Emperor-Parisites that I can't see???

[ReefDoberman]

Hi all,

I currently have a juv emperor angel in qt. After about the 2nd or 3rd day I had him, he began to exhibit strange behavior indicative of irritants in the water (twitching, heavy breathing etc...) I began treatment with copper about 3 weeks ago.

He never had a major break out in anything however every now and then I see one or two white specks on his body at a time. They are tiny and raised. He continued to twitch and breath heavy on and off. I have seen absolutely no improvement in what I considered to be strange behavior and then today for the first time he began scraping.

Is this scraping the first sign of a major out brake? And if so I believe I read copper is only effective if the parasite is exposed - is this true?

Is it possible that he has been hosting these parasites but hasn't gotten any better because they had yet to penetrate the skin?

He eats like a champ and infact has grown over the past 3 weeks.

Thanks for your help
Steve

 

[Puffer Queen]

Steve,

What are the tank parameters in the QT - please post. Are you checking daily?

What copper are you using? Are you checking the copper daily?

Do you have live rock or substrate in you QT? What are you using for biological filtration?

Kelly

 

[ReefDoberman]

Kelly,

It is a 10 gallon tank using a sponge filter as biological filtration. I change 50% of the water every other day. I use water from my main reef display.

I am using Mardel Coppersafe and maintain .15ppm

No live rock or substrate, just pvc for hiding.

 

[Puffer Queen]

You have a good QT! Congrats!

The problem may be there may be parasites in your display tank. By adding this water you may be reintroducing new parasites.

I would use aged well aerated fresh, not exposed to other systems, saltwater for water changes.

I would recommend using cupramine as your copper treatment in the future. It can be measured and dosed more accurately then Mardel coppersafe. Coppersafe is "stabilized form of copper which treats external parasites for over a month." I have found this form of copper unreliable for treating ich. Cupramine is a "not a chelate or citrate". In other words is readily available and is not bound.

Good luck,
Kelly