Emergency QT Help

[Orcus Varuna]

Yea clown in QT was covered in DT but looking great now.

Don't be fooled by spot free fish. The visible phase is one of many phases in the life cycle of these parasites .

 

[Saltine]

Don't be fooled by spot free fish. The visible phase is one of many phases in the life cycle of these parasites .

Can they still reproduce in copper?

 

[Orcus Varuna]

True which is why it's so difficult to diagnose via the internet.... honestly it can be hard in person too!

Its kind of like the Native American small pox epidemic but in our piscine friends. Europeans had built up an immunity while the Native Americans had not. One fish may have been exposed or come from a genetic line of fish resistant against disease x, while fish y has not.

 

[melypr1985]

Can they still reproduce in copper?

Yes. The copper only kills them after they reproduce inside their cyst and break free to look for a new fishy host. That free swimming stage is where the copper gets them. It effectively "sheilds" the fish from being reinfected by killing them before they get there.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Can they still reproduce in copper?

In theory no but this is solely dependent on reaching and maintaining the recommended therapeutic level of copper for the course of the treat. If you fall below therapeutic levels at any point you run the risk of not killing the velvet parasite. The millions of tiny white dots is a good clue it can be velvet as the velvet parasite is much smaller then cryptocaryon.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

This is a good picture of what velvet typically looks like.

 

[Brew12]

Yes. The copper only kills them after they reproduce inside their cyst and break free to look for a new fishy host. That free swimming stage is where the copper gets them. It effectively "sheilds" the fish from being reinfected by killing them before they get there.

This +1
And it takes a higher level of copper to do this than some products recommend. For instance, Coppersafe needs to be 1.5ppm to 2.0ppm yet the directions will get you to about 0.3ppm.

 

[Saltine]

So am I doing something wrong? I removed the fake rock, just have PVC (4 pieces) in the QT now, along with a small sponge, and 3 Marine Pure balls. Over the past week I've added probably half the bottle of CopperSafe and my levels keep dipping below 1.5ppm. Could the Marine Pure really be absorbing that much?

@melypr1985 @Humblefish

 

[Orcus Varuna]

So am I doing something wrong? I removed the fake rock, just have PVC (4 pieces) in the QT now, along with a small sponge, and 3 Marine Pure balls. Over the past week I've added probably half the bottle of CopperSafe and my levels keep dipping below 1.5ppm. Could the Marine Pure really be absorbing that much?

@melypr1985 @Humblefish

Very well could be, Marinepure has a ton of surface area that copper could potentially bind to. I keep a bag of matrix stewing at all times and when I have dosed copper I know matrix absorbs a lot of it. But someone else with more experience dosing copper with marinepure please chime in.

 

[Saltine]

Very well could be, Marinepure has a ton of surface area that copper could potentially bind to. I keep a bag of matrix stewing at all times and when I have dosed copper I know matrix absorbs a lot of it. But someone else with more experience dosing copper with marinepure please chime in.

Thanks! Should I remove the Marine Pure? The sponge has now been in the tank for a week, not sure if that is enough surface area for beneficial bacteria to populate or not?

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Thanks! Should I remove the Marine Pure? The sponge has now been in the tank for a week, not sure if that is enough surface area for beneficial bacteria to populate or not?

I wouldn't the last thing you would want is an ammonia spike.

 

[Humblefish]

I wouldn't the last thing you would want is an ammonia spike.

+1 At this point, I would keep dosing Coppersafe until the Cu level stabilizes. But test daily to be sure whatever is absorbing all the copper doesn't start leaching it back out.

 

[Saltine]

+1 At this point, I would keep dosing Coppersafe until the Cu level stabilizes. But test daily to be sure whatever is absorbing all the copper doesn't start leaching it back out.

Thanks Humble I'll keep checking it.

 

[Saltine]

Caught the yellow tang! 2 blue green chromis's left, not sure if I'll ever catch them. I was able to get the tang to swim in my net, but the chromis's never have....

 

[Saltine]

1 Chromis down, one to go...

 

[melypr1985]

Woot woot! You can do it!

 

[Saltine]

Woot woot! You can do it!

It's a Christmas Miracle! After giving up for the night, seems he got lazy and hid behind my torch colony. Grabbed my trusty 2 hangers with net and blocked him in! He's in QT. So now the next question. Clowns have had a week head start, do I leave everyone in for 30 days, or pull the clowns sooner and put in another tank? Also after 30 days, just do huge water changes to get rid of the copper? Planning on being fallow for 76 days in the DT, just in case.

Salt

 

[melypr1985]

Clowns have had a week head start, do I leave everyone in for 30 days, or pull the clowns sooner and put in another tank? Also after 30 days, just do huge water changes to get rid of the copper? Planning on being fallow for 76 days in the DT, just in case.

I would just leave everybody in there for the full 30 days. The clowns won't be effected by the extra week. At the end, you can do several water changes and run a poly filter, carbon, cupusorb ect. to get it out of the tank.

 

[Saltine]

I would just leave everybody in there for the full 30 days. The clowns won't be effected by the extra week. At the end, you can do several water changes and run a poly filter, carbon, cupusorb ect. to get it out of the tank.

Thanks! I guess I'll just hope they all get along in the 10g for a month? 6 fish, Yellow Tang, 2 Clowns, 2 Chromis, 1 firefish.

 

[melypr1985]

Thanks! I guess I'll just hope they all get along in the 10g for a month? 6 fish, Yellow Tang, 2 Clowns, 2 Chromis, 1 firefish.

Did we talk about that many fish in a 10 gallon already? I can't remember if we covered that... If you have to use the 10, then do so. Watch for ammonia and aggression. If you find that you are able to get a bigger qt, then that's best.