Royal Gramma Dying Now - Any Hope?

[revfred]

I've been in hypo for a little over a week now. My levels are great. My royal gramma who has had ick is now laying down and breathing rather rapidly getting up occassionally to scratch himself on the rock or substrate. I can't put him in the QT because my live rock and inverts are in there. Is there anything that I can do for him?

 

[elfdoctors]

None of the moderators have been posting so far tonight so I'll give this a stab to try and help.
Are you sure you are treating ich? I read your other thread about your rock beauty which was also not getting better. Hyposalinity should be effective if it is ich - two fish not improving suggests that you may not even have ich. The hyposalinity should actually put the fish under less stress.
Are the spots salt grain size? Do they appear solid or fluffy? Were there any other signs of illness (not eating, rubbing on rocks, etc)? What species of fish do you think brought in the disease? I'm not sure what other medication I would consider as I am still uncertain about the diagnosis. You need to watch the pH closely during hypo. Your other readings should also be watched closedly as you removed a lot of your biologic filtration when you removed your live rock. Any chance of getting a pic?
If you'd like, you could add some garlic now. That isn't going to hurt anything and will sometimes help.
You probably have already tried praying - sometimes that works better than my other suggestions!

 

[revfred]

Thanks for responding.
I began Hypo after the Rock Beauty began to show grain sized white spots. Shortly thereafter, the royal gramma and yellow-eyed tang began to rub against the rocks though they weren't showing any spots. All of the fish are still eating well on a diet of brine shrimp, and ocean nutrition formula 1, 2 and angel formula.
I have closely monitored the pH and it has fluctuated slightly between 8.3 and 8.0. I have used a marine buffer twice in the last 4 days. Now I'm at 8.3.
I don't have any garlic (other than fresh garlic and I don't think that will help). I do have copper and Rid-Ich.
I can move my rock into another container, place the royal gramma in the QT and treat with copper if that can help.

 

[elfdoctors]

It sures sounds like ich.
You could add the RidIch into the tank with hypo. It only works on one stage of the lifecyle but it MAY have some effect in conjunction with hypo. I would be wary of trying copper as this often puts the fish into more stress as it is moderately toxic. What form of copper do you have? Do you have a test kit? The moderators tend to reserve this treatment until after a several week course of hyposalinity has clearly not helped. From what I have read the existing spots should fall off within about 5-7 days after achieving a therapeutic hyposalinity.

 

[revfred]

I'll try the Rid-Ich tonight and then I'm going to bed. I do have a copper test kit and the copper that I have is Cupramine.
Otherwise, I'm going to give it a few days and see how the Rock Beauty is doing.
Thanks for the late night help. I'll let you know how the gramma is doing in the morning.
By the way, I did try praying (ha-ha).

 

[revfred]

Royal Gramma still kickin'. I fed them this moring some krill and he eventually emerged from behind the rock. I'm going to forego using any more medicine and let the hypo run it's course. Perhaps a little patience may be my greatest virtue here.
"the race is not given to the swift or to the strong but to he that endures until the end."
Thanks for the advise elfdoctor.

 

[beth]

What are you using to measure salinity and what are your water readings?

 

[jc74]

I highly recommend Mardel's Coppersafe. I've used it three times over the past four years and it works wonders. If your fish are that deeply infected it may be too late, but keep it in mind in case it happens again. It's always best to begin treatment at the first sign of ick before the gills are heavily infected.