Help asap!!

[Mergo]

So yesterday my black clown died of ich and I moved my other clown to a hospital tank and he has clearly become weaker today, I have a feeling he's gonna die tonight. I was advised to keep my yellow tang in the tank because he seemed totally fine and my LFS said he probably had had it and fought it off himself. Well I got home from work today and he was totally fine still. I went to a movie and just got home and he is just covered with ich. Like no sarcasm, he went from not a spot, to just COVERED in a 2 hour period. I'm moving him to the hospital tank which I'm treating with copper, but so far it's had no effect on the clown and I feel like both my clown in it now and my tang are also gonna kick it tonight.... I'm literally about to cry up as I write this... Please if anyone can give me any advice that could possibly save one of my fishes lives or both, I would more than appreciate it...... I mean it is so bad, I can literally see the things on the glass of my tank. I am having a really hard time even catching the tang. Should I just copper the display tank and put my hermits and snails in my 40g or keep trying to catch the tang?

 

[Painted skin]

Keep both in QT and leave display tank fish less for minimum 6 week, otherwise if you put them back too soon you may just be exposing them again to ich.

Don't copper your display you will render your live rocks and sand no good, copper can be very difficult to remove as it can get into the crevice of silicone on so on. Signs of of copper for corals and inverts are not a good mix.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I remember the dead clown's pic from your previous thread; I still can't be sure, but I think that fish had brooklynella or velvet. You never answered my question about sloughing skin and that's important.The quick death also indicates one of these parasites too. I'd Google 'marine velvet" and "marine brooklynella" (include images on Google) and see if one of these matches your fish. Also, you're getting some lousy advice from your LFS

 

[Mergo]

Sorry I must've missed the question, but no, no sloughing skin. I looked at those and with a better quality picture I feel like you guys would've said ich.

 

[MrTuskfish]

If its ich: all fish need to be in a QT/HT. Read the ich stickies above and decide on treatment; tank-transfer (easy & fool-proof, IMO), copper ( I prefer Cupramine), Hypo (I personally don't trust it, others do) possibly one of the quinine drugs (quinine sulfate or chloroquine phosphate (these drugs are tough to find on short notice. When you have the QT/HT ready, re-post and folks will be glad to help.

 

[Mergo]

I have the QT setup, both my clown and yellow tang are in it.. I'm treating with copper, did 1st dose Friday at 2pm (doing 2nd dose at 2pm today). Both fish are covered in ich, but seem to be lasting in the tank with the copper so I'm hoping they'll pull through...

 

[MrTuskfish]

I have the QT setup, both my clown and yellow tang are in it.. I'm treating with copper, did 1st dose Friday at 2pm (doing 2nd dose at 2pm today). Both fish are covered in ich, but seem to be lasting in the tank with the copper so I'm hoping they'll pull through...

Both of these fish should be able to easily handle properly dosed copper. The white spots you see are not a real indication of the progress of the parasite.

Are you using a Cu test kit? If so, what brand? What brand of copper? Have the fish eaten in the HT? Ammonia is often the biggest problem in QT/HT and you will have to do a lot of WCs to handle ammonia, unless you has a seeded sponge filter ready for the HT. Most common ammonia tests do not work with most brands of Cu; the little stick-on ammonia alerts do work, though. I've even seen these badges at Wal-Mart. be sure not to use ammonia neutralizers, like Prime, Ammo-lock, etc. with Cu; deadly compounds can result. I'd get plenty of water made up for WCs.

If you are using Cupramine: a SeaChem Cu test can read about .40 and still be totally effective. Following label directions will give you a .50ppm reading. I think SeaChem is changing their labeling to reflect this lower Cu level. Were these fish eating in the HT before adding the 1st dose of Cu? If so, watch closely, if they stop eating, that can be the 1st sign of copper-sensitivity. If that happens, do a WC and get the CU down to .30-.35 ppm. When they start feeding again, slowly increase CU to .40 or so. Most fish can handle Cu up to about .80ppm; Cu is effective from about .30 ppm; so you do have some wiggle room.

 

[Mergo]

No I do not have a test kit, but I'm headed to get one this afternoon. They do eat in the HT, even last night when I was worried about them dying they did and they're still alive today. Copper brand is Seachem Cupramine. I'll grab the ammonia level stick-on also. I have about 20g saltwater ready. And yes, ate before first dose of Cu. And thank you o much.

 

[Mergo]

Just did second dose... Low ammonia, almost none after 3 days so I'll do a water change probably tomorrow, but my copper is reading absolutely zero with two doses...?

 

[EllieSuz]

It's not clear whether you have more fish still in the display tank, but if not, you need to keep that main tank fallow (fishless) for 72 days. You will get conflicting waiting periods, but that 72 day, (ten week) number corresponds to the life cycle of the parasite at it's highest known survival period. Cutting that short can reinfect your fish, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Mergo]

DT is currently empty except hermits, snails, 2 corals, and a mushroom. I plan on waiting atleast 8, but I was thinking about just waiting 10 weeks and I probably will.

 

[Mrscribbled]

What copper test kit are you using? Api works only with copper safe. Salifert is the best. Seachem can be a bit tricky to read.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Just did second dose... Low ammonia, almost none after 3 days so I'll do a water change probably tomorrow, but my copper is reading absolutely zero with two doses...?

What test kit? Qt must be bare bottom and no rock. Substrate will soak up all copper then leach out over time.

 

[Mergo]

It's API ha so guess I can't use that. And I have crushed coral in the bottom. I'll pull that out now...