Purple Tang

[lorin]

I purchased a Purple Tang 2 weeks ago and placed it into a QT. That night it got a bad case of ick and almost died. I gave the fish a fresh water bath and started using cupramine at .4 to .5 ppm and Maracyn for secondary infections. After six days of treatment the fish was in excellent health. After reading the message boards at saltwaterfish.com, I started using hyposalinity. I stopped using the cupramine and dropped my salinity to 1.009 over a few days. Water temp is 77 to 78, salinity 1.009, pH at 8.2 to 8.4, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 3 to 5 ppm and copper at .2. The only problem I had with hyposalinity was the pH drop. It dropped to 7.6 and I added Kent aquarium pH Buffer. The following day the pH was the same so I added a larger dose and pH is up to normal. The pH was low for several days. Today I noticed a torn fin. There is some discoloration around the edges of the fin. There are several small tears less than 1 mm (about ½ inch long) around the large 2 mm tear. The fish still has a few white spots on its belly. It looks like the fish may have fin rot. The fish is eating fine; frozen foods soaked in Zoe and Zoncon and flacked foods. It is very active. I want to treat the fish again with Maracyn for the fin rot. My question is, if I use Maracyn in my QT, can I leave my salinity at 1.009 or should I raise it back to normal and use cupramine? Could the white spots be slime from the copper level at .2ppm and the low salinity or is it ick or a secondary infection?

 

[beth]

You are on the right course treating your fish with hyposalinity. Avoid using copper except for disease situations where copper is the only choice. Hyposalinity will work just fine and you can treat your fish with antibiotics while continuing the hyposalinity.
The reason you are continuing to battle with a bacterial infection is because you are using the wrong medication. In most cases, marine fish bacterial infections are gram negetive, and, therefore, require gram-negetive antibiotic medication. Maracyn is gram positive. You need to switch to its sister drug, Maracyn Two for saltwaterfish. Use this medication at double the dose for 5 days [yes, the drug incert states less than that, but the dose should be double]. This medication [saltwater variety] will discolor the water yellow because it have a VitiminB complex supplement in it. When I use antibiotics, I like to do a little water change just before administering each dose. Keeps the water quality up as the antibiotic will kill off a lot of bacteria.