What is wrong with my Powder Blue?

[percula99]

I have had my Powder Blue in a QT for three weeks now. There is cupramine in the tank at 0.5. There is not a spot or mark on him. He looks to be in perfect condition. He eats nori like crazy and is fat but does not eat frozen or prepared foods, probably because being alone he hasn't seen other fish eat this so he hasn't figured out yet that this is food. BUT... occasionally he has a tendency to make large swooping dives and seems to be scatching himself on the sand bed. He never scratches himself on the rocks. He is also not breathing hard and all parameters in the QT check out.

Is this just a stress related action? I would like to be able to release him into the DT next weekend, but I won't until I figure out what he is doing and why. Any suggestions?

 

[geaux xman]

A lot of the fish i treat with cupramine will start eating much more aggressively once taken out of copper.

How long has the copper level been at 0.5ppm? If its around 3 weeks, i think you are good to go. Doing 4 weeks if the fish is eating well wouldnt hurt.

As far as his behavior, fish will do some strange things and we tend to over think it relating it to some disease or another.

 

[iLLwiLL]

how much flow do you have in the quarantine tank?

~Will.

 

[sandwi54]

before you put him in the DT, i would prophylactically treat with prazipro as well, for possible fluke infections. a 0.5ppm of cupramine is pretty hard on tangs as their microfauna could get damaged. since it's been 3 weeks, i would remove the copper right away and do two consecutive doses of prazipro, 5 days each.

 

[percula99]

He is in a 75US gallon tank with three Maxi-Jet 1200s pointing up. There is good surface agitation and you can see the Nori clips waving in the current. I will start RO tonight for a water change to take out the Cupramine. I always use aged water from my DT when changing water in the DT. I will try the prazipro as well.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

You can take the copper out with Cuprasorb or carbon so you don't have to wait for a water change.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Just me, but I wouldn't put any fish in my DT that was scratching on anything.

 

[percula99]

You can take the copper out with Cuprasorb or carbon so you don't have to wait for a water change.

I would normally agree with this statement but I had a bad problem doing this once. A few years back I had two small fish in a 25 gallon QT and changed the media in my canister filter. Two days later both fish were dead. I assumed the new media started a cycle and both fish died of amonia poisoning. Since then I only use a mature filter on QT, which I don't have right now, or lots of live rock, which is what I am presently using. I also employ an amonia detection wheel. I am a little hesitant to put carbon in an empty canister filter for fear of losing the Powder Blue. Am I being paranoid here?

 

[MrTuskfish]

Am I being paranoid here?

Yes, you are. . Filter media does nothing to produce, increase, or maintain ammonia. Ammonia is created by decaying organics. In fact, filter media will colonize (in time) with aerobic bacteria to help reduce ammonia.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Just me, but I wouldn't put any fish in my DT that was scratching on anything.

Me either, flashing is not normal and is almost always an indicator of parasites. Sometimes, I think flashing can be from post-ich scars or bacterial infections; but I sure wouldn't bet on it.....especially with a PBT.

 

[sandwi54]

occasionally he has a tendency to make large swooping dives and seems to be scatching himself on the sand bed. He never scratches himself on the rocks. He is also not breathing hard and all parameters in the QT check out.

This sounds like he still has external parasites that were not killed with cupramine. Definitely run prazipro as I suggested and hopefully that takes care of it.

You may do a large water change to remove part of the cupramine, and run either cuprisorb or carbon to remove the rest. Cuprisorb will remove faster than carbon and can be recharged (becomes cheaper in the long run).