I've lost 2 of 9 Longspine Cardinal Fish

[Pdash]

QT is a 20L with a air pump with air stone, hob filter, sponge filter with a power head pulling through it. Fish were acclimated by floating and matching QT salinity to bag salinity. Ammonia has always read zero as per a Seachem badge.
I received 9 Longspine Cardinal fish on Friday 4/19/19, one died on the 2nd night and another on the 3rd. I've noticed white stringy poop from several of them on the first day, the first to die came in with significant damage on his tail fin, and what looked like a white smudge of secondary fungal/bacterial infection near the base of his tale. Several of them have minor damage to their tails. I have started CP at .6g per 10 gal, dosed general cure and Furan-2 as per dosages on the packages on Saturday, Furan-2 only on Sunday, did a 25% water change today then re dosed GC and Furan-2 again. I've been feeding some lrs, mysis, and I've tried some fish eggs. They are still quite skittish and feeding response has been very minimal no point in even attempting Metro or GC laced food. I'm going to attempt to hatch some brine shrimp tomorrow in an attempt to get them eating once it comes in from Amazon, with the intent of moving on to medicated food as soon as it is possible. I have also purchased some garlic gaurd, kanaplex, sulfaplex, and Nitrofuracin Green but they won't be here until later this week. I hate losing fish like this, and want to know the best way to proceed.

 

[Pdash]

I also noticed one shake his head violently/ have some sort of spasm today. Here are some pics

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I also noticed one shake his head violently/ have some sort of spasm today. Here are some pics

Headshake and fin damage are two telltale signs of flukes. I would do a FW dip and see what you get.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Here is a link on how to do one.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[Pdash]

Headshake and fin damage are two telltale signs of flukes. I would do a FW dip and see what you get.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I had already dosed GC in the water, I'm thinking I should have done a FW dip first now... Is it still worth it to dip them? Should I dip all of them at the same time, or just one in order to confirm flukes? I also have methylene blue and ruby reef rally available.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Hey, thanks for the reply. I had already dosed GC in the water, I'm thinking I should have done a FW dip first now... Is it still worth it to dip them? Should I dip all of them at the same time, or just one in order to confirm flukes? I also have methylene blue and ruby reef rally available.

I would try to find the one shaking it’s head and dip him. Remember it takes two doses 5-7 days apart to kill flukes. If you can get him and you find flukes then it’s safe to say they all have them.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

RRR is a great antiseptic when used as a 90 min bath. If the fin rot/damage isn’t flukes that would be a good first step in treating it

 

[Pdash]

I would try to find the one shaking it’s head and dip him. Remember it takes two doses 5-7 days apart to kill flukes. If you can get him and you find flukes then it’s safe to say they all have them.

I have no confidence that I could pick out the individual, it was one of the four or so moderately sized ones, its tough to tell them apart. At least for me anyway.

 

[Pdash]

I'm setting up the freshwater dip now, and I have plenty of fresh saltwater on hand and could salinity/temp match it for a RRR dip as well if there are no flukes. Would both dips in one night be too much? They actually don't seem to be in too bad a shape besides the obvious issues noted above.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I'm setting up the freshwater dip now, and I have plenty of fresh saltwater on hand and could salinity/temp match it for a RRR dip as well if there are no flukes. Would both dips in one night be too much? They actually don't seem to be in too bad a shape besides the obvious issues noted above.

I would dip whichever one you think might have been shaking it’s head (best guess) then if negative for flukes give them all a RRR bath. Actually you could just skip the dip and give them all a RRR bath as the Formalin in it is effective against flukes.
I think I would still dip one just to know (visual confirmation)

 

[Pdash]

Okay, will do thanks for the help! I'll keep you posted if you're interested. cheers

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Okay, will do thanks for the help! I'll keep you posted if you're interested. cheers

Absolutely, so are you dipping one first for visual confirmation?

 

[Pdash]

Yep, blue bucket is for the fw dip. Think I might dip 2, whatever I pickup in the net quick and easy

 

[Pdash]

Really glad for these, they make my life so easy.

 

[Pdash]

What's the dosage on the RRR bath, the instructions on the bottle are for use in tank? I'm using 2 gallons of fresh saltwater for that dip.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

2/3-1 teaspoon (measured) per gallon

 

[Pdash]

He's playing dead in the fw dip, making me nervous.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

He's playing dead in the fw dip, making me nervous.

Tangs do that also, you can nudge him with your finger if you want. As long as he’s not in distress it’s ok. Start looking around the 4 min mark for flukes coming off

 

[Pdash]

He seems a bit disoriented now that he is back in the qt. He isn't schooling with the others. Here is what I think might be flukes, they are quite small this pic is using magnification. They floated as well.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Hard to see but flukes look like opaque sesame seeds of all different sizes