Powder blue on quarantine

[FelipeCarv]

Hi,

I've bought a powder blue and its in quarantine for 24h, observing only with no meds. It sometimes scratches around the pipes but most of the time he is surfing the glass like in the video.
No visual white spots yet. He is not eating well but eats some ocasionally. I would say lack of appetite.
I'm afraid of some kind of gills disease thats not showing on his skin.
Should I start copper asap?
My plan is to do copper plus prazipro treatment regardless, but normally I would wait the fish to eat first for one or two days.
The quarantine is cycled and with no ammonia.

 

[Jekyl]

Here is the recommended method for the site.

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[FelipeCarv]

I'm following the same protocol...
My question is: since he is scratching against pipes and surfaces and also glass surfing like this...should I stop the observation period and start copper?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,

I've bought a powder blue and its in quarantine for 24h, observing only with no meds. It sometimes scratches around the pipes but most of the time he is surfing the glass like in the video.
No visual white spots yet. He is not eating well but eats some ocasionally. I would say lack of appetite.
I'm afraid of some kind of gills disease thats not showing on his skin.
Should I start copper asap?
My plan is to do copper plus prazipro treatment regardless, but normally I would wait the fish to eat first for one or two days.
The quarantine is cycled and with no ammonia.

Do not observe and go right to coppersafe as they are prone to mucus comes and ich. Stay ahead of potential issues

 

[FelipeCarv]

Do not observe and go right to coppersafe as they are prone to mucus comes and ich. Stay ahead of potential issues

I will start copper. Thanks!

 

[GARRIGA]

No actual experience with powder blues but have with hippo and what I was told in the past and what I've done was not keeping them in small tanks as singles or in groups if tank was small. Why some likely have had success just placing them in a well established tank with hiding places. Stress likely the catalyst for these fish.

I convinced a store owner to collect all his hippo tangs and place them in one tank so they would feel secure in numbers and that worked. What was each tank having a hippo hiding behind the standpipe turned into a tank full of hippo that didn't scurry when customers approached. Don't recall any having acquired ich before or after but just speaking as to the sense of security changing their behavior.

Since there's just the one often bought with powder blue then perhaps adding many hiding places to the point it makes it hard to observe them plus covering the glass so it doesn't see others might work. Including adding a few healthy previously QT dither fish such as mollies to increase that sense of security.

Not saying to not medicate but I'm a big believer in stress as the number one cause of many ailments and not just as it pertains to fish based on research and actual practical experience. Stress kills

 

[MnFish1]

I'm following the same protocol...
My question is: since he is scratching against pipes and surfaces and also glass surfing like this...should I stop the observation period and start copper?

I do not think the observation period is crucial - and is probably outweighed by the stress of being in an all glass QT tank. In other words, you can start the protocol. Watching for any changes

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi,

I've bought a powder blue and its in quarantine for 24h, observing only with no meds. It sometimes scratches around the pipes but most of the time he is surfing the glass like in the video.
No visual white spots yet. He is not eating well but eats some ocasionally. I would say lack of appetite.
I'm afraid of some kind of gills disease thats not showing on his skin.
Should I start copper asap?
My plan is to do copper plus prazipro treatment regardless, but normally I would wait the fish to eat first for one or two days.
The quarantine is cycled and with no ammonia.

Since powder blues get ich so easily, I'd start Coppersafe right away. You might try covering that end of the tank on the outside with black paper to see if you can stop that glass surfing. Also, I can see a few bubbles from the HOB filter, but be sure there is good aeration in t he tank.

 

[FelipeCarv]

Since powder blues get ich so easily, I'd start Coppersafe right away. You might try covering that end of the tank on the outside with black paper to see if you can stop that glass surfing. Also, I can see a few bubbles from the HOB filter, but be sure there is good aeration in t he tank.

Thanks for the input.

 

[FelipeCarv]

PBT is more adapted and the glass surfing stopped. Appetite still low but eating. Let's see. I hope it will get through.

 

[FelipeCarv]

PBT is more adapted and the glass surfing stopped. Appetite still low but eating. Let's see. I hope it will get through.

My PBT is completing 24h on copper. The scratching continues and appetite is moderate he mainly eats Nori. He has a normal behavior grazing and swiming now.
When the scratching is expected to stop? I've read that Prazipro and copper together can be very harsh.
I will wait more, my fear is that he is with flukes and not ich, since the scratching continues.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My PBT is completing 24h on copper. The scratching continues and appetite is moderate he mainly eats Nori. He has a normal behavior grazing and swiming now.
When the scratching is expected to stop? I've read that Prazipro and copper together can be very harsh.
I will wait more, my fear is that he is with flukes and not ich, since the scratching continues.

Flukes cause scratching more often/more severely than ich does.

I may have missed it, but what brand of copper are you using, what is the level, and what are you testing with?

 

[Wayoutwest]

Recently had a powder blue come out in mucus cones and possibly ich, Never used to quarantine new fish. Think it was brought on by tank mate stress and ultimately brought about a gram negative bacteria which wiped out the powder blue, 2 clowns, a vampire tang, 2 dwarf angels and a mandarin.

Prompted me to register with the local university of veterans and have a route to pathology now but through the use of copper safe, Oodinix and NDx managed to save one regal blue tang. Been dosing the main tank with bacto therapy from fauna Marin and the regal and the wrasse are in the main tank with no issues, Touch wood.

Safe to say quarantine routine will be followed in future...

 

[MnFish1]

Recently had a powder blue come out in mucus cones and possibly ich, Never used to quarantine new fish. Think it was brought on by tank mate stress and ultimately brought about a gram negative bacteria which wiped out the powder blue, 2 clowns, a vampire tang, 2 dwarf angels and a mandarin.

Prompted me to register with the local university of veterans and have a route to pathology now but through the use of copper safe, Oodinix and NDx managed to save one regal blue tang. Been dosing the main tank with bacto therapy from fauna Marin and the regal and the wrasse are in the main tank with no issues, Touch wood.

Safe to say quarantine routine will be followed in future...

FWIW, it would be unlikely for a gram negative to spread this way from fish to fish. Something like velvet would be more likely. Agree with your future QT plans.

 

[Wayoutwest]

I considered the possibility hence the broad spectrum treatment but deffo a good idea to quarantine or learn the hard way like some of us...

 

[FelipeCarv]

Flukes cause scratching more often/more severely than ich does.

I may have missed it, but what brand of copper are you using, what is the level, and what are you testing with?

I'm using Cupramine, trying to keep the copper levels between 0.4 to 0.5
To measure the copper levels I'm using Seachem test kit.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm using Cupramine, trying to keep the copper levels between 0.4 to 0.5
To measure the copper levels I'm using Seachem test kit.

Stay in that range as seachem kits offer mixed results. Hanna brand seems to work well with copper level testing

 

[wamy2004]

Completely different method but I am on day 10 of TTM with our powder blue. She had ich pretty bad and now looks great. We just use a clear tote and 5 gal of water. Switch her out every 24 hrs to a clean tote, equipment and water. We keep our 30gal brute filled and heated ready to easily swap. We have always had great success with ttm. We have used copper in the past and this seems to work great with no risk. Oh and we did a fresh water dip for 2 min between the observation tank and her first tank transfer. Just thought I’d share.

 

[FelipeCarv]

I considered the possibility hence the broad spectrum treatment but deffo a good idea to quarantine or learn the hard way like some of us...

My quarantine system was easy to setup up and I can't complain about it. It's a must I should say, this fish in my system would be a long gone. After the quarantine period I will keep him in an acclimation box, since I have a scopas and a desjardini as well.
I've learned the hard way too after my first powder blue that I've bought I got an ich outbreak.
After that, I mounted my quarantine, left my reef 6 weeks fallow and put every fish in my system through the quarantine. Since then everybody is healthy and happy. No signs of ich yet in the display.
The quarantine is excelent for observation and acclimation as well. This fish is clearly learning to eat prepared fish food.

 

[FelipeCarv]

He is eating well now! And the scratching disappeared.
Thanks for everybody help and time.