Venustus Angel in QT

[houser]

I decided to start a 1/2 dose of cupramine tonight. I am lowering the temp and salinity for the o2 factor. I have treated with hypo before and don't like this option because it only treats ich, so if you lower to hypo levels and then find you have a different issue I don't think you can then medicate.

Yes, quite the dilemma isn't it. Same one I had to deal with. First 3 days were so painful to watch I second-guessed my initial diagnosis several times but decided to stay the course. In hindsight sticking to the gut feeling was right (brook), and I think I might have narrowly (luckily) escaped velvet. Even ended up seeing ich and that was a relief.

I saw some scratching at the same timeframe as you, That was when I decided to dose prazipro a second time after the first 3 day period. Few hours later scratching subsided. Coincidence?

Now I have a healthy, alert, colored-up fish through prazipro treatment so now just have to patiently wait out ich resurfacing, then bring back up to full salinity slowly. Freaking puppy dog this little one has become the next month is going to be a long one!!! Discipline!! Discipline!!!!

 

[Tracey2]

Houser, glad to hear your mystery fish is doing well. I dealt with velvet once, which is why I now QT everything, 3 meds I love are cupramine, prazipro and paraguard, all have saved some of my favourites in the past.

The morning after I dosed the remainder of prazi nobody came up to eat, I tested for amonia and got .25, I panicked (newby mistake I have made more than once) and removed 60g of water from the tank, added 1 tsp of amonia remove and added 15g of new sw, which is all I had ready, started running carbon and retested amonia and got 0. The venustus was more timid yesterday after this event but still came out to eat and I have not witnessed any scratching, although I was only able to watch her inbetween cooking turkey dinner and entertaining my family. I'm not sure how you guys keep your tank amonia free dosing cupramine and prazi, this is not the first time I have had this happen and I syphon the bottom of the tank once a day and add 5g new salt water/day, is there something else I should be doing???

Today I am planning to just keep her eating well, keep water quality excellent and observe.

 

[LargeAngels]

I tested for amonia and got .25, I panicked (newby mistake I have made more than once) and removed 60g of water from the tank, added 1 tsp of amonia remove and added 15g of new sw.\

A couple of things about Cupramine and ammonia. Cupramine often leads to FALSE ammonia positives. Many test kits can't differentiate between the Cupramine and ammonia. Also, Cupramine does NOT mix well with most ammonia or water conditioners. It can actually cause the Cupramine to be 10x more toxic. I always keep a couple of QT's going so ammonia is usually never a problem. You can always take some established bio from the main tank and put in the QT.

 

[Kieth71]

The seachem ammonia badges work well in keeping a chk on your ammonia levels and are not affected bye the cupramine.Their is no real good copper test kit as you have seen.They all seem to have weird quirks that make them nearly unusable.The seachem colors are almost impossible to tell apart and the salifert has its own problems as well with only measuring to a ceartain level.I use the seachem kit but its far from precise.I try and keep a sponge for my hagen aquaclear fliter in the sump so when i need to qt i have instant bio for the qt.Its a great looking fish

 

[Tracey2]

Thanks for the tips guys. If I did have a false amonia positive then it must have been the meds that were bothering everyone, I did think I was able to remove the amonia too easily. This afternoon they are all acting themselves again, eating well and no scratching, is it possible with the short treatment I did that I have killed whatever was bothering the venustus or should I expect another cycle?

I don't like any test kits, I use api, seachem and sailfert and have found all of them to be unreliable, I do love my hanna phosphate checker though and was going to look into the kh checker, I wish there was a hanna to test everything else.

 

[houser]

I cheat and try to have 40 gallons of SW mixed up at all times and another 65 or so in the RODI tanks. The q tank is 20g so this gives me great flexibility. No copper this time so could squash ammonia with changes. And had to do it more than once I have the badge but it can be hard to read for sure.

 

[Tracey2]

Update, everyone in QT is looking excellent, no scratching and nice colour. The venustus is now eating whatever I put in the tank but she loves pellets the most. She gets along with everyone but does not really like the longnose hawk. I plan to watch a little longer and make sure there are no other health issues.

Now can you guys give me some advice about introducing her to the tank. I normally just add a few fish at once to spread out aggression but this time I was considering using a social acclimatization box. I could release the small fish into the tank and float the copperband and venustus in seperate boxes for awhile??? Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks

 

[reppo13]

The box is a great idea I've done this for all my fish accept my clownfish (they were first in) Any clear container will work great as long as it shows the fishes color, shape, and size to the other fish. I use a bug cage from petco thats ventalated on the top and clear everywhere else. Another good cage can be made out of egg crates and plastic zip ties. The main thing I want to stress is that It has to show the fishes color and shape to your other fish as this is what causes aggression within species. By "show acclimation" the fish won't be shocked during introduction. Hope this helps.

 

[Tracey2]

Thanks Reppo13, how long do you normally leave them in the box. I also have the petco container with the ventalated lid, I thought I would have to drill holes in the box??

 

[Tracey2]

Update and new questions. The venustus is still looking great, no more scratching since the large water change from anyone in QT. Now, I did only treat with cupramine and prazi for a few days, should I put them in the display yet?

There is another angel I have wanted for awhile and my lfs has a nice one on hold for me but would like me to pick up this week. I could pu the new angel and put her in qt with the others maybe having to treat again or move the guys in qt to the display now. Need help from the experts.

 

[Tracey2]

Alright, executive decision made on my own, the venustus has made it to the display in the box. None of the fish in the display are paying any attention to her, I plan to wait a couple of days and release unless something changes. I do think the fish in the display are just afraid of the box.

 

[Tracey2]

My little venustus keeps looking for a way out, if no one is showing aggression is it too early to open the box, she has been in the dt since yesterday morning?

 

[Tracey2]

The venustus is doing great in the DT now. The only ones that bothered her were the majestic angel and hippo tang, the majestic was the worst. After releasing the venustus I left the box in the tank and in swam the majestic so I shut the lid and now have a very angry majestic angel. I also have another angel in QT who is just learning to eat, would it be better to let the majestic go and hope they work it out or remove the majestic to the QT with the other new angel and reintroduce the larger angels together? Any opinions?