Diagnosis help

[roni]

Hi,

 

Been a frustrating month or so for me.  Started with skipping QT with a pair of blueline angels since my qt tanks were down after a basement remodel.  I've had spots of ich in the tank before but nothing major...

 

Fast forward 4 weeks, bluelines never eat well and die and I notice a couple spots of ich on a few fish.  No big deal as this has happened sporadically in the past and usually goes away on it's own.

 

This progressed while I was out of town and I started to get worried and tried catching fish.  I've gotten several into separately set up qt tanks and had started hyposalinity with improvement in the fish.  Still trying to catch the fish in the main tank.

 

Today, my clowns that are still in the main tank looked more lethargic and my regal angels in qt also look worse.

 

This is a picture of the black tang in the display:

 

 

My concern is that the ich weakened the defenses and now there is a superimposed infection.

 

The regal is exhibiting more of a whitish coat with irregularity of the caudal fin and some white "stringy" material extending from the fins, as less as lethargy.

 

The clowns have a thin whitish coat and are more lethargic.

 

My thought is a superimposed bacterial infection versus brook.  Any ideas or thoughts? 

[Gilbert]

This is a nightmare. I've put a few new fishes in my DT without QTing and doing this made my fish catch ich, but like you said it would go away after a while. When I introduced new my Purple tang into my DT and it had like ich for a month, but as soon as I soaked their food in selcon/garlic/aminos then fed it to them for a whole week, the ich went away and I haven't seen the ich stuff since.

[Coral Hind]

I would catch the remaining fish, even if you have to take some rock out, before they die. If it was a minor case I wouldn't worry but this looks and sounds like an outbreak. If you don't act fast you could lose them. Since you don't know exactly what you have I would treat with something that has a better chance to kill the most items. I would use a Formalin / Malachite Green combo. A good fresh water dip once you catch them and before moving into QT helps to knock a good portion of any external parasites off.

[roni]

Treating the guys in qt with cuprimine.  I've been trying to catch the remaining fish in the tank but short of completely tearing down the reef, I don't think I can do it.  I'm actually beginning to think this is velvet.  The fish were doing okay for about 4-5 weeks and in the last 3-4 days things have gone downhill fast.  

 

This has been a pretty depressing lesson in the need to carefully quarantine.  

[monkiboy]

this is unfortunate but there is a lesson to be learned. cupramine is a great choice for both ich and velvet and i've had success with it. you are testing your levels with the seachem test kit, as well? things have to be spot on have changes and when administrating it otherwise you might as well not use it. if velvet, and you care about your fish, tear that reef down and get them out and try to treat. you'll need to go fallow to clear your tank anyway might as well do it now that you have a shot of saving your fish. if you need additional space for QT, i dont know how many more fish you need to treat, i'd be happy to loan you cupramine and/or tanks if needed. g'luck and keep us posted, please!

[Mattiejay6]

Roni let me know if you need a hand. Also if you need any special tests or chemicals I can hit QR for you

[surf&turf]

Sorry to hear this!!

[marinap]

Sounds like ich. You can try prazi without other meds in one of the qt to rule out flukes.

 

Brook and velvet both kill fish in 3 to 5 days without treatment after initial symptoms are observed, i do not think you are dealing with those two.

 

You can do a wet mount of skin and look under a microscope to confirm the diagnosis.

Edited September 27, 2013 by marinap

[roni]

Thanks all.  I had originally thought ich but the fact that the fish in qt that were getting hypo weren't improving and have started to drop off makes me think it's something else.  

 

In the past, when I've done hypo with ich, I'd seen significant improvement before even getting down to 1.009.