Urgent request re hospital tank

[lynxpilot]

In DT, I had 1 flame angel, 2 ocellaris clown, 2 blue tangs, 1 yellow tang, each of which I moved to hospital tank yesterday. Tank was SG 1.0015 and I added chelated copper exactly as per instructions. Temp is 80 - 81. Haven't checked other parameters because it's a brand new setup that will get PWC's every day.

Tank is a 55 gallon and I bought a Fluval canister to filter. No oxygen supplement.

I lost one blue tang last night and the other blue along with the yellow tang are gasping for oxygen as I type.

Do I need a bubble stone? They weren't this bad off in the display tank. What's going on?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sooju]

Is the cannister vac breaking the surface of the water? The higher the temp, the less oxygen in the water. You may want to consider keeping the temp below 80 and adding an airstone until things normalize? Do you always keep your SG so low? I'm assuming we're talking a FO tank?

 

[lynxpilot]

The intake and exhaust of the canister are both under water. The SG is low (in the hospital tank) because I'm working toward hyposalinity at 1.009. Not sure if it's prudent to do this along with copper treatment, but I'm not that low yet. Water in the DT was 1.023 (and still is). I'll bump the temp down to about 78 - 79 and try that. I put two bubbler stones in. Not sure if it's related, but the blue tang started swimming. The yellow tang is still laying on the bottom. The clowns have been indifferent about the whole thing. The flame angel seems a bit sluggish, but otherwise OK.

 

[cmor1701d]

Copper or Hypo. Not both. Did you move the fish directly from the tank at 1.023SG to the QT at 1.015 (assuming your first post was a type with an erxtra 0 in it)?

How often are you checking Ammonia, Nitrite and pH?
If you did not take a filter from the DT to the QT you have no source of bacteria to start and the overload of fish could easily produce too much ammonia for the tank to handle.

Get a small power head in the tank to agitate the surface and get some oxygen in there.

Decide if you want to treat with copper or hypo and stick to one. You've already put copper in the tank so all equipment can now only be used in that tank, never transferred or used in the DT.

My preference is for hyposalinity as I think it is easier and safer than copper.

You might want to start thinking aobout 2x daily PWC's until you get some bacteria going that can sustain the bioload. That could take a couple of weeks.

 

[lynxpilot]

Yes first post was a typo. I'll boost the salinity back up with the PWC's. I could also take water from the DT for the bacteria. Would that work OK?

 

[cmor1701d]

There is little to no bacterai in the water column. Bacteria grows on surfaces; sand, rock, glass, plastic, anything it can adhere to. I keep a biowheel in the sump of my DT tank so I have a good source to start my QT when I need it.

Check your water parameters in the morning and evening every day and do PWC's as needed.
Good luck.

 

[lynxpilot]

Remaining blue tang and yellow tang are still laying on the bottom. Looks like they won't make it. When I used DT water and did a PWC, the yellow tang got up for a bit but layed back down. Blue tang is gasping bad. Also didn't add copper to the water change just in case concentration was too high. I'll get a test kit on Tuesday for chelated copper and monitor it closely. Small PWC's about twice daily. This is very frustrating. All fish were happy and healthy in the DT with the exception of the blue tangs being covered with cryptocaryon. They were still active, fed well, etc. I almost think I should have rode it out in the DT. I've done more damage than good by moving to hospital tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I assume you're treating for ich, so you did the right thing by moving them to a hospital tank. BUT... the sudden shift in salinity is probably what is causing your issues, compounded with "normal" dosing of copper in low salinity water. As noted earlier, you want to use copper at your normal tank salinity. Somewhere I read an article about how copper becomes even more toxic at lower salinities and I'll see if I can find it. I know it doesn't help you at this point, but for anyone else reading this it might come in time.

If you're going to bring the salinity back up, do it slow. It's no different than acclimating a fish when you bring it home.

 

[melosu58]

I also prefer hypo. Copper just dont seem to suit well with tangs IMO. Here are some good links.

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

 

[lynxpilot]

scratch one yellow and one blue. this sucks.

 

[melosu58]

Sorry about your loss