Best course of action to save last few fish, fish are dying every few hours!

saulgoodmannnn · May 20, 2022

Sharkbait19 said:
#fishmedic
I’m seeing velvet, but late stage ich is also very possible.
Get remaining fish into qt and treat with copper ASAP.
Cupramine should be dosed at 0.5 ppm.
Fw dip during transfer will help alleviate symptoms and buy some time.

What about my Emerald crabs, shrimp, and snails? Can they be left in the tank or do I need to remove them also?

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 20, 2022

saulgoodmannnn said:
What about my Emerald crabs, shrimp, and snails? Can they be left in the tank or do I need to remove them also?

Copper will kill inverts.

Lionfish hunter · May 20, 2022

I would highly recommend testing ammonia. Especially if your corals look off too. Dead fish will cause a spike in ammonia.

saulgoodmannnn · May 20, 2022

BTW,

thank you guys I appreciate your help more than you can imagine. This community is amazing, I wish I had a local club but sadly WNY doesn’t have much of a presence I can find. Just the Upstate Reefing Society which looks like they’ve been dormant for years.

Lionfish hunter · May 20, 2022

saulgoodmannnn said:
What about my Emerald crabs, shrimp, and snails? Can they be left in the tank or do I need to remove them also?

Same as corals. The velvet won't affect them, but the copper will kill them.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 20, 2022

saulgoodmannnn said:
What about my Emerald crabs, shrimp, and snails? Can they be left in the tank or do I need to remove them also?

The cuc can remain in the tank while you run fishless.

vetteguy53081 · May 20, 2022

saulgoodmannnn said:
I did notice my Blenny has been hanging out on my MP10. Wrapping his body around the outer edge as if he likes the sucking feeling lol labored breathing across the tank with all fish and odd behavior such as leaving their “safe spaces” and wandering into other fishes territories and fish which are normally very aggressive of their territory don’t care.
Should I do anything as far as my corals are concerned to prevent loss? I have a RBTA that shrunk up after the initial WC, the day before he was bigger than I’ve ever seen him and now he’s all ballooned up again but he has been moving around a lot the last week or so. Moving to the top of the water line and getting closer to my hammer. I also have a Derasa clam, tube coral, gonipora, bunch of mushrooms Yuma and richordias

All your inverts are safe and as you go FALLOW, the remaining tromonts will die off. Concern is any remaining fish
Do not dose copper- use either coppersafe or Copper Power and Monitor copper levels with a reliable copper test kit (no api brand)

Lionfish hunter · May 20, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
All your inverts are safe and as you go FALLOW, the remaining tromonts will die off. Concern is any remaining fish
Do not dose copper- use either coppersafe or Copper Power and Monitor copper levels with a reliable copper test kit (no api brand)

The only reliable copper test is hanna

vetteguy53081 · May 20, 2022

Lionfish hunter said:
The only reliable copper test is hanna

AGREE

ZombieEngineer · May 20, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
All your inverts are safe and as you go FALLOW, the remaining tromonts will die off. Concern is any remaining fish
Do not dose copper- use either coppersafe or Copper Power and Monitor copper levels with a reliable copper test kit (no api brand)

This, but if you can find copper power but need to wait a few days for a hanna checker to get shipped to you, velvet is debilitating enough I would advocate dosing per the label even if you don't have a copper test. The dosing instructions on the label are dead on and haven't moved in the week in my QT. Cupramine is a different story that definitely needs a test kit to stay in therapeutic

ZombieEngineer · May 20, 2022

saulgoodmannnn said:
So for Alk supplements I have EAV Ionic B I can dose the FW with that directly to boost the pH. I’m concerned the blenny is a powerful jumper he can easily jump out of a bucket for the dip. Can I use the same dip for all the fish or get rid of the FW after each fish has been dipped?

Same dip is fine. You can do all your fish at once if you're careful in a 5g bucket or 1 at a time in a smaller container.

vetteguy53081 · May 20, 2022

ZombieEngineer said:
This, but if you can find copper power but need to wait a few days for a hanna checker to get shipped to you, velvet is debilitating enough I would advocate dosing per the label even if you don't have a copper test. The dosing instructions on the label are dead on and haven't moved in the week in my QT. Cupramine is a different story that definitely needs a test kit to stay in therapeutic

Before saying dead on, consider usable gallons without a test kit, In a 20 gallon tank, with tubes and heater, etc, there will be about 17 usable gallons

748S911 · May 20, 2022

Velvet&ich are the worst and will wipe out your tank.

I would run fishless for at least 6 months.

I had success removing all sand going bare bottom, attached uv sterilization unit. Lots of water changes. HypoSalinity at 1.01 or something like that for a long time.

Until u introduced fish again, and I would stay away from delicate fish or ich magnets

threebuoys · May 20, 2022

As vetteguy discussed, a 20 gallon tank has about 17 actual gallons of water. Mine takes 29 ml of copper power to achieve 2.50 ppm. You should move quickly to that concentration, no more than 4 hours, given the condition of your fish. You should then monitor ammonia in the QT at least daily until you know the tank has been cycled.

Edit: Also, if you have to make a water change to reduce ammonia, be sure the new water has been dosed with copper, e.g., a 50% water change = 8.5 gallons = 14.5 ml of Copper Power.

Edit 2: Cupramine target concentration is .50. Follow bottle instructions accordingly if this is what you use.

bxclent · May 20, 2022

I wish you luck.....it must be heartbreaking

Jay Hemdal · May 20, 2022

saulgoodmannnn said:
BTW,

thank you guys I appreciate your help more than you can imagine. This community is amazing, I wish I had a local club but sadly WNY doesn’t have much of a presence I can find. Just the Upstate Reefing Society which looks like they’ve been dormant for years.

Coming in late on this, I’ve been driving all day. The flame angel clearly has advanced ich. Velvet shows as really fast breathing, and if you see spots, they are really small, like dust. Fish can have ich and velvet at the same time.
I saw you mention Cupramine and then you listed a couple of reducing agents - chloram-x and prime. Never use use those with Cupramine, they will cause free copper to be released, harming the fish.
Jay

Spare time · May 20, 2022

748S911 said:
Velvet&ich are the worst and will wipe out your tank.

I would run fishless for at least 6 months.

I had success removing all sand going bare bottom, attached uv sterilization unit. Lots of water changes. HypoSalinity at 1.01 or something like that for a long time.

Until u introduced fish again, and I would stay away from delicate fish or ich magnets

The life cycle of those is finished before six months.

cmoore806 · May 20, 2022

Very sad indeed.

I can tell by your initial post you are detail oriented. I’m curious why not QT prior to putting anything into the display? Are you not familiar with QT methods or is it a space issue?