Fish dying while being treated for Oodinium

[bigevill1]

So most of my fish were recently wiped out by Oodinium, and Thursday night I setup a hospital tank and got my three tangs and rabbit fish into it and began treating with Copper. Yesterday when i got home from work the Yellow tang had large red blotches on its side in the hospital tank, and this morning he was dead. So my question is:

were the red blotches from the Oodinium dying off on the side of the fish and causing him to bleed? Or was there something else going on there? I still have a purple tang and a golden rabbit fish in the QT and I have had the purple tang for 8.5 years and really do not want to loose him. Of course I didnt want to loose the other fish either, and after recently doing a reset to fix some of the problems, I now feel like I should just get out of the hobby all together.......

 

[MrTuskfish]

Sorry for al your problems. Almost any parasite can be eradicated; but its often a big hassle. Are you sure you'r dealing with Oodium? If the blotches were ulcerated at all; it almost sounds like uronemia. But, YTs often get large areas of discoloration when having problems. Oodium is a very quick killer; primarily attacking the gills. What kind of copper are you using and what kind of copper test kit? Are fish eating at all? What signs are the surviving fish showing? Did you recently add a fish and was it QTd? What problems did you have to "reset'?

 

[bigevill1]

I dosed with seachem, I do not have a test kit. I just followed the directions. I ordered a test kit as soon as I realized that I needed to setup a hospital tank, but I still havent gotten it yet. No, the remaining two fish in the hospital tank are not eating, but they were not eating in the display either. I have enough water at home ready to do a 90% change in that hospital tank if I need to......

 

[bigevill1]

I missed the last question. I had vermitid snails and red mushrooms all over my tank, and my LPS were all slowly receeding. I had too much crap built up in my rocks and sand bed and I think that was causing my problems, because no matter what I did I could not get my phosphates down.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Just following the dosing instructions may get you close enough with Cupramine (SeaChem) copper; there's a big gap between toxic to fish and toxic to parasites. But testing copper is still vital. Oodium (velvet) is a parasite and it must be introduced into your system for any fish to have it; if one does, they all do. It is very contagious. If you have no recent additions to your tank, Oodium is highly unlikely. It sounds like you have a real housekeeping problem and this can lead to many problems....but Oodium isn't one of them. Bacterial infections are much more likely with poor water conditions. What makes you think you have oodium? Have you Googled Oodium, including images?

 

[bigevill1]

I did recently add a fish, and two days later fish started dropping dead. That was the tip off that it was Oodinium and not your standard ick. My real house keeping problem is not QTing fish, which will be taken care of now as I got a 46 bow from a friend that I am using for the hospital tank now, and will buy from him if he will sell to keep as a QT in the future.

The red mushrooms and vermitid snails were back from my FOWLR days when i didnt knot any better about how big of pests they would become. The vermitids were growing on and around most of my SPS and the redmushrooms had reached plague like numbers killing any SPS they grew up against.

 

[bigevill1]

what would the treatment be if it was uronemia though? Just for giggles.

 

[MrTuskfish]

what would the treatment be if it was uronemia though? Just for giggles.

If I remember, Formalin is standard.

 

[bigevill1]

Ok, well as of this morning my purple tang seems to be clear of the Oodinium, has good color, and is breathing normal, but he still wont eat. I am hoping that will change here in the next day or so.

 

[LargeAngels]

One way to give fish infected with Oodium relief is to do a FW dip. That will cause all parasites that have been attached for more than 24 hours to drop off. It is also a good way to know for sure if it is Oodium. This stuff is NASTY, spreads and kills fast. Cupramine is a great copper med for a disease like this.

 

[bigevill1]

I did a FW dip on saturday night, did a big water change in the hospital tank, and redosed with cupramine. Now I just need to get him eating again.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I did a FW dip on saturday night, did a big water change in the hospital tank, and redosed with cupramine. Now I just need to get him eating again.

Although I'm a big fan of Cupramine, when used correctly; a downside is that fish often stop eating or change their eating habits. Nothing to worry about if it doesn't go on too long. IME: if they do stop, its well into the treatment period and they start soon after the copper has been removed. Fish can go a lot longer without eating than most people think; but seeing them eat is always reassuring.

 

[bigevill1]

Well he is very fat and healthy. Like I said, I have had him for close to 9 years now. I will run the copper for a few more days and then start to remove it with carbon and see if he wont eat. His color is great and he is active. I just dont think he is too excited about being in a 46 gallon tank when he hasnt been in anything smaller than a 150 for the last 9 years.

Thanks for the help. I just wish I could have saved the other fish.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Keep us posted, PTs are one of my favorite fish; I have 3 that have grown up together. You've had him 9 years, so I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir; but I'll toss it in anyhow. Very often, when reading about tangs , and other herbivores, with feeding problems; we suggest trying all sorts of veggie stuff. I really think tangs are close to being omnivores, because of all the tiny crustaceans they eat while grazing. I always feed meaty stuff to picky "herbivores first. IME, tangs will seldom refuse mysis or live brine, even though they aren't touching nori.

 

[bigevill1]

Yep, he eats everything. Mostly flake food, but he gobbles down pellets, mysis, algea sheets, brine......He like banana and orange too. LoL

My biggest concern right now is how long to leave my display the way it is without adding anything. I still have 4 chromis, a sixline wrasse, a firefish, and a radiant wrasse in there that are all seemingly unaffected by the Oodinium. I was thinking I would wait till the middle of July to start trying to add anything new, but I may need to find a better temporary home for the purple tang if it is going to be two more months.

 

[LargeAngels]

If you don't remove ALL fish, treat all fish, and leave display fishless for 6 weeks you will never get rid of the velvet and you will be doing this again and again.

 

[bigevill1]

Well without removing every piece of rock from that tank those 6 fish will not be coming out. I simply cant do that. Too much coral in there. So, even though those fish arent sick, and havent been sick they will still carry it? I know the answer to that question, but what can I do. maybe I will buy a big fat lion fish and hope he can eat all of the small fish before he dies of Oodinium. :lol:

 

[LargeAngels]

Some, or all, of those fish left may never get sick and you may be able to add other fish. I have seen fish develop an "apparent" immunity. But not all will and if something upsets the balance in the tank velet may roar up again. I would start thinking of a backup plan for when the day arrives. I know it is a pain. Velvet is one of the main reasons I QT everything.

 

[bigevill1]

well I am going to keep a QT tank running now all the time. This is the second time I have been thru this, and I will not make the same mistake a 3rd time.

 

[bigevill1]

Also, the first time I went thru this I lost 10 of the 20 fish in my tank, and turning my temp up to 83 and cranking my ozone up all the way allowed the remaining 10 fish to battle thru it. All of the fish I was trying to save in the QT this time had survived the first round last year. Spent 8 weeks in a copper laden system at the local fish store while my tank was emptied, cleaned, and refilled with all new rock and all new sand, and were sick for several days, but not dead while the other fish around them were dropping like flies. I think it was the initial contact with Oodinium last year that allowed the purple to make it thru this bout. I have once again cranked up the ozone, and the temp has been up since I first noticed anything might be wrong last week.