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The Kraken

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 15, 2011
Messages
41
SO I got Ich a few weeks ago. LFS just said treat with Metronidazole so I did in water and food. Thought it was going away. Then noticed most of fish had it! So got a QT setup (40 gallon). Had fun catching fish NOT! Could not catch Blue Hippo Tang who was the worst of them. Started lowering salinity in QT. everybody looking good. Finally caught Dory, did freshwater dip and put her in QT. 2 days later my flame wrasses and convict tang were dead. Rest of fish looking in distress. Dosed copper as last ditch effort. Had mixed results. All fish perked up some in 24 hours except for Dory. She was doing death dance so I pulled her and ended it quick for her. Within 24 hours no Ich noticeable anywhere and even Fairy Wrasse who was lying sideways at bottom of tank was swimming around and all eating voraciously!
Here's my question... How long do I dose the copper?
I still have a small gramma in MT which I thought was dying but now is spot free and eating great and not flashing. I can't catch this guy to save my life! I also have a diamond goby in the MT that I don't know what to do with. Do I put sand in a separate QT and move him. I know I need the MT empty for 6 weeks or so but man the water changes on the QT are getting annoying and my nitrates are still high.

Any advice for a moron who didn't Quarantine his new wrasses before putting them in to population?
 
The Kraken said:
SO I got Ich a few weeks ago. LFS just said treat with Metronidazole so I did in water and food. Thought it was going away. Then noticed most of fish had it! So got a QT setup (40 gallon). Had fun catching fish NOT! Could not catch Blue Hippo Tang who was the worst of them. Started lowering salinity in QT. everybody looking good. Finally caught Dory, did freshwater dip and put her in QT. 2 days later my flame wrasses and convict tang were dead. Rest of fish looking in distress. Dosed copper as last ditch effort. Had mixed results. All fish perked up some in 24 hours except for Dory. She was doing death dance so I pulled her and ended it quick for her. Within 24 hours no Ich noticeable anywhere and even Fairy Wrasse who was lying sideways at bottom of tank was swimming around and all eating voraciously!
Here's my question... How long do I dose the copper?
I still have a small gramma in MT which I thought was dying but now is spot free and eating great and not flashing. I can't catch this guy to save my life! I also have a diamond goby in the MT that I don't know what to do with. Do I put sand in a separate QT and move him. I know I need the MT empty for 6 weeks or so but man the water changes on the QT are getting annoying and my nitrates are still high.

Any advice for a moron who didn't Quarantine his new wrasses before putting them in to population?

Hopefully you brought salinity back up over a few days, that will stress fish and possibly kill them bringing it up too quickly. Do you have a refractometer to closely monitor the salinity as well as check the pH as you have to buffer it with hypo. Also, copper and hypo don't mix, hopefully the salinity is back to normal. Low salinity makes copper stronger.

As for the wrasse, put a plastic container with sand in QT, it can sleep in it and it is easily removed to clean or change out the sand.

Copper is kept at a certain level (need copper test kit) for 2-4 weeks. It depends on what you are using. Also, you can't use amquel or prime with copper, it can create a deadly level of copper.
 
I never really got salinity below 1.010. (yes I have a refractometer). In the process of lowering it over a few days the fish died. That is when I dosed copper and slowly raised salinity back up. It is at 1.020 now and will raise it to 1.025 over the next couple days. I did nothing fast with the salinity ( I know that much at least).
As for the goby do I use sand from the DT or new sand? I will put it in a separate 20 gallon tank so as to not overcrowd my 40 gallon (which may have been the problem related to dead fish).
Not dosing amquel either.
 
Well, how ich works is that when you dont see it on your fish it is chilling down in the sand waiting to hit the next part of its cycle. The only time you can see ich is when it is about to move into the part of the cycle in the sand and explodes into more ich.
 
Yeah, I'm bringing salinity up now since copper is in QT. Never heard copper and hypo salinity don't play well though. I just figured hypo would be overkill since I'm already stressing them with copper. I've heard fish can be immune to ich after exposure? Are mine now? Or is it one of those saltwater myths? And how long should I treat with copper? And at what point is it too long of treatment? I know LFS they treat with copper in their tanks and I assume some fish are in there for a long time.
Back to sand and Goby. I understand the ich and lifecycle on substrate. So I shouldn't put DT sand into QT, but won't new sand go through a cycle and cause ammonia spike? Should I put my gramma and goby in separate QT since they've been in DT and are probably still infected?
 
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