Sick purple tang

[Darstar301]

Hi new here. I need some help with a sick purple tang. He’s been in a 40g QT tank for three weeks with 2 ppm hanna checked Coppersafe. It looks like he got velvet on the second day that went away and he has been eating well. The skin discoloration appeared about a week ago. We noticed he started breathing heavy yesterday and now stopped eating. We did a fresh today and did not see any flukes. These is my tank parameters: salinity: 1.21
Ammonia :O
Nitrate:10
Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

How long was the freshwater dip? If there were gill flukes, they may be too small to see in the dip water without a microscope, but the fish's breathing should start to slow down if they were there.
What is the fish's respiration rate today? You can count the number of gill beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4.
Any other fish in the QT with it?
How did you confirm that it had velvet early on? That is often misdiagnosed by people.

Jay

 

[Coralreefer1]

Hi and welcome to R2R first off.
Unfortunately, I am not very good on the veterinarian side of the marine hobby dealing with disease etc., however, your Tang seems stressed. You might think about adding some rock work to give it hiding places to feel more relaxed and more of a replication of the wild.
Just a thought...
Good luck!
They are beautiful fish from the Red Sea.

 

[Darstar301]

We counted 200 breaths per minute. We saw that the fish was covered with fine powder covering his whole body. We did the freshwater dip for 5 minutes. There are no other fish in the QT tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

We counted 200 breaths per minute. We saw that the fish was covered with fine powder covering his whole body. We did the freshwater dip for 5 minutes. There are no other fish in the QT tank.

That sure sounds like velvet / Amyloodinium. The trouble is, while coppersafe will work, it is mild, and therefore pretty slow to act. Velvet on the other hand, is very quick to kill. I've measured Coppersafe at full dose in seawater and it tests out at 2.25 ppm. You might consider bumping up to that value. Another option would be a hydrogen peroxide in seawater dip. A study in Hawaii found that a 75ppm peroxide dip in seawater for 30 minutes helped with velvet. In their case, they moved the fish to a clean tank, but it would still buy you some time I think. This is still experimental, but perhaps worth a try - 2.5 ml of 3% household peroxide in a liter of tank water should equate to 75 ppm.

Jay

 

[AM machine]

Hi new here. I need some help with a sick purple tang. He’s been in a 40g QT tank for three weeks with 2 ppm hanna checked Coppersafe. It looks like he got velvet on the second day that went away and he has been eating well. The skin discoloration appeared about a week ago. We noticed he started breathing heavy yesterday and now stopped eating. We did a fresh today and did not see any flukes. These is my tank parameters: salinity: 1.21
Ammonia :O
Nitrate:10
Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[AM machine]

Looks like brook it does not kill all fish i had imperator and bird nose for year dipped every week formalin just came back lack of color Chloroquine is supposed to cure but its prescription now after its supposed to help covid 19