Need help with treatment

[sculptor]

I had a disease outbreak in my display, lost 4 out of 9 fish initially. I thought it was ich, symtoms were ragged fins and scales, white salt grain spots, some flashing/scrathcing. Now I'm not sure what it is. I moved the remaining 5 fish to QT, and started the tank transfer method. I followed the method in the stickies for TTM exactly. All 5 fish looked good. When I got done with all transfers, about a week into the observation period I started losing fish again. This time the only symptoms were torn/ragged fins, then they would be hiding out, then dead. I thought maybe secondary fungal or bacterial because the hippo had a cottony like spot on a fin, so I treated with seachem kanaplex. The only fish surviving now is my hippo tang, and he had one visible symptoms that none of the others had. He had raised white pimple-like bumps, looks a lot like the hippo in this thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2434594&highlight=formalin . So next I thought maybe the transfer method didn't work so I started cupramine (in a fresh sterile tank). The hippo has been in the cupramine for 3 weeks and now is showing torn/ragged fins and white spots that look like fungus or brook maybe, not salt grain-like, still scratching, and he has sores that might be from the scratching. Some symptoms that the fish have NOT shown are, rapid/labored breathing, swimming in flow or at surface, heavy mucus/slime coat, loss of appetite (he eats like a pig). Being that I did tank transfer and copper and he still has symptoms my next move is formalin. I'm trying to decide what the best way to proceed is. I could pull him out of the copper tank, put him into a formalin bath, then into a clean tank. Or I could take him out of the copper tank, and put him into a clean tank to give him a break from all the meds, then formalin bath a couple days later.

I know that is a lot of information, but any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[HumbleFish]

It sounds like possibly you lost all these fish to velvet or maybe brook. And it's not unusual for fish with heavy parasitic infestations to develop secondary bacterial infections. I would continue copper treatment, coupled with formalin baths. I would also treat with Furan 2 in conjunction with copper. Time to hit him with everything but the kitchen sink, ya know? Based on what happened to all your other fish, what do you really have to lose?

 

[sculptor]

Well, I have a nice blue hippo tang to lose. I am prepared to hit him with everything but the kitchen sink, I just want to go about it in the right way. So it would be OK to remove from the copper tank, dip in formalin and put right back into the copper?

Also I guess it's worth mentioning what meds I have on hand. Cupramine, Formalin, Kanaplex, Metro+, prazipro.

 

[snorvich]

It sounds like possibly you lost all these fish to velvet or maybe brook. And it's not unusual for fish with heavy parasitic infestations to develop secondary bacterial infections. I would continue copper treatment, coupled with formalin baths. I would also treat with Furan 2 in conjunction with copper. Time to hit him with everything but the kitchen sink, ya know? Based on what happened to all your other fish, what do you really have to lose?

I agree. Doing formalin baths in conjunction with all else sounds right. You may have multiple issues as this point.