Really bad crypto or brook?

[Tat2demon]

My fish have had a bit of a crypto outbreak after a major tank change that resulted in several moves back and forth and lots of stress.

I picked up a little Bariene Tang on the 24th, not worried about the infection as I was going to be starting hypo on the entire tank anyway.

Well Im on day 3 of getting down to hypo level and the new tang looks terrible. A couple days ago it looked like regualr crypto but a day later he was completely covered. It was eating and acting fine while it was covered yesterday. But this morning he looks like this. Like his slime is coming off. It was like this as soon as the lights came on.

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I doubt he will make it through the night.

All the other fish have what looks to be crypt and have been this way for a couple weeks since the big move.

Ill be at 1.008 tonight. Do I continue with this or do I need to try pulling one fish? Pulling them all is not an option at this point. I no longer have the space or containers for 400 gallons of water and all my rock.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I just can't tell for sure from the video; but this doesn't look like ich to me. The fish seems to have a sheen, when seen from some angles. This, plus the quick time-line suggest velvet. ( The slime coat coming off could be brooklynella, but I doubt it.) I'd Google "Marine Velvet" and see if that makes sense. Again, I'm not certain this is what the fish has, but this is just my best guess. Velvet (oodinium) is much faster and deadlier than ich, also extremely contagious. IMO, it is more common than we think, often mistaken for ich. Its an obvious reason to use a QT with all new fish and can literally wipe out a tank in a few days.
If this fish has velvet, a FW dip will provide some temporary relief and buy some time. It won't cure it, however. Hypo will do nothing for velvet, the only cure is copper and all of your fish need to be treated. Copper is almost impossible to use in a tank with substrate or LR. If this is velvet and you can't move your fish to a QT---I don't know what to suggest. Some hobbyists have used quinine sulfate with velvet, It needs a QT too. I hope I'm wrong. The original ich outbreak didn't come from stress directly, it came from ich in your tank. Adding a fish while treating ich is really asking for a big problem; not only are you giving a fish a parasite, you're doing it at a time when he's most vulnerable. (Due to not being acclimated and recently captured & shipped, etc.)

 

[Tat2demon]

What youre seeing in the vid is basically slime coat that has kind of come loose. I don't think its velvet but I could be wrong. It just looked like very bad crypto until this morning. None of my other fish have it nearly this bad. Some have a moderate case (Desjardini, Yellow and Sailfin Tangs) while the others dont show a single spec (Blueface Angel, Potters, Coral Beauty, Orange Striped and Naso Tangs).

Its not that I dont want to QT and treat but just dont have room in the apartment for a tank large enough for all these fish for a month long treatment plus the extra 2 months for fallow on the DT. All I have for a QT is a 40B.

I know the ich didnt come from the stress. I had treated previously with QS and everything looked completely healthy for a long time. Im guessing the stress of several tank teardowns and swaps in the course of a week and a half weakened them enough for it to get a foot hold.

Any idea if QS can be run with hypo?

 

[snorvich]

Looks like velvet to me.

 

[Tat2demon]

I see that Crypto Pro is also used in freshwater for ich. Does this mean it should be safe to run during hypo?

 

[Tat2demon]

Forgot to ask, does the specs from velvet go away at night? The fish that are showing the signs look fine in the morning but get worse as the day goes on.

 

[Tat2demon]

I see that Crypto Pro is also used in freshwater for ich. Does this mean it should be safe to run during hypo?

Well it seems nobody on tonight knows so were going to find out. Did a full dose about 2 hours ago. Will see how things look in the morning.

 

[sandwi54]

it's hard to tell from the video, but it does not look like an advanced stage of ich and rather more like velvet. did you add him straight into DT without QT? If you are not aware, hypo only kills ich but nothing else, and there are way more parasites that you need to quarantine for than just ich.

Velvet follows a similar, but faster life cycle as ich. Since you are already at 1.008, if the disease gets worse in a day or two, then you know you most likely have velvet or brook. The problem is, copper is the only cure for velvet but cannot be used in hyposalinity. You will need to raise the salinity back to like 1.018 before you can dose copper.

Good luck with the treatment and let us know how it goes.

 

[Tat2demon]

Yeah Im well aware of all that. Was a stupid choice on my part. Im going to wait until tonight and if it looks any worse I guess my only option is going to be to yank them all out again.

So far, no bad reactions to running Quinine Sulfate in hypo.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Yeah Im well aware of all that. Was a stupid choice on my part. Im going to wait until tonight and if it looks any worse I guess my only option is going to be to yank them all out again.

So far, no bad reactions to running Quinine Sulfate in hypo.

I don't know; I've only read accounts from a few folks that have used it. Results seem divided. I've talked to a few tech people about QS and they all say its a good drug, but very hard to keep in suspension and impossible to monitor med concentration level. If you have some QS; there should be a phone # to call and get help on the hypo question. Ordinarily, it would be easy to say "just bring the SG back up"; but you don't have the luxury of time.

 

[Tat2demon]

After talking it over a bit today Im currently pulling out the rock and sand and will treat with Cupramine. Ill run carbon tonight to pull out any QS and start dosing th copper tomorrow. Im just going to let the rock and sand dry out to kill anything that may be on it.

Cupramine wont discolor an acrylic tank will it?

 

[Tat2demon]

After talking it over a bit today Im currently pulling out the rock and sand and will treat with Cupramine. Ill run carbon tonight to pull out any QS and start dosing th copper tomorrow. Im just going to let the rock and sand dry out to kill anything that may be on it.

Cupramine wont discolor an acrylic tank will it?