Squirrelfish Help ASAP!

[Cmartin7739]

We purchased a 5” squirrelfish about a month ago that has been living in our 110gal tank with a 3” scorpion fish and 2” large humu trigger that we tank transferred from another tank of ours. This tank has been set up for about 2 months with live rock, sand turbo start and daily level checks and nothing for quite a while has been of the ordinary.

The only thing that changed is over the last week we struggled with the old T8 light (which was off for about 48hours) and switched to a new T5/LED combo. I haven’t seen any aggression from the Humu towards the squirrelfish and they are constantly together unless we feed. He eats 2 silversides a week and will at times steal the Humu’s mysis but is still swimming/eating/acting like normal with no flashing seen yet. So could it be ich from the light issue? Or should I fear something worse?

Any advice on treatment is welcome and appreciated since I’m only about a year into the hobby!

 

[NatD]

Good morning! Welcome to Reef2Reef.

Let's get you some help going from folks who've dealt with this real quick... #reefsquad

In the interim, you might check out this great thread about Ich Eradication vs. Ich Management:

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

www.reef2reef.com

I would say though that the light issue isn't a cause for ich, but rather it was already on the fish or in the system

 

[saltyhog]

Agree, looks like ich with some bacterial secondary infection (fins).

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Morning. Sorry for your troubles.

Your squirrelfish has ich along with a secondary bacterial infection possibly, which is why his fins are frayed like that. The only way to eradicate the parasite from your aquarium is to remove all your fish and place them in QT with a copper based medication for approx 3-4 weeks in addition to running your display aquarium fallow for a 76 day period.

Are you willing to setup a QT system and treat all your fish? If so, we are happy to walk you through the next steps or answer any questions.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Good morning! Welcome to Reef2Reef.

Let's get you some help going from folks who've dealt with this real quick... #reefsquad

In the interim, you might check out this great thread about Ich Eradication vs. Ich Management:

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

www.reef2reef.com

I would say though that the light issue isn't a cause for ich, but rather it was already on the fish or in the system

This is a great thread to read to make the appropriate decision that works best for your particular situation.

 

[Cmartin7739]

Morning. Sorry for your troubles.

Your squirrelfish has ich along with a secondary bacterial infection possibly, which is why his fins are frayed like that. The only way to eradicate the parasite from your aquarium is to remove all your fish and place them in QT with a copper based medication for approx 3-4 weeks in addition to running your display aquarium fallow for a 76 day period.

Are you willing to setup a QT system and treat all your fish? If so, we are happy to walk you through the next steps or answer any questions.

Right after I posted that I did catch him, malachite green dipped, fresh water dipped and QTed him. That’s all I really knew to do. ‍
In the QT tank I did start cupramine and turned off all lights since the whole ordeal was probably stressful. Should I be doing anything else or doing it different? The QT is 20gal is that large enough for the 5” squirrelfish, 3” scorpionfish and 2” Humu?

Thank y’all so so much!

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Right after I posted that I did catch him, malachite green dipped, fresh water dipped and QTed him. That’s all I really knew to do. ‍
In the QT tank I did start cupramine and turned off all lights since the whole ordeal was probably stressful. Should I be doing anything else or doing it different? The QT is 20gal is that large enough for the 5” squirrelfish, 3” scorpionfish and 2” Humu?

Thank y’all so so much!

Nice job! The size of QT really depends on the particular fish behavior. Right now I have a 29 gallon QT with 4 angelfish and 1 tang all under 5" that they are all doing great! There are a couple reason why though. My QT was cycled months in advance and I placed several tank dividers inside. I posted a picture for your reference. Is your QT cycled? If not make sure you have several bottles of BIOSPIRA or Dr. Tims One and Only nitrifying bacteria along with plenty of fresh saltwater made to control ammonia levels.

In regards to administering cupramine, I have put detail instructions for you below.

Key Points to Successfully and Safely Administering Copper Medication:

• Copper is extremely toxic to aquarium life. As a matter of fact, no inverts, corals, etc. can survive the copper treatment and it is advised to administer copper in separate QT at-least 20 feet away from DT. In addition, all tools should be utilized separately for water changes, testing, etc.
• Copper is only effective when administered at therapeutic levels. Too low of solution it can’t do its job properly and too high of solution it can potentially kill your livestock.
• My personal brand preference for copper treatment is Seachem Cupramine. It is fully charged (ionic) copper solution. I've personally had great success with this product but there are several great products on the market.
• Do NOT run media such as carbon unless you're trying to remove or reduce of the copper solution.
• Keep the QT scape minimalistic. You want to maintain consistent levels of copper during the treatment period and any additional media, sand bed, rock, etc. can affect the copper absorption rate. PVC piping is a great solution to use for creating hiding places for your livestock while in quarantine and it will not have a large impact on the copper solution.
• A reliable test kit is a must and in conjunction with Cupramine I recommend the Hanna Checker. These tests kits are easy to facilitate and the results are read digitally. Seachem makes their own copper test kit. However, the results are viewed through a color scale which I find it hard to decipher.

*Note: API copper test kit does not work well with Cupramine.

• When administering copper treatment, it is advised to slowly increase the copper level to allow time for your fish to adapt. I start with 1/4 the recommended amount suggested by Seachem. I then add 1/8 dose twice daily splitting between am/pm over a 4-5-day period until I reach the recommended level of .50ppm.

 

[NatD]

Right after I posted that I did catch him, malachite green dipped, fresh water dipped and QTed him. That’s all I really knew to do. ‍
In the QT tank I did start cupramine and turned off all lights since the whole ordeal was probably stressful. Should I be doing anything else or doing it different? The QT is 20gal is that large enough for the 5” squirrelfish, 3” scorpionfish and 2” Humu?

Thank y’all so so much!

You are a master fisherman to be able to get them all so fast!!

 

[Cmartin7739]

Nice job! The size of QT really depends on the particular fish behavior. Right now I have a 29 gallon QT with 4 angelfish and 1 tang all under 5" that they are all doing great! There are a couple reason why though. My QT was cycled months in advance and I placed several tank dividers inside. I posted a picture for your reference. Is your QT cycled? If not make sure you have several bottles of BIOSPIRA or Dr. Tims One and Only nitrifying bacteria along with plenty of fresh saltwater made to control ammonia levels.

In regards to administering cupramine, I have put detail instructions for you below.

Key Points to Successfully and Safely Administering Copper Medication:

• Copper is extremely toxic to aquarium life. As a matter of fact, no inverts, corals, etc. can survive the copper treatment and it is advised to administer copper in separate QT at-least 20 feet away from DT. In addition, all tools should be utilized separately for water changes, testing, etc.
• Copper is only effective when administered at therapeutic levels. Too low of solution it can’t do its job properly and too high of solution it can potentially kill your livestock.
• My personal brand preference for copper treatment is Seachem Cupramine. It is fully charged (ionic) copper solution. I've personally had great success with this product but there are several great products on the market.
• Do NOT run media such as carbon unless you're trying to remove or reduce of the copper solution.
• Keep the QT scape minimalistic. You want to maintain consistent levels of copper during the treatment period and any additional media, sand bed, rock, etc. can affect the copper absorption rate. PVC piping is a great solution to use for creating hiding places for your livestock while in quarantine and it will not have a large impact on the copper solution.
• A reliable test kit is a must and in conjunction with Cupramine I recommend the Hanna Checker. These tests kits are easy to facilitate and the results are read digitally. Seachem makes their own copper test kit. However, the results are viewed through a color scale which I find it hard to decipher.

*Note: API copper test kit does not work well with Cupramine.

• When administering copper treatment, it is advised to slowly increase the copper level to allow time for your fish to adapt. I start with 1/4 the recommended amount suggested by Seachem. I then add 1/8 dose twice daily splitting between am/pm over a 4-5-day period until I reach the recommended level of .50ppm.

Thank you so much for all of that quality information. When I got home from work he’s looking much better in the QT and eating well which is so good to see. The QT tank has been cycled for about 3 months now so it’s definitely a life saver to have in times like these! We will be working tonight to QT everyone else. How long would you recommend keeping copper in the tank? The whole 72 days or more like 14 days? I have the API copper test already on hand just as a preparation in case this ever happened but since there’s no way to check for ammonia levels with copramine do you just do water changes once a week since you can’t test?
Again....thank you so much!

 

[LAReefer4Life]

76 days is technically the longest recorded life cycle in one study but the average is between 7 - 42 days to complete the life cycle.

I am currently going the fallow period myself because I added corals to my aqua scape and I didn’t want to risk it. I am going the full 12 weeks. Once you go 76 days you might as well go the full 12 weeks for wiggle room and peace of mind.