Hippo QT, ID on condition?

rwreef · Jun 29, 2022

I've had this hippo for several weeks now in QT. He eats like a horse. I've treated Neoplex for external infection/bacteria he had. I've also done GC in food. I started copper power, but he was sensitive to it so i stopped (this was early on). The infection/bacteria stuff is looking looking much better now. However, he now has some white blotches and specks on his face. I'm not sure if th3se are something like flukes or not. Any help yo ID is appreciated. Sorry this is the best pic I could get, he is very shy.

rwreef · Jun 29, 2022

#fishmedic

vetteguy53081 · Jun 29, 2022

These appear to be mucus spores or lesions which may have derived from previous parasitical outbreak
Once you start copper, you want to follow it through for a full 30 days
You stated that hepatus was uncomfortable with copper
What copper level were you at and how were you monitoring it?

Jay Hemdal · Jun 29, 2022

rwreef said:
I've had this hippo for several weeks now in QT. He eats like a horse. I've treated Neoplex for external infection/bacteria he had. I've also done GC in food. I started copper power, but he was sensitive to it so i stopped (this was early on). The infection/bacteria stuff is looking looking much better now. However, he now has some white blotches and specks on his face. I'm not sure if th3se are something like flukes or not. Any help yo ID is appreciated. Sorry this is the best pic I could get, he is very shy.

I'm not sure what you saw with the Copper Power, but it wasn't copper toxicity (if you dosed correctly). If anything, Copper Power is weaker than it should be - some people dose it at 2.5 ppm. I've dosed Coppersafe on hundreds of hepatus tangs and have never had any issues.

Jay

rwreef · Jun 29, 2022

Sorry for the confusion. My comment was trying to state that I noticed a change (stopped eating) and I stopped copper. The copper level was 0.65ppm measured with a hannah checker at the time. I am 100% ok with going back to copper if you think this will help treat him. I was only adding the copper info above to provide all details of what I've done up to this point. Again, this was when I first received the fish and there may have been other factors contributing to him not eating. Do you guys believe copper will treat his current state? I appreciate the feedback.

Jay Hemdal · Jun 29, 2022

rwreef said:
Sorry for the confusion. My comment was trying to state that I noticed a change (stopped eating) and I stopped copper. The copper level was 0.65ppm measured with a hannah checker at the time. I am 100% ok with going back to copper if you think this will help treat him. I was only adding the copper info above to provide all details of what I've done up to this point. Again, this was when I first received the fish and there may have been other factors contributing to him not eating. Do you guys believe copper will treat his current state? I appreciate the feedback.

All new fish really need to go through 30 days of copper and two prazi treatments. This screens for ich, velvet and flukes. It doesn’t help with bacterial issues or brooklynella, but those are less common.
You were just a bit above 1/4 dose for copper power, so not high enough to really do anything. If water quality is good and the fish is eating well, I would consider backing up and putting it through copper and prazi.
Jay

rwreef · Jun 29, 2022

Will do, thanks!

Eagle_Steve · Jun 29, 2022

In addition, I have found that taking copper to therputic levels in 2 days with hepatus tangs has always worked best for me. I am one who runs copper at 2.25-2.5 as well and have had no issues with doing it that way. Seems getting them there faster does not allow them to "go nuts" like slowly raising it. All of mine had suppressed appetite for the first few days and then went back to eating like hogs. Was not like this when I slowly ramped up. Seemed to annoy them more that way.

Just what I noticed and @Jay Hemdal can chime in if this is a bad way to do it.