My journey using Chloroquine Phosphate begins...
- Thread starter b0bab0ey
- Start date
tassod
New member
I'm not sure what to believe anymore, i threw in another new badge for the hell of it tonight. Not sure how long it takes for the true reading to come through but noticed as soon as i put it in that it went to the same color as the existing one that is in there which is the green "Alert" level. Per there instructions, fish can tolerate that level for several days but i dont know how much is "several".
Of course my salifert kit continues to read 0. I decided to add 2 cap fulls of PRIME tonight and we'll see what the reading on the badges are tomorrow. These fish will need to be in this tank for at least another 2 months to allow the fallow period to complete, if the badges are indeed good, am I able to just add PRIME in the tank as needed to keep ammonia at bay? My AC110 filter was a cycled filter so not sure what the problem would be.
I don't know what to say. I use the Seachem ammonia badges in my QTs (with CP) almost religiously and they always stay yellow. I also use an AC HOB with a "seeded" sponge. The only time I've ever seen them turn green is when I'm using them to transport fish in a bucket over a long distance, and that's when I know it's time to add Amquel.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
How many more days are the current fish going to be in the CP?
Ive noticed with those badges that the light can make it hard to interpret the color. Under an incandescent bulb it appears green but under normal aquarium lighting it is yellow. I went through the same thing with the test kit showing 0.00 but the badge appearing green before I turned on the aquarium lighting.
I bet this is what's happening. :thumbsup: I always turn on my 1 bulb aquarium light for just a few secs whenever I want to check the ammonia badge.
tassod
New member
Mike you nailed it! Turned off my room lights and turned on the tank lights and both of those badges were solid yellow! Then when i switched the lights, both were green again. Thanks for pointing this out, it was litterally driving me insane:hammer:
tassod
New member
Fish have been in CP now for 20 days, hippo still scratching against heater and she looks real skinny. She does eat but not as much as the others do. Only thing though is that coral beauty was added on 9/5 so she's only been in the tank for 10 days. I guess that resets the clock on everyone?
As for the hippo, even though she still scratches a bit and looks thin, she looks good..not a spec on her where as before when she was first added, she was covered in white specs. All other fish look great except my Salifin who has the gashes on him for some reason and looks pale most of the time.
Glad that is all that it was! It drove me nuts also before I figured out what was going on.
Would there be a problem using the TTM and CP? I am asking because I have several fish in my QT that I am quarantining before I introduce into my main DT. They have been in QT for 6 days now. One is a Yellow Tang and I want a Purple Tang also but I couldn't get any at the time. I was thinking I could use the TTM for the Purple Tang if I get one in around a week so that I could introduce them together in the DT. Would using CP during the TTM help out? I know it technically wouldn't be necessary for ich if the TTM is done correctly but the CP would help with any Velvet that might be on the Purple Tang and I can't see a downside to it? Anyone ever done it?
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Curt2199
New member
I finished a 6 week long treatment on CP in my display tank (700g) and although I fought some ammonia for a little while from rapid algae die off, the velvet and ich seemed to go away completely by the end of the first week. My purple had been completely covered when I started and I'd lost several other fish in the few weeks prior.
Throughout the course of treatment I also dropped the salinity to around 1.013 just to help with O2 levels as well as decrease the parasite numbers. At around 5 weeks I turned my skimmer and lights back on because my purple tang stopped eating anything and skeleton was beginning to show. At week 6 I started carbon because he still wasn't showing any interest in food. At around 8 weeks from the beginning of treatment I can tell the CP levels are near zero because algae is beginning to grow on the rocks again. The purple tang has also finally started eating again however he now appears to have a couple ich cysts... I swear I cannot win.
At this point I'm now considering just dropping salinity straight to 1.009 and seeing if Hypo will give it the final kick to kill it off. I had considered just using cupramine because the tank is a fish only but I don't really want to risk the cat shark and zebra eel as well as possibly saturate the rock in the case that I do want to convert it to a reef one day.
Also FYI I had no skimmer on for 5 weeks and only 3 moon light leds on for the treatment period with no water changes. I would have extended the no skimmer period longer but didn't want to risk losing my purple tang. I dosed 50g to an estimated 750g including sump, minus rock and sand. 700g tank plus 160g sump. That's roughly 67mg/g although could have been stronger as I only guestimated the rock displacement at around 100g. I probably have 400lbs of rock in the tank. Also, until I started the carbon, I had zero algae growth throughout the entire period and also killed off Bryopsis that had been living in the sump.
Throughout the course of treatment I also dropped the salinity to around 1.013 just to help with O2 levels as well as decrease the parasite numbers. At around 5 weeks I turned my skimmer and lights back on because my purple tang stopped eating anything and skeleton was beginning to show. At week 6 I started carbon because he still wasn't showing any interest in food. At around 8 weeks from the beginning of treatment I can tell the CP levels are near zero because algae is beginning to grow on the rocks again. The purple tang has also finally started eating again however he now appears to have a couple ich cysts... I swear I cannot win.
At this point I'm now considering just dropping salinity straight to 1.009 and seeing if Hypo will give it the final kick to kill it off. I had considered just using cupramine because the tank is a fish only but I don't really want to risk the cat shark and zebra eel as well as possibly saturate the rock in the case that I do want to convert it to a reef one day.
Also FYI I had no skimmer on for 5 weeks and only 3 moon light leds on for the treatment period with no water changes. I would have extended the no skimmer period longer but didn't want to risk losing my purple tang. I dosed 50g to an estimated 750g including sump, minus rock and sand. 700g tank plus 160g sump. That's roughly 67mg/g although could have been stronger as I only guestimated the rock displacement at around 100g. I probably have 400lbs of rock in the tank. Also, until I started the carbon, I had zero algae growth throughout the entire period and also killed off Bryopsis that had been living in the sump.
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Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
You could use TTM for any new fish like you mentioned (purple tang) but using CP with the TTM won't do any good. The CP has been proven to kill ich off of a infested fish in 10 days... With no reinfection after treatment stopped.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
Where did you get the CP from? It sounds like lack of eating which caused stress on your purple is what caused him to get ich again? This is what I don't understand about ich... If the tank is treated and has been for several weeks then the ich shouldn't be present in the tank, so in theory you could have a stressed fish in the tank but it wouldn't develop ich because the ich should be all gone in the DT??? The more I think I understand ich the less I really do. I had a Achilles tang come from LA that developed ich in the bag on the overnight trip to my house, which I guess I can see how that might occur but I'm at a loss for why you still have ich in the tank. 750g of water won't make doing hypo any easier on you. If the salinity goes above 1.009 for even a min you have to start the clock over again.
From what I have read about using CP it seems you approached using it incorrectly. When used in a DT with sand and live-rock I have read that the CP tends to get absorbed into the rock/sand and therefore can go under the needed levels to kill ich. Therefore you shouldn't use it in a tank with lots of LR/Sand. Only a QT.
Also, CP only kills ich in it's free swimming stage and not in it's reproduction stage. So if a single spore made it past your 6 weeks then when it hatched the new free swimming ich wouldn't have been killed.
Sorry for the troubles. Ich is a huge pain. You could try Doctor G's CP medicated food. I have come across a few posts where people seemed to get rid of ich in your tank. The only thing is that you have to feed that food 2 times a day for 3+ months. I have some myself and the fish seem to like it. I am using it along with a CP QT for new incoming fish.
I got mine here: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=28131
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^^This. There is "something" about dosing CP in a tank with rock & sand that just doesn't seem to work. Absorption (like with copper) seems to be the most logical answer.
Curt2199
New member
I'm trying to locate the article but I read that there could be minimal absorption into rock however most of the scientific information said that it shouldn't be absorbed which was one of the benefits over copper. I simply had to go this route as trying to capture all of the fish, eel, and shark in a 700g tank and successfully quarantine them would be near impossible. I also feel that I over-medicated slightly to account for absorption if there were any. In addition there were no symptoms of disease or algae growth until I began running the carbon. I know there are variables so it's possible some parasites were able to slip through treatment. Being that I'm only seeing a crypto cysts on my purple and no indication of disease on any other fish, I will probably go ahead and finish dropping the salinity to reach hypo levels.
On the plus side I have seen no signs of Marine Velvet anymore which is what killed several of my fish and prompted me to start treating with CP. I know Velvet can live through Hypo so at least I seem to have beaten that for the time being and can focus on the crypto.
I have been buying CP off of an eBay user selling it. I bought 50g for the 700g and then an additional 100g to treat all new fish in QT. I currently have about 5-6 fish in QT that have been on CP for about 3 weeks with a few that had come in with parasites that have cleared up since. The QT is a 250 gallon bare-bottom system with PVC and HOB sponge filtration.
Curtis
On the plus side I have seen no signs of Marine Velvet anymore which is what killed several of my fish and prompted me to start treating with CP. I know Velvet can live through Hypo so at least I seem to have beaten that for the time being and can focus on the crypto.
I have been buying CP off of an eBay user selling it. I bought 50g for the 700g and then an additional 100g to treat all new fish in QT. I currently have about 5-6 fish in QT that have been on CP for about 3 weeks with a few that had come in with parasites that have cleared up since. The QT is a 250 gallon bare-bottom system with PVC and HOB sponge filtration.
Curtis
