What to treat first? Popeye or Ich?

[dous]

My blue tang recently developed ich and has been brushing up against a rock aggressively, which probably caused the popeye on his right eye that appeared this morning. I was going to try to hospitalize him for ich anyway but now that he has both, which should I treat first?

I have cupramine for ich and SeaChem's Neoplex for the infetion. Can I treat both at the same time?

Also, I wanted to treat the other fish in my tank as well. Can I put them all in the same tank while treating the tang?

 

[Angela Short]

Well if it was me, i would ditch the copper idea especially for the tang and go with hypo. You have to get every fish out of the display and let it sit fallow for at least 4 weeks anyways. So a shorter duration in copper will cure the infection but you still have to keep the fish somewhere else than the display for the ick to run its course and die out. This is why I say go the less stressfull route with hypo and not take a chance on poisioning the fish. And hypo relives stress on wounds like the popeye and will allow it to heal faster so 2 treatments in one. If popeye is from injury it can heal on its own with good water alone. Good luck

 

[steve-s]

Neomycine sulfate cannot be used in conjunction with copper so you have littel choices. Either use hypo or buy a different anti.

If truely popeye and not an injury/poor water quality issue, the reduced salinity of the hypo treatment will do it much better to improving the cure time and the fish will expend much less energy and focus on healing. So 2 for 2 the hypo is so far a btter choice.

If you use the Neoplex, do not use the copper. If using Neoplex and hypo, follow the Manuf directions of 1 scoop/2 gal of water volume. The recommended dose by Seachem is far too week for full strength seawater but at 14 ppt should work fine.

Cheers
Steve

 

[dous]

thanks.. I may actually just need to treat ich using hypo as the popeye seem to have dissipated. I'm convinced it was caused by abrupt rubbing against a rock that injured the eye. It's a lot better now.