possible parasite infection in clown. help!

[Chad Vossen]

i put my female and a new male that i bought into quarenteen so they could meet each other and be treated for whatever.

well 3-4 weeks of copper treatment to treat for ick. then i put them into the display tank and at the time both clowns were agressive eaters and highly active. well this last week my male has slowed down, appears to have stringy poop and its sometimes white. he does not eat agressively and sometimes not at all. the female is still healthy and going strong. these clowns are false percs.

what should my next action be? i know ill have to put them back into the Quaranteen tank for further meds, right? i just dont know how or what to treat with this time since it seemed the copper didnt do anything.


i used cupramine, monitored useing a salifert copper test kit.

 

[Hattie B]

Hello,

Was the cooper administered in a bare bottom tank (no substrate to absorb the treatment?

You can try deworming your clown if you suspect possible worms. I use praziquantel. I believe orally is the best way as you are able to make sure the fish actually receive the medication.

You can search for food with praziquantel or you can soak food in it or you can gut load differnt items of food such as brine shrimp.

 

[Chad Vossen]

the tank has sand, i wanted to experiment with sand to see how it looks incase i wanted to use it for my new 65 gal. the copper test showed my levels to remain reasonably constant. when i did water changes, i added another dose of copper relative to how much water i replaced.

can praziquantel be found at most LFS? ill look around in petco next time im in the area.

 

[Hattie B]

ok, online and you can order praziquantel (I believe fosters and smith has it). The directions should be included on how much to feed or soak the food in depending on the quanity and type.

Also there are some types of food that has it in it too, I believe a Jungle food or Hikari.

I use sailfert test kits too, they have been really reliable for me and I have never had any problems. So if there was a therapeutic level in the water then I suppose that would have been good. sand/substrate can absorb the copper thus leading to lower ineffective therapeutic levels.

I am assuming that your clowns don't have ich anymore or you would not have added it t the tank.

Hopefully, with a little deworming all should be well. =)

 

[Chad Vossen]

actualy, i think i rushed things alittle fast. i think that ick is still present in my display . i noticed a single spot on one of my clowns that went away by the end of the day. im keeping a very close eye for more spots and if i see more, straight to the Q-tank they go... then another 50 days looking at only coral and a cleaner shrimp in the display..

 

[Hattie B]

ohh.. =(..

Probably the adult fell off.. Yes, watch over the next few days to see if they are reinfected. I would supplement vitamins for additional health too.

Best,
HB