sorry the LFS is not being super helpful, I would start looking at other QT options if you can...

A month fallow isn’t long enough for ich (76 days) OR velvet (6 weeks). Melafix is an herbal remedy meant to boost the immune system/slime coat and doesn’t actually kill anything. Ich-x is malachite green (a copper carbonate), which could actually be useful as a dip or bath to buy you time... but again, wont actually fully eradicate ich. And I still don’t believe this IS ich.

The only time-trusted treatment for ich/ velvet is QT with copper. Or, chloroquine phosphate... but that’s harder to come by.

I really suggest reading the link I’ve posted above.

 

[PicassoDan]

The fact that the fish showed signs of disease for a while before dying, I would suspect ich. Velvet is very fast!

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

There’s no medicated food that is going to treat velvet long enough to wait for your return, unfortunately.

I’m sorry the LFS is not being super helpful, I would start looking at other QT options if you can...

The LFS was saying that velvet is rarer than rare, and since I had signs of infection since early February then everything should have died by now, plus the fish had been showing signs of ich such as flashing against the sand and live rock.

 

[PicassoDan]

I’ve had 2 ich outbreaks. Both killed most of my fish. Only thing I’ve found is to hit it hard and fast.
Quarantine fish. Copper. Be VERY CAREFUL w copper and follow all instructions exactly. The treatment will kill fish if done incorrectly (as I learned the hard way). Then, leave display tank fishless for 3 mths.
The copper treatment requires constant monitoring so don’t think it’s such a good idea w your upcoming break. Ugh. That sucks!
Good luck. And sorry for your loss.
Also, from experience, firefish are the first to go. I assume because they spend so much time near the substrate. I dunno.

This is why I would not recommend copper treatment. Tank Transfer Method is easy.

 

[4FordFamily]

The day of the death the firefish had very fine white specks and was swimming rather slowly, as the day went on I noticed that he wouldn't eat and right before I turned the lights off I noticed that the specks had turned into white blotches. And the next morning he was dead.

Is there any differences in treatment between velvet and ich? I've only really done a lot of research on ich so I'm not sure what I should do

Velvet is much, more more deadly. Smaller spots, spread faster, kill much faster.