4FordFamily
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Ich on Rabbitfish?
- Thread starter ReefWithCare
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ReefWithCare
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So the white spots/streaks haven’t disappeared while CP is in the tank. The rabbitfish isn’t breathing as hard now though. Could ich velvet be ruled out at this point?
How many days have passed since CP was dosed? And how long has this QT been setup?
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ReefWithCare
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About 6 days since CP was dosed. The QT itself has been consistency running for the last 4 months
Unfortunately, a 4 month old QT is not suitable for using CP: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/qt-and-biofilm.292878/
The medication is most likely just being biodegraded out of the water.
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ReefWithCare
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Hmm - I mean that would render just about any QT process that isn’t Copper useless. Sterile QT would be pretty risky with ammonia control as well [emoji79]
I am actually conducting an experiment relevant to this, with the help of @Christoph. Basically, I sterilized two of my QTs with chlorine, reseeded them, and dosed both with Chloroquine - one with light, one without an aquarium light. I am taking water samples of both every few days and will send them to Christoph for analysis. Once the experiment is complete, we plan on writing an article for R2R "mapping out" Chloroquine degradation i.e. how long someone can use Chloroquine in a QT before needing to break down & sterilize the QT. And also disprove the assertion that light breaks down Chloroquine and thus cannot be used in QT.
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ReefWithCare
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I am actually conducting an experiment relevant to this, with the help of @Christoph. Basically, I sterilized two of my QTs with chlorine, reseeded them, and dosed both with Chloroquine - one with light, one without an aquarium light. I am taking water samples of both every few days and will send them to Christoph for analysis. Once the experiment is complete, we plan on writing an article for R2R "mapping out" Chloroquine degradation i.e. how long someone can use Chloroquine in a QT before needing to break down & sterilize the QT. And also disprove the assertion that light breaks down Chloroquine and thus cannot be used in QT.
Righto - but the overal message is to sterilize the QT at least every quarter???
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update - I changed the water and increased the CP dosage. White spots/streaks are nearly gone now and the rapid breathing seems to have stopped [emoji848]
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ReefWithCare
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Hi again,
@Humblefish - The spots/streaks came back. This time I observed the rabbitfish actually scratching [emoji79]. I have a video I took but it’s really bad quality. I’m not really sure what to do at this point since I know it’s either got ich or velvet. I have CP in the water but it’s not doing the trick likely do to the bio film. I want to dose copper but not not sure the best approach as this would require removal of the Cp first.. This is my only QT I can medicate in (other tank is a coral QT which = no meds)
Here is the video:
https://streamable.com/5de5e
The rabbitfish still eats a TON of food and is in good spirits. I likely have a low range in CP in there keeping the fish from getting completely overwhelmed. I have about 50/MG gal in CP in there right now.
Note - there is a light on in this area above the QT —- it does not appear to be light sensitive and happily goes up to the top of the tank wanting to be fed every time it sees me.
@Humblefish - The spots/streaks came back. This time I observed the rabbitfish actually scratching [emoji79]. I have a video I took but it’s really bad quality. I’m not really sure what to do at this point since I know it’s either got ich or velvet. I have CP in the water but it’s not doing the trick likely do to the bio film. I want to dose copper but not not sure the best approach as this would require removal of the Cp first.. This is my only QT I can medicate in (other tank is a coral QT which = no meds)
Here is the video:
https://streamable.com/5de5e
The rabbitfish still eats a TON of food and is in good spirits. I likely have a low range in CP in there keeping the fish from getting completely overwhelmed. I have about 50/MG gal in CP in there right now.
Note - there is a light on in this area above the QT —- it does not appear to be light sensitive and happily goes up to the top of the tank wanting to be fed every time it sees me.
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@ReefWithCare I can't tell much from the video. Can you post pics (under white light) showing the spots/streaks?
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ReefWithCare
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Here a second attempt. I just woke the fish up when I did this, but it helped because they didn’t move much and I could get closer. There are less streaks/spots this morning. You’ll notice here that it does seem to “cough” when breathing.
https://streamable.com/a7o6n
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ReefWithCare
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I sourced it from EBay after a R2R member recommended the source to me after he saved most of his tank from a velvet outbreak using it. I tried to get from a Vet previously, but the Vet denied me and then proceeded to blacklist me from other vets because of fears that his peers told them that CP usage was leading to resistant strains of parasites due to misdosing. This particular Vet had prescribed CP to other reefers in my area.
I have used this CP before with seemingly no issues --- but it's very possible the safety stop was doing the all the work as I do dip all my fish with safety stop before they go in QT. It's also very possible that this was the first fish I got that actually had an active ick or velvet infestation. I have never observed scratching or flashing until now from a QT'ed fish. The main things I have dealt with in QT have been internal parasites, flukes, and a bacterial infection - all of which CP wouldn't treat.
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ReefWithCare
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It has not. I do dip with Safety Stop before they go into QT and I almost always find a ton of stuff that falls off --- usually it's black and white dots...it could have been flukes, but it's all in a white bucket so hard to ID and they could have come back.
I ran out of General Cure. I still have Prazipro and can just go back to PraziPro + Metro soaked food. I prefer General Cure because it saves me 2 water changes, but don't really want to wait on shipping and might as well use what I have on hand. If it has flukes would it be scratching on the pvc?
It should, but Rabbitfish have a pretty high tolerance when it comes to parasites & worms. One reason I don't think this is ich is because they possess a serum in their mucous coat which has been proven to kill ich and also shows antibacterial activity. Probably making them one of the most disease resistant fish around.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20117218
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ReefWithCare
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Oh wow interesting. They are so superior to Tangs when it comes to algae eating and disease resistance it's a shame they aren't as popular.
Okay, I'm going to dose up PraziPro when I get home after the QT gets it's weekly change. It is hard to see the white spots in that video but you can see them a little bit on the fins. Flukes would definitely explain the labored breathing.
They are both "pooping machines" i.e. nitrate factories.
I guess tangs are more popular because they are considered prettier.
