Sick Perc

[IHP_Marine]

Hello Everyone

I have a very sick clown. I had 2 clowns and a sailfin tang in QT treating them with a bad case of ich. The clowns were looking much better after 4 days of copper treatment so I put them back into the main tank. After one day he acted strange laying on the bottom and then a I saw a piece of his skin flapping on the white strip on his head. Within one hour it feel off. Almost looks like he is peeling. The smaller of the two looks great. He is just protecting the sick one.

PLEASE HELP! What should I do from here? Back into QT for them both or what? I have attached a photo.

Thanks
Wendy

 

[IHP_Marine]

Woke up this morning and the clown was dead. Now the little one looks like his head is getting the same thing. He is laying in the same spot as the other. I don't think he will make it.

Losing fish is so much harder than I thought it would be.

 

[leebca]

Wendy,

I would 'fix' your QT system. What recommendations or what process do you follow? I suggest this one:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm

If you followed the above, you would have immediately put your anemonefish into a treatment for Brooklynella. If you followed the above, you would have immediately put your tang into treatment using hyposalinity. THEN, after that, you would see if either fish had any other problem. BUT, they would have been handled separately from the onset.

When you QT two or more fish together, you run the risk of having multiple disease outbreaks or having to cure fishes of a multitude of diseases. This is not something I would recommend you or anyone that doesn't have years of experience treating diseased fishes. Take a look here for what I wrote:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=805828

Why four days of copper treatment? You interrupted the treatment and cut it short, because the fish looked good? You are missing information about the disease and how to properly treat it. A copper treatment is like the antibiotic treatment for humans. You might feel good after four days, but you must completely use the medication until you are told to stop. You have some reading to do:

:reading:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

Steven Proââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s article on Marine Ich (Part 1):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm
(Part 2):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.htm

With the above concerns I have, I also have a concern about your diagnosis. From the photo, I see an anemonefish that could have any of a number of diseases or conditions. Then, there is the very real possibility that your fish had multiple diseases.

Since you're relatively new, and you are obviously interested in keeping different kinds of fishes, you have a chance to provide your fish with a top-notch nutritional regime. For pointers, see this:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785228

I will say one very good thing though: It is absolutely GREAT that you are using a quarantine tank. You just need to get a better handle on its use.

Best to go it slowly. Good luck!