Copperband butterfly

[nemotang2019]

I have a small copperband butterfly in a 75 g qt with 2.3-2.5 ppm copper for the past two weeks. Today I found him not eating and instead of actively swimming he’s kinda just floating around. I also noticed his left eye is a bit cloudy and saw red open wound like ulcers above his both eyes. Other fishes in the tank had ich which are gone since coopersafe and some has flukes I think cuz some twitches, and I can see large opaque scale sticking out of their body which I think is neo flukes. (Can’t spell the whole thing lol). I just tried freshwater dip on the butterfly but he just layed on the bottom of the container and didn’t respond to me poking him to get him moving. So after 30 sec I just released him back to the qt. He’s swimming near the surface against the current so hopefully not velvet. What should I do next?

Copper is at 2.44ppm.
Ammonia is safe according to seachem badge.
Nitrate is high like 75 ppm plus (Hanna checker). I’ve been battling with high nitrate. And I do 50% water changes every 3 days and it will get down to like 50ppm then the next day it goes above 75 which Hanna checker can’t read above 75. Maybe I have too many fishes? Plz see attached video of the whole tank.
Salinity is 1.025

 

[Jay Hemdal]

nemotang2019 Welcome to the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Forum!

The #fishmedic team and other knowledgeable members of our community will do our best to help you resolve your questions. Please provide as much of the following as you are able:

• Brief description of the issue you are observing and answers to the following questions:
  • How long have you had the fish with the condition?
  • Did you quarantine with medication when you first acquired the fish? (If Yes, which medication?)
• Current water quality measurements
• Clear photos of the issue taken using WHITE light and/or a short video of any behaviors (post in your response or on YouTube).

If you can help us by providing as much of the above info as possible, it will make diagnosing and providing recommendations for treatment MUCH easier! The Fish Medic team will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, other members of our community may also share their experience with similar situations and advice that they may have regarding your situation.

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Additionally, these links may be useful while you await a response:

• CURRENT QT PROTOCOL LINK
• HOW TO ASK FOR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS HELP LINK

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have a small copperband butterfly in a 75 g qt with 2.3-2.5 ppm copper for the past two weeks. Today I found him not eating and instead of actively swimming he’s kinda just floating around. I also noticed his left eye is a bit cloudy and saw red open wound like ulcers above his both eyes. Other fishes in the tank had ich which are gone since coopersafe and some has flukes I think cuz some twitches, and I can see large opaque scale sticking out of their body which I think is neo flukes. (Can’t spell the whole thing lol). I just tried freshwater dip on the butterfly but he just layed on the bottom of the container and didn’t respond to me poking him to get him moving. So after 30 sec I just released him back to the qt. He’s swimming near the surface against the current so hopefully not velvet. What should I do next?

Copper is at 2.44ppm.
Ammonia is safe according to seachem badge.
Nitrate is high like 75 ppm plus (Hanna checker). I’ve been battling with high nitrate. And I do 50% water changes every 3 days and it will get down to like 50ppm then the next day it goes above 75 which Hanna checker can’t read above 75. Maybe I have too many fishes? Plz see attached video of the whole tank.
Salinity is 1.025

Having the copper at 2.44 ppm would rule out Amyloodinium (velvet).

What I see is that the CBB is pretty thin, with cloudy eyes and ragged fins. To me, that all points to Neobenedenia flukes. 30 seconds in FW won't knock those off, even five minutes isn't always long enough to dislodge them. Then, a FW dip is really just a means to diagnose flukes, and buy you some time, because the fish will get reinfected when you return them to the tank.

You could dose praziquantel in the tank three times, 8 days apart. I'm a bit concerned because that tank is pretty crowded overall, and in cases like that, it can be kind of tricky to medicate with multiple drugs. I'd suggest running hyposalinity, as that would deal with ich and flukes, but those anthias may not handle that well.

Jay

 

[Jekyl]

To add to above get yourself a reliable ammonia test. The badge or even API aren't going to be reliable enough.

 

[nemotang2019]

Any recommendation for reliable ammonia testing?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Any recommendation for reliable ammonia testing?

Hanna test kit

 

[nemotang2019]

So I started praziro but the copperband and golden semilarvatus died unfortunately. So this tank so far has gone thru two weeks of copper and one week of prazipro at this point. I’m going to continue with two more rounds of prazipro 7 days apart. After that, what do you suggest I do? I have an Achilles tang that had ich before I started copper but now symptom free. So assuming he has no visible ich after two more rounds of praziro, is it necessary to do another 30 days of copper? Or assume all fishes are ready to go to the display tank?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I started praziro but the copperband and golden semilarvatus died unfortunately. So this tank so far has gone thru two weeks of copper and one week of prazipro at this point. I’m going to continue with two more rounds of prazipro 7 days apart. After that, what do you suggest I do? I have an Achilles tang that had ich before I started copper but now symptom free. So assuming he has no visible ich after two more rounds of praziro, is it necessary to do another 30 days of copper? Or assume all fishes are ready to go to the display tank?

What copper are you using and at what level?

I always wait at least 30 days from the day the last fish died to ensure the disease was truly eradicated.

 

[nemotang2019]

Copper safe 2.3-2.5 ppm. Then when I finish three round of prazipro that’d be 21 days since last copper tx. So I’ll observe another couple weeks before moving the fishes to the display tank. Of course if there are signs of ich, then I’ll start 30-35 days of copper. Does this sound good?