Purple Tang Ich and PopEye

[DavidJTawil]

I have a purple tang in quarantine for the past 22 days and this morning it came down with what looks like ich and pop-eye. The copper (copper power) concentration has been 2.5 ppm for the past 16 days and has been tested once a week using the Hannah copper tester.
The popeye is only in one eye. I've done a freshwater bath and it doesn't seem like flukes.
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[sc50964]

Is it cloudy? Is it just one eye? If it’s not cloudy but swollen and it’s just one eye, then it’s just injury which means good water quality and good will heat him.

 

[DavidJTawil]

Yes it's cloudy and is only a single eye.

 

[sc50964]

Yes it's cloudy and is only a single eye.

There is a difference between cloudy eye vs swollen eye. Which is it or is it both?

is he eating?

 

[DavidJTawil]

It is both cloudy and swollen. Eating but having a difficult time with coordination and is missing a lot of the food.

 

[Celestion]

is micro bubbles still connected to pop eye

 

[DavidJTawil]

I don't see any microbubles on the eye. When I did a freshwater bath, I used a Turkey blaster but nothing came off.

 

[sc50964]

It is both cloudy and swollen. Eating but having a difficult time with coordination and is missing a lot of the food.

Has he been treated for flukes? If not then that’s likely it.

 

[sc50964]

I don't see any microbubles on the eye. When I did a freshwater bath, I used a Turkey blaster but nothing came off.

How did you do the FWD? Did you see anything afterwards?

 

[DavidJTawil]

How did you do the FWD? Did you see anything afterwards?

Heated a 2 gallon bucket of RODI water to match the quarantine tank water temp. Aerated for 15 minutes beforehand then added it in and watched for 5 minutes, Turkey basting every minute or so. Didn't see anything.

 

[sc50964]

Heated a 2 gallon bucket of RODI water to match the quarantine tank water temp. Aerated for 15 minutes beforehand then added it in and watched for 5 minutes, Turkey basting every minute or so. Didn't see anything.

Did you also match ph?

 

[DavidJTawil]

Did you also match ph?

Yes. And I even did a half saltwater half freshwater bath in between reintroduction to the quarantine.

 

[sc50964]

Yes. And I even did a half saltwater half freshwater bath in between reintroduction to the quarantine.

If he hasn’t been treated with flukes and the FWD didn’t show anything visible & he isn’t blind in that one eye yet (water in his cloudy eye), then you either have velvet or the kind of flukes that only gets killed off by Prazi.

it is odd that he only develops cloudy eye after 16 days at 2.5ppm of copper. Or did I get that wrong?

if I did get that history right then he likely has two of three problems - ich, velvet, flukes.

 

[DavidJTawil]

you got the history right. Based on the pictures, do you think it's ich or velvet?
What would you recommend as a treatment plan?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a purple tang in quarantine for the past 22 days and this morning it came down with what looks like ich and pop-eye. The copper (copper power) concentration has been 2.5 ppm for the past 16 days and has been tested once a week using the Hannah copper tester.
The popeye is only in one eye. I've done a freshwater bath and it doesn't seem like flukes.
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

The eye is likely from an injury from the egg crate which can easily cause injury and I notice you can the strap cutoffs on the inside protruding ready to cause injury.
On the ich, what temperature are you treating at?
For the eye, I generally do not like mixing meds but you should be able to dose seachem kanaplex for the eye. If so, add oxygen via air stone and monitor ammonia and nitrate very closely with reliable test kit

 

[DavidJTawil]

77 degrees. Temperature is pretty stable with the inkbrid Wi-Fi controller.

I have two SeaChem ammonia badges and with weekly water changes, they've stayed yello the entire time.
Would you treat kanaplex directly to the tank or bind it to the food using kanaplex?

 

[sc50964]

you got the history right. Based on the pictures, do you think it's ich or velvet?
What would you recommend as a treatment plan?

Depends on how much risk you are willing take with respect to his health, the most aggressive approach is to add a full dosage of prazi on top of the existing copper. This may introduce bacterial infection if the mixing of the meds causes a bacteria bloom. There are different products that contain praziquantel - general cure, straight up praziquantel powder, or prazipro. Humble fish has plenty of info on how to use pure DMSO liquid to make the prazi solution to reduce the possible of bacteria bloom but my attempts have not been overly successful.

if you got another QT or tanks available, you may want to consider doing a separate flukes treatment for 3 days before putting him back to the copper treatment.

 

[sc50964]

77 degrees. Temperature is pretty stable with the inkbrid Wi-Fi controller.

I have two SeaChem ammonia badges and with weekly water changes, they've stayed yello the entire time.
Would you treat kanaplex directly to the tank or bind it to the food using kanaplex?

If both eyes are cloudy then it’s for sure bacterial infection. But he only has one eye so that’s not a definitive sign. If you do want to try, mixing kanaplex in food with focus is the way to go.