murph
Active Member
Thanks for the info you gave in regards to the scopas I have been trying to save.
I have spent hours this weekend researching treatments for marine parasites and have found quite a bit info; some of conflicting as usual. Unforunatly I have now decided that my DT also in need of some intervention and have removed the three fish I had in there and allowing to go fallow. The three fish in question have never shown signs of parasites but a few months back I did lose a kole tang so I am just going to assume the tank is "exposed".
There was also a need to move all of my rock around to remove a flame back angel who had become more of a "punk" then any damsel I have ever seen so this does not particularly bother me especially with the emphasis of the tank being inverts
As far as the scopas treatment goes; I fully intended to do a hypo treatment. I do not have a refractometer but have a hydrometer that gets double checked with an LFS refractometer weekly and is spot on after a bit of compensation. It consistently read .05 to high. Much to my shagrin however I quickly found that it would not read low enough to perform a hypo treatment so its now back to chelated copper after changing enough water to remove or substantially reduce any formalin left in the HT from previous copper formalin combo med.
What is your opinion on chelated copper? Some info recommends a much higher dose from plane copper sulfate is needed; in the 1.5 to 2.0PPM range. Others claim effectiveness with .4 or 5 ppm and still others say .20 to .15 is effective which is the same dosage for non chelated copper. Quite a variance.
I have two different copper test kits that are in agreement so at the vary least I am confident of the amount of chelated copper I have decided on for now at 1.5ppm. This dose has only been overnight and I am prepared to quickly reduce this if needed.
Now for the tangs sensitivity to these doses. Again more disagreement in the community. Some say doses as high as 2.0ppm of chelated can be handled if exposure is under ten days. I know of one LFS in my area who maintains this dose in his holding tanks that contain several large tangs that out grew there homes and have been at this exposure for months. I have also gotten info from the curator of a large display that all incoming fish are held at .20 non chelated for 21 days prior to introduction with no ill effects.
And finally disagreement in the community as far as the effectiveness of hypo treatment. Some claiming the parasite can withstand nearly freshwater conditions making hypo not exactly a sure bet.
Lots of confusion in the community as usual. At any rate as far as my scopas goes; if appetite is any indication of recovery things are still going well.
Actually at this point with my DTs emphasis being invert/coral I am tempted to toss in a few damsels and be done with it :joy: I can rarely find healthy fish specimens in my neck of the woods anyway.
I have spent hours this weekend researching treatments for marine parasites and have found quite a bit info; some of conflicting as usual. Unforunatly I have now decided that my DT also in need of some intervention and have removed the three fish I had in there and allowing to go fallow. The three fish in question have never shown signs of parasites but a few months back I did lose a kole tang so I am just going to assume the tank is "exposed".
There was also a need to move all of my rock around to remove a flame back angel who had become more of a "punk" then any damsel I have ever seen so this does not particularly bother me especially with the emphasis of the tank being inverts
As far as the scopas treatment goes; I fully intended to do a hypo treatment. I do not have a refractometer but have a hydrometer that gets double checked with an LFS refractometer weekly and is spot on after a bit of compensation. It consistently read .05 to high. Much to my shagrin however I quickly found that it would not read low enough to perform a hypo treatment so its now back to chelated copper after changing enough water to remove or substantially reduce any formalin left in the HT from previous copper formalin combo med.
What is your opinion on chelated copper? Some info recommends a much higher dose from plane copper sulfate is needed; in the 1.5 to 2.0PPM range. Others claim effectiveness with .4 or 5 ppm and still others say .20 to .15 is effective which is the same dosage for non chelated copper. Quite a variance.
I have two different copper test kits that are in agreement so at the vary least I am confident of the amount of chelated copper I have decided on for now at 1.5ppm. This dose has only been overnight and I am prepared to quickly reduce this if needed.
Now for the tangs sensitivity to these doses. Again more disagreement in the community. Some say doses as high as 2.0ppm of chelated can be handled if exposure is under ten days. I know of one LFS in my area who maintains this dose in his holding tanks that contain several large tangs that out grew there homes and have been at this exposure for months. I have also gotten info from the curator of a large display that all incoming fish are held at .20 non chelated for 21 days prior to introduction with no ill effects.
And finally disagreement in the community as far as the effectiveness of hypo treatment. Some claiming the parasite can withstand nearly freshwater conditions making hypo not exactly a sure bet.
Lots of confusion in the community as usual. At any rate as far as my scopas goes; if appetite is any indication of recovery things are still going well.
Actually at this point with my DTs emphasis being invert/coral I am tempted to toss in a few damsels and be done with it :joy: I can rarely find healthy fish specimens in my neck of the woods anyway.
