please help! fish still scratching after ich treatment

[lildraken]

My entire of stock of fish had a bad ich outbreak so I took them all out to quarantine them and leave the display tank fallow. I treated the quarantine tank with chelated copper and the ich disappeared within a few days. It has been 10 days now, but the fish are still scratching and many of them show signs of missing scales.

my bird wrasse and powder blue tang have no signs of parasites except for occassional twitching and scratching on the rocks, and missing scales.

my flame angel is pale around the face and his tail is cloudy. I have eliminated the possibility of ich or velvet because they have been in chelated copper for 10 days. what else could it be?

their appetite is still good. please help!

 

[scuzy]

fluke ? have you try treating with quazipro ?

 

[lildraken]

thanks scuzy. I didn't see any quazipro at the pet store but I got some pro series general cure from API. It's supposed to treat flukes, amchor worm, velvet and fish lice! The active ingredients are metronidazole and praziquantel. I hope it works!

immediately after i added the medication the fish started itching a little more but after a few hours, their color has returned and they're acting more lively and happy. The flame angel however looks like his scales are flaking off. I hope he doesn't have brooklynella but it's not slimey or oozey. I've lost a lot of fish to brook.
Also i'm feeding them antibacterial food to be on the safe side. poor fish, I hope they don't suffer from all this medication.

 

[flameangel88]

I'd ich outbreak over the summer and trying to cheat and treated with Cupramine for 13 days ich came back then went on to treat for 25 days. After a few days ich came and and finally I went on to treat for 30 days and toward the last week of treatment I raised the level to 0.6 from 0.5 and it's been clear (knock on wood) since 11/3.

Both times ich looked to be gone from the fish but in reality it was still in the water system even 25 days.

 

[lildraken]

yeah, from what I've read, cupramine and copper only destroy ich in their free swimming stages. It does nothing to them if they're actually attached or embedded in the fish or when they're in their encysted stage on the substrate. that's why they come back-- those annoying little suckers!

 

[RocknReefr]

I think this is a preventative, but have you looked into any Melafix products? It sometimes helps if a fish is loosing scales, or has freyed fins. Another preventative/immunity booster is Marine Max. It is a pro-biotic. This Marine Max is also completely reef-safe. I know of many who just use it, without any signs of ich.

Not sure if you have any luck with using any of these, but I know of many people who have combatted this tiny yet tenacious creature with these. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

 

[RocknReefr]

Sounds like you might also benefit from a UV sterilizer.

 

[cthetoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13864131#post13864131 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lildraken
thanks scuzy. I didn't see any quazipro

Its called Prazipro