FLUKES NOT GOING AWAY

[Jay Hemdal]

Hanna salinity tester and to be sure I brought a sample to a lfs and they confirmed my salinity is 13 ppt 1.010 SG. I plan on lowering to 12 ppt just in case somehow it’s ich.

I mean is weeks normal to cure flukes?
To be clear like 14+ days of prazipro and 2 weeks of hypo so far.

I almost made an impulsive decision and dosed copper power but I stopped myself. It’s getting frustrating.

I don’t know about copper power, but coppersafe can be used in conjunction with hypo, mostly to control velvet, which I don’t think is the issue here.
As I alluded to, there are rare euryhaline/brackish water flukes, but those usually show up from Wild caught brackish water fish - I’ve run into some that came in on Fundulus killifish.

Jay

 

[sal16cal1]

I don’t know about copper power, but coppersafe can be used in conjunction with hypo, mostly to control velvet, which I don’t think is the issue here.
As I alluded to, there are rare euryhaline/brackish water flukes, but those usually show up from Wild caught brackish water fish - I’ve run into some that came in on Fundulus killifish.

Jay

I don’t know about copper power, but coppersafe can be used in conjunction with hypo, mostly to control velvet, which I don’t think is the issue here.
As I alluded to, there are rare euryhaline/brackish water flukes, but those usually show up from Wild caught brackish water fish - I’ve run into some that came in on Fundulus killifish.

Jay

It’s looking like it was marine velvet and possibly ich even though I highly doubt it . Since I’ve dropped the PPT to 12 I’ve seen improvement. The minute it was raised to 13-13.5 scratching started. The hard part is keeping it there that’s why I started copper power but quickly stopped. I keep reading it takes 30 days for velvet/ich. Is 30 days to cure the fish or kill all the parasites in the tank. If it’s the former then using copper power maybe necessary if I can’t maintain 12 ppt.

 

[hunterallen40]

It’s looking like it was marine velvet and possibly ich even though I highly doubt it .

Given that hypo is helping, it is more likely ich. Velvet is not cured by hypo. If it had been velvet, your fish most likely would not have made it this long, as velvet kills extremely fast.

As I stated before you even started hypo, ich can hide in the gills and show no visible spots.

If you did not QT everything wet for a full 14 days in 2.5 ppm+ of copper power, it is possible you have ich in your system.

I keep reading it takes 30 days for velvet/ich. Is 30 days to cure the fish or kill all the parasites in the tank.

As I understand it, it's 30 days to clear your system of ich (again, it does not work for velvet). Fluctuations up to 13 ppt, though, technically restart the clock (in other words, you need to have 12 ppt for 30 consecutive days for this to work).

A great way to maintain the salinity is with an auto top off kit. There are many of these on the market, but you can also DIY one (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-gravity-auto-top-off.376602/, for example) that is gravity fed. Though I would recommend investing in one anyway, as an ATO is super nice to have.

 

[sal16cal1]

Given that hypo is helping, it is more likely ich. Velvet is not cured by hypo. If it had been velvet, your fish most likely would not have made it this long, as velvet kills extremely fast.

As I stated before you even started hypo, ich can hide in the gills and show no visible spots.

If you did not QT everything wet for a full 14 days in 2.5 ppm+ of copper power, it is possible you have ich in your system.



As I understand it, it's 30 days to clear your system of ich (again, it does not work for velvet). Fluctuations up to 13 ppt, though, technically restart the clock (in other words, you need to have 12 ppt for 30 consecutive days for this to work).

A great way to maintain the salinity is with an auto top off kit. There are many of these on the market, but you can also DIY one (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-gravity-auto-top-off.376602/, for example) that is gravity fed. Though I would recommend investing in one anyway, as an ATO is super nice to have.

The reason I was so against ich is I put copper in my tank in march for 40 days. I have not added a fish since then. Either all the ich wasn’t killled or it got transferred from my dads tank.

 

[hunterallen40]

The reason I was so against ich is I put copper in my tank in Feb for 40 days.

What was the copper product you used, and how did you verify the copper concentration? If there was rock or sand in the system, this can absorb the copper you add, making it so you need to redone the QT frequently (until a saturation point is reached).

Either all the ich wasn’t killled or it got transferred from my dads tank.

If you did everything correctly, then it could very well have been transferred from your dad's tank. Even if no water went between them, ich can aerosolize and spread up to 6 feet away. Did you move anything between the two systems?

 

[sal16cal1]

What was the copper product you used, and how did you verify the copper concentration? If there was rock or sand in the system, this can absorb the copper you add, making it so you need to redone the QT frequently (until a saturation point is reached).




If you did everything correctly, then it could very well have been transferred from your dad's tank. Even if no water went between them, ich can aerosolize and spread up to 6 feet away. Did you move anything between the two systems?

Copper power measured everyday by the Hanna instrument. I kept it between 2.25 and 2.5. We share buckets sometimes syringes I make sure to clean them but obviously I could of slipped up.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It’s looking like it was marine velvet and possibly ich even though I highly doubt it . Since I’ve dropped the PPT to 12 I’ve seen improvement. The minute it was raised to 13-13.5 scratching started. The hard part is keeping it there that’s why I started copper power but quickly stopped. I keep reading it takes 30 days for velvet/ich. Is 30 days to cure the fish or kill all the parasites in the tank. If it’s the former then using copper power maybe necessary if I can’t maintain 12 ppt.

As @hunterallen40 said, hyposalinity doesn't help with velvet, so if you are seeing a marked improvement, that implies either ich or flukes.

Jay

 

[sal16cal1]

As @hunterallen40 said, hyposalinity doesn't help with velvet, so if you are seeing a marked improvement, that implies either ich or flukes.

Jay

How long can fish be in hypo. Since I had to “restart” by the time I’ll be done it will be 6 weeks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How long can fish be in hypo. Since I had to “restart” by the time I’ll be done it will be 6 weeks

That's a good question - there is no hard and fast time limit, and the limit is different between species. Most fish can handle 35 days of full hypo with no issues. Half salinity 16 ppt (often used for flukes) is a bit higher than full hypo at 12 ppt. and fish can tolerate that for much longer, possibly permanently.

Jay