Help with Strategy to Recover from Devastating Disease

[Paradiddle7]

Sorry for the long read but I need to make sure I will be starting over safely and correctly.

So, I had a devastating outbreak of something, probably velvet, even though I saw spots on fins and some lesions on bodies, but not white dots on the bodies so much. I thought it was Ich. I had 2 fish survive so far and their lesions are going down, so I'm assuming their immune systems were strong enough to fight off the infection.

I was keeping a FOWLR with a 1" sand bed and extra live rock and biomedia in the sump. I treated with Metroplex/Focus in water column first and then in food. I also treated with Paraguard. I don't think I saved any fish and I think I was primarily treating for ich instead of velvet. By the time my cupramine came, the other fish were goners.

TBH, I was kind of hoping the last 2 would die. I would break down the tank, clean it and run acid/vinegar and high temp and very cold temp, let everything dry and start over, cycle the tank and whatever.

I do have a fusion 20 I can use as a QT/Hospital tank but I'm thinking about doing the following. I'll move the last 2 fish to the fusion 20 and start them on cupramine. I will break down the display tank, toss the sand and put the LR into a bucket with mild acid to just eat away the outside layer slightly, rinse in RO etc.. let dry for a few weeks. While I'm letting everything dry out, I will start up the display again, after cleaning with acid/vinegar and letting everything dry out for a few days. This time though, I will start the display bare bottom with pvc pipe and some fake corals just for looks and bring the 2 sick fish back in, continue running copper for 8 weeks. I will also introduce a few more new fish and extend the entire treatment for 8 weeks.

So in short, I'll be converting the display to a QT tank with copper for 8 weeks. When the 8 weeks is up, I'll get the copper out of the water column, and add sand and some LR and go again. I will probably cycle the LR in the fusion with biomedia so that when i turn the main display back into a real main display, i can monitor ammonia and nitrates etc... to make sure I do any large water changes to preserve water quality.

I will not be overstocking the main display. My tank is in my office and I just want to be able to see my fish while I'm doing the 8 weeks of copper. It will also be better conditions in the larger tank for the 4-5 fish I will have in the 65 gallon system.

Does my regiment sound reasonable and will I totally get rid of the velvet this way? From this point on, I will QT all fish for 8 weeks on copper in the fusion 20.

Thanks for any advice on this matter and I appreciate your time.

 

[Dmorty217]

Fallow period for velvet is 6 weeks or you can do what you described above. In the future it is best to QT everything for at least 6 weeks before adding to your DT (longer than that is better) Formalin dipping new arrivals for 45-50 mins before going into the QT is beneficial for velvet and flukes. Fish coming out of low levels of copper can have velvet and/or ich that will be masked for up to 30 days

 

[Paradiddle7]

OK thanks. Good info. So to your point about fish coming out of low copper can mask ich or velvet for 30 days. Are you saying that it's super important to make sure your copper levels are high, or are you simply saying that 30 days is not enough, even in copper. I plan on doing 8 weeks in copper before going into DT. Will that ensure no parasites?

 

[JustinM]

Low levels meaning the LFS will keep them at non therapeutic levels. It can make a fish appear healthy when he is in fact carrying velvet, or ich, etc.

 

[Jdub968]

There's really no reason to over treat your fish 30 days in copper is adequate then remove the cu and treat with Prazipro for two rounds. doing the prazipro last allows you 2-3 weeks to observe the fish after the cu treatment making sure no ick or velvet made it through the qt. you can still qt the fish 8weeks but it's not necessary to treat with cu that long. Also it sounds like your plan would work but imo an easier way would be qt all the fish in the 29 gal and let your DT sit fallow 6 weeks min for velvet 76 days for ick. See if you qt for 8 weeks that's plenty of time for velvet and just16 more days for ick.