Ich or Velvet?

[Akrite]

I have a blue tang in QT with other fish but I don't know if I have ich or velvet. I think it is velvet because I lost an Achilles Tang in 5 days. I know they are sensitive fish but he'd been in my tank for almost 3 months before him and other tangs started showing signs of ich/velvet. All my fish were treated with cupramine for 6 weeks while my DT was w/o fish. Heres a pic of my blue tang he looks the worst.

If its ich I want to try Hypo, if its velvet I'll use cupramine again.

 

[aquaph8]

just go cupramine and cover both bases. It would suck to go through hypo and then have to do cupramine anyway.

 

[MrTuskfish]

just go cupramine and cover both bases. It would suck to go through hypo and then have to do cupramine anyway.

I agree. All the fish will have to be treated and the tank left fishless for (IMO) at least 8 weeks. The first time, either you had a strain of ich that could last in cyst form for more than 6 weeks, or it was introduced again. When you finally defeat this stuff, QT everything wet and you'll never go through this. BTW, could you post tank size & a stocklist? If your profile is current, you have a lot of tangs in a 125.

 

[sandwi54]

it definitely looks more like velvet than ich, although it's hard to tell due to the camera motion. i would do cupramine just to be safe.

 

[Akrite]

In May I upgraded to a 250g. I have 6 tangs all 3-4 inches and 10 wrasses. All treated with cupramine for 6 weeks. The tangs in a 55g and wrasses in a 40g. My 250 gallon tank was without fish even longer as I took my time setting it up. I will leave my tank without fish for 8 weeks or longer and retreat all fish with copper again.

How long can you treat fish with copper (Cupramine) without any ill effects? And should I do water changes every 2-4 weeks or just leave it alone for the whole treatment time?

 

[Akrite]

Updated profile, not sure why it no longer shows when I post.

250G Deep Dimension SPS Tank * ATI 8x54W Powermodule * Vertex Alpha 200 * 2 Part Dosing * 2x Vortech MP40W ES

 

[sandwi54]

it's hard to say how long you can treat fish with cupramine as each fish's individual tolerance varies. however, it's usually recommended to treat for at least 3 weeks. with tangs, that's pretty much the longest you want to go since their microfauna could get damaged by prolonged copper treatment.