This dumb newbie needs help!! 
Long story short, we committed the typical newbie mistake of trying to cycle with fish. By the time I found this site, too late to get rid of the fish. To make a long story short, we have a 20gal tall tank moderately planted, and stocked it with one male betta, 6 zebra danios, 5 neon tetras and 3 panda cories, plus 3 mystery snails. I have an API freshwater kit and was testing twice a day, and doing up to two 50% PWC's twice a day (oye!). I am using Prime as well.
First we had ich show up on the betta following a plunge in temperature when the heater broke overnight......this was successfully eradicated with higher heat (86F) and salt (1.5tsp per 5 gal). I didn't do more salt because the plants were suffering and I was worried about the cories.
Everything was okay for a week after, until my tank hit the nitrite spike. I was doing 50% PWC twice a day, but the nitrites were still hitting 2.0ppm overnight. I believe this stress is what trigged the velvet outbreak. The velvet broke out SO fast - the zebra danios looked pale one evening, and were all rusty the next morning!!! So I freaked, ran out and bought a 10gal tank, and moved ALL the fish out of the tank.
So now I have all the fishies in a 10gal, and I feel terrible, they're so cramped in there. The hospital tank is bare bottomed with only a heater, small HOB filter, and one shell decor item. I started treating with Coppersafe and I'm doing 90% water changes daily (and re-adding Coppersafe for the volume of water I'm changing out). I have an API Copper test and we're testing regularly, and the copper shows between 1-2ppm. I also added a tiny bit of aquarium salt to counter any nitrites and help with bacterial issues, but only at 0.5tsp/5gal. The tank is in my basement and kept dark.
I *know* the fish are stressed, they look so miserable. No deaths yet. The danios are a little fin clamped, but swimming and eating normal, even though they all still look pretty glittery. The cories had red streaking on their dorsal areas for a few days, but I reduced the salt (from 1tsp/5gal to the current 0.5tsp/5gal) and the redness is better. The glitter on the cories, which was only in their gill areas, looks like it's starting to disappear. The neons look terrible - there's actually no visible glitter on them (though I know the velvet could be in their gills)...they're shimmying and drifting backwards in the water.
The betta is the one I'm currently worried about. He seemed to be doing fine, acting normal and no visible velvet or clamped fins at all. But this morning he has some awful red blood-coloured sores on both front fins (pectoral fins? The small ones under his chin.) There's also a small sore on his body in the same area. I assume this is a bacterial infection of some sort??
So..... please, help!!! I don't know what to do! I know it's not a good idea to mix meds....is there an antibiotic safe to use with Coppersafe? I do feel like the Coppersafe is helping with the velvet, it's just very slooooooow, and I'm scared the bacterial infection will kill my betta. I don't want to up the salt because of the cories. I can't handle setting up yet another tank.....right now I have the 20gal planted (empty) that's almost finished cycling, a small 1/2 gal with the snails, another 2.5gal with a betta, and the QT.
Oh, and yes, we're using separate water changing equipment/buckets/gravel vacs with all the tanks.
I also wish I knew how long freshwater velvet lives without a host. Most of the online info I've found relates to marine velvet? I also have a slight added complication with the 20gal planted tank.....not only am I worried about the velvet being dormant in there, I now have danio fry too!! (Which will be going back to the LFS as soon as they're big enough!!)
The only good news in this long and sordid tale is that the 20gal tank is getting close to cycled. Nitrites are spiking still, but the nitrates are finally climbing and it's sure nice not to have to worry about fish in there. Though, now there are a gazillion little detritus nematode worms and nothing to eat them. Ewwwww.
Please help, we feel so overwhelmed and out of our depth.
ETA: Regarding the water parameters in the QT, I'm not testing anything except copper since I'm already doing 90% PWC daily. I don't want to cross contaminate my 20gal tank with any copper or parasites by using the same test kit, etc. The water parameters when I removed the fishies were - NH = 0.25, NO2= 0.5-1.0 (with twice daily 50% PWC's), NO3= less than 5, PH = 7.4. The current water parameters on the 20gal are - NH=0, NO2= 2.0-5.0, NO3=5-10, PH=7.4.....no fish in there but about 30-40 danio fry, and I have no clue how they're surviving with those nitrite levels, but the tank is treated with Prime.
Long story short, we committed the typical newbie mistake of trying to cycle with fish. By the time I found this site, too late to get rid of the fish. To make a long story short, we have a 20gal tall tank moderately planted, and stocked it with one male betta, 6 zebra danios, 5 neon tetras and 3 panda cories, plus 3 mystery snails. I have an API freshwater kit and was testing twice a day, and doing up to two 50% PWC's twice a day (oye!). I am using Prime as well.
First we had ich show up on the betta following a plunge in temperature when the heater broke overnight......this was successfully eradicated with higher heat (86F) and salt (1.5tsp per 5 gal). I didn't do more salt because the plants were suffering and I was worried about the cories.
Everything was okay for a week after, until my tank hit the nitrite spike. I was doing 50% PWC twice a day, but the nitrites were still hitting 2.0ppm overnight. I believe this stress is what trigged the velvet outbreak. The velvet broke out SO fast - the zebra danios looked pale one evening, and were all rusty the next morning!!! So I freaked, ran out and bought a 10gal tank, and moved ALL the fish out of the tank.
So now I have all the fishies in a 10gal, and I feel terrible, they're so cramped in there. The hospital tank is bare bottomed with only a heater, small HOB filter, and one shell decor item. I started treating with Coppersafe and I'm doing 90% water changes daily (and re-adding Coppersafe for the volume of water I'm changing out). I have an API Copper test and we're testing regularly, and the copper shows between 1-2ppm. I also added a tiny bit of aquarium salt to counter any nitrites and help with bacterial issues, but only at 0.5tsp/5gal. The tank is in my basement and kept dark.
I *know* the fish are stressed, they look so miserable. No deaths yet. The danios are a little fin clamped, but swimming and eating normal, even though they all still look pretty glittery. The cories had red streaking on their dorsal areas for a few days, but I reduced the salt (from 1tsp/5gal to the current 0.5tsp/5gal) and the redness is better. The glitter on the cories, which was only in their gill areas, looks like it's starting to disappear. The neons look terrible - there's actually no visible glitter on them (though I know the velvet could be in their gills)...they're shimmying and drifting backwards in the water.
The betta is the one I'm currently worried about. He seemed to be doing fine, acting normal and no visible velvet or clamped fins at all. But this morning he has some awful red blood-coloured sores on both front fins (pectoral fins? The small ones under his chin.) There's also a small sore on his body in the same area. I assume this is a bacterial infection of some sort??
So..... please, help!!! I don't know what to do! I know it's not a good idea to mix meds....is there an antibiotic safe to use with Coppersafe? I do feel like the Coppersafe is helping with the velvet, it's just very slooooooow, and I'm scared the bacterial infection will kill my betta. I don't want to up the salt because of the cories. I can't handle setting up yet another tank.....right now I have the 20gal planted (empty) that's almost finished cycling, a small 1/2 gal with the snails, another 2.5gal with a betta, and the QT.
Oh, and yes, we're using separate water changing equipment/buckets/gravel vacs with all the tanks. I also wish I knew how long freshwater velvet lives without a host. Most of the online info I've found relates to marine velvet? I also have a slight added complication with the 20gal planted tank.....not only am I worried about the velvet being dormant in there, I now have danio fry too!!
(Which will be going back to the LFS as soon as they're big enough!!) The only good news in this long and sordid tale is that the 20gal tank is getting close to cycled. Nitrites are spiking still, but the nitrates are finally climbing and it's sure nice not to have to worry about fish in there. Though, now there are a gazillion little detritus nematode worms and nothing to eat them.
Ewwwww.Please help, we feel so overwhelmed and out of our depth.
ETA: Regarding the water parameters in the QT, I'm not testing anything except copper since I'm already doing 90% PWC daily. I don't want to cross contaminate my 20gal tank with any copper or parasites by using the same test kit, etc. The water parameters when I removed the fishies were - NH = 0.25, NO2= 0.5-1.0 (with twice daily 50% PWC's), NO3= less than 5, PH = 7.4. The current water parameters on the 20gal are - NH=0, NO2= 2.0-5.0, NO3=5-10, PH=7.4.....no fish in there but about 30-40 danio fry, and I have no clue how they're surviving with those nitrite levels, but the tank is treated with Prime.
