Brooklynella, Cupramine & Quick Cure

Itchy Trigger

Itchy Trigger

Active member
I have 4 fish in a 35g quarantine tank. I was treating them with a prophylactic Cupramine treatment. I now see what looks like it may be Brooklynella on one of the fish (flasher wrasse), and one of the others (royal gramma) has started hiding and did not eat today...

I initially thought these symptoms were bad reaction to the addition of the copper, but now I'm reading more and it seems from descriptions I've read that this may be Brooklynella... If this is the case, what is the best plan of action? It seems that copper is not supposed to be effective against this parasite, and that I should be using formalin. I have a bottle of Quick Cure in my closet, which I could use... Should I water change to remove copper, then start the Quick Cure treatment? What should I do?
 
Yes, do a big water change, run some carbon to eliminate the copper. Quick Cure dips can be done in lieu of formalin. Read the stickies on brook. When I treated a fish for brook after each dip which I did every other day, I would put him into a clean QT.
 
Thank you for the quick reply! OK, doing a very large water change now. I can't find the sticky on Brook... If you could link me that'd be great - I'm sort of frantically running back and forth here. Glad the Quick Cure will work. So you're saying I should use it as a dip instead of just adding it to the tank?
 
OK... Each fish has been given a 3 minute dip in RO water and returned to the tank. Unfortunately I don't have additional empty quarantine tanks at the moment, so they went back into the existing one for now.

Here is my plan however... I do have a 10g tank which also has two small fish in it. I can use the 10g and the 35g to alternate between (tank transfer), moving all the fish back and forth between the two. Going to be a lot of work, but I'm game...

So this would be the plan for now:

1. transfer all fish to the 10g tank.

2. break down the 35g and clean/dry it thoroughly.

3. on Thursday, fill the 35g up again, give all fish another freshwater dip and move all fish into the 35g.

4. empty, clean and dry the 10g.

And just continue this process for awhile with no meds/chemicals at all... Does this sound about right?
 
Going to leave fish where they are for tonight. I figure they've had enough stress being caught and enduring the freshwater dip... In the morning I'll proceed with my plan as detailed above. Unless I hear otherwise from you guys. Essentially I'll be using the tank transfer method with the addition of the freshwater dips. I like the idea of not using any meds if I don't have to. I've put the Quick Cure and Cupramine in the closet for now.
 
Itchy Trigger said:
Going to leave fish where they are for tonight. I figure they've had enough stress being caught and enduring the freshwater dip... In the morning I'll proceed with my plan as detailed above. Unless I hear otherwise from you guys. Essentially I'll be using the tank transfer method with the addition of the freshwater dips. I like the idea of not using any meds if I don't have to. I've put the Quick Cure and Cupramine in the closet for now.
Click to expand...

Going to need formalin dips, http://www.chucksaddiction.com/brookynella.html has some more info.

I ran quick cure baths for my clown with tank transfers, but dips tend to work better.
 
There's one LFS here that may carry Formalin 3. Will call them in the morning. I might have to order 37% Formaldehyde off eBay though. If that's the case, I'll start with Quick Cure dips tomorrow and transfer to the other tank. How much quick cure per gallon would you add to the dip/bath water? I'll also lower SG to 1.009 in the QT to aid in killing whatever free swimmers are in there.
 
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Or rather than hypo salinity, perhaps just treat the tank with Quick Cure?

So I'd have Quick Cure in the tank at all times during treatment. The fish would each get a daily Formaldehyde dip, then back into the tank? Or better still to do tank transfer additionally? So that Quick Cure goes into the tank, the fish get their dips, then the next morning, set up new tank with Quick Cure and move fish into that one. And repeat this process several times...
 
FW dips are not needed in conjunction with formalin/Quick Cure treatment. I did 30-45 minute dips in Quick Cure then moved into a new tank. I've used a large Rubbermaid container and an air stone in a pinch for a QT. They are only in there for 2 days so nothing fancy is needed. After 5 dips performed every other day he was moved into a clean QT and recovered just fine. No need to do formalin dips and have it in the tank as well...too stressful on the fish.
 
Got it! Good idea re the Rubbermaid too - I have one I can use. How much quick cure per gallon do you use for the dips? It's not as strong a concentration of formalin so I didn't know if the dose should be higher.
 
1ml/gal which roughly translates to 1/4 tsp/gallon or 23 drops of Quick Cure/gallon. Be sure to aerate the water for at least an hour after adding the Quick a Cure. Formalin decreases the oxygen content in the water. I used the water from the QT the fish was in. I dipped the fish for 30-40 minutes. Then moved into a temp and pH matched clean QT.
Sorry it took so long getting back to ya...had to dig out my old notes.
 
Newsmyrna80 said:
1ml/gal which roughly translates to 1/4 tsp/gallon or 23 drops of Quick Cure/gallon. Be sure to aerate the water for at least an hour after adding the Quick a Cure. Formalin decreases the oxygen content in the water. I used the water from the QT the fish was in. I dipped the fish for 30-40 minutes. Then moved into a temp and pH matched clean QT.
Sorry it took so long getting back to ya...had to dig out my old notes.
Click to expand...

Awesome - thank you so much! Got the Rubbermaid bin up and running with clean (matching) water. Ready to do the dip now... I really appreciate your help (and so do my fish). :clown:
 
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All fish have been given a 45 minute dip in the Quick Cure solution, a 5 minute rinse in plain saltwater (same pH/SG), and are now in the Rubbermaid bin with a couple of airstones. The tank has been emptied and thoroughly dried, and all PVC that was in the tank has been soaking in hot freshwater for awhile now...

So I'll leave them all in the Rubbermaid today and tomorrow and then Friday morning, refill the 35g QT, dip the fish again and move them in there... I feel like I'm on the right track. I ordered some 37% Formaldehyde off eBay, so whenever that comes I'll switch from Quick Cure to that for the dips.

Thanks again for all the help, everyone.
 
Sounds good. I will tell you that I did the same thing and ordered formalin to complete the dips and ended up going back to the Quick Cure because the formalin was too hard on him. I really didn't think he was going to make it.
 
Newsmyrna80 said:
Sounds good. I will tell you that I did the same thing and ordered formalin to complete the dips and ended up going back to the Quick Cure because the formalin was too hard on him. I really didn't think he was going to make it.
Click to expand...

Ah - good to know. I'll keep an extra close watch on them if I switch to that stuff.
 
I ordered Kordons Rid Ich that has formalin and calculated the dosage needed from that. with Amazon Prime it was only 3.99 for next day delivery.
 
Well, unfortunately two of the fish have died (flasher wrasse after the first dip, gramma after the second dip). The others look fine and show no sign of Brook on them. Should I continue dipping and tank transfers with the remaining fish? I'm guessing that I should, as if I don't completely eradicate the Brook, it'll show up on the other fish and kill them. What a drag!
 
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