My Fishes Are Scratching - AGAIN!!

[Marchillo]

Just to clarify almost all sellers run copper. Those systems don't have corals or inverts and in many cases they look like a qt setup rather than a dt setup. If you stick with fish only you'll be fine but just be careful in the future.

I also think everyone has the same issue with rock work etc. some have 1000s in corals. Imagine trying to get fish out of a big tank covered in expensive corals? That's why a good qt protocol is almost necessary. Good luck.

 

[Marchillo]

I would definitely do plenty of water changes to get nitrate back on track but as others have mentioned it's tricky with copper.

 

[MelloW33]

How many fish do you have? Why not put them through a proper quarantine and go fallow in your DT? Kick that ich for good!

 

[Dkuhlmann]

My comment about the sand and rocks not being able to be used was you can not have any inverts now. This will also include anemones. The copper will be there for a long time even running carbon or one of the pads to soak it out of the system.

There are a few reef safe products to deworm fish but not cure ich. One is called Herbtana from Microbe-Lift. They claim to treat ich but I'm pretty sure it won't work for getting rid of ich. Herbtana is a 100% natural expellant for parasites in marine fish. I'm sure there are others available

 

[Kava]

FWIW.....

I treated copper in an inhabited tank about 7 years ago. I pulled the rock, baked it, and let it sit.

Fast forward about 5 years.

I thought it would be a good idea to add more rock to the tank I had at the time. I recycled the rock, and added it to the sump.

The next morning,

My corals were melted, and most inverts have died. I never looked into whether it may have been an ammonia spike, or the copper. I always just assumed it was the copper, and tossed the rocks. No problems since.

 

[CStrickland]

Between all the answers I didnt see any suggestions for solutions.

Fish can scratch, or "flash" for lots of reasons. It is a symptom. Like, if you called your doctor on the phone and said "I'm itchy, what medicine should I take?" She would not have enough to offer a solution.

In between that mess about killing all your bacteria, a few people suggested that you didn't do the copper strong enough, or long enough, to kill ich (if that's what you had); and some others have recommended you keep an eye out for other parasites and consider prazi for them; and some have recommended a more rigorous qt in the future.
What other suggestions for solutions are you looking for?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

CStrickland, don't forget the suggestion of replacing all of the sand and LR.

 

[CStrickland]

I didn't forget

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Sadly the OP doesn't have many choices. It' sad this happens, but it does because most LFS don't warn people ahead of time the affects of copper. :hammer:

 

[ReefFresh]

@CStrickland, thanks.
I guess that the solution I am looking for is how to identify which desiese I have in my tank and how can I stop the the iching.
I know which mostakes I had in the past. I am looking for a way to fix the current situation.

 

[gone fishin]

I would say it is debatable whether the copper treatment was effective if you had ich. It is entirely possible that you have ich and the copper treatment provided some relief but was not able to get rid of the ich entirely.

It is also possible that the fish has flukes. If this is the case then a couple rounds of prazipro will will take care of that.

Given the fact that the fish are still alive I would venture to guess that you do not have one of the more harsher illnesses such as brookylnella or velvet.

 

[ReefFresh]

here is my population:
Palette surgeonfish
Midas Blenny
Percula
SCARUS QUOYI
Lo vulpinus

and i have Zebrasoma flavescen on QT.

My QT is only 40liters so i cant put all of them in it...