Help ID White Spots During QT

[nikevx]

Hello,

I recently introduced a fish to my DT that was sick and killed my white tail bristle tooth tangs before I could figure out what it was.

I started up a 20 gallon QT tank because I knew it was an emergency at this point. I put my Flame Angel, Two clownfish, and a damsel in the QT.

Using copper power I raised it to 2.25ppm over a few days. After about a week or two all the white spots disappeared and the fish looked healthy.

The reason I did 2.25ppm is because I read that dwarf angels are sensitive to copper. So I was not sure if I should reach the 2.5ppm.

Now my issue is these white spots started appearing on my clownfish when It was approaching the 30 day mark. It could be on the other fish but hard to tell compared to the black clowns.

I also dosed Para Cleanse to see if it would help but white spots are still there. They have been in QT for around 36 days so far.

Now I'm not sure what to do at this point.. should I raise the copper to 2.5ppm? or am I dealing with something that copper cant fix?


Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,

I recently introduced a fish to my DT that was sick and killed my white tail bristle tooth tangs before I could figure out what it was.

I started up a 20 gallon QT tank because I knew it was an emergency at this point. I put my Flame Angel, Two clownfish, and a damsel in the QT.

Using copper power I raised it to 2.25ppm over a few days. After about a week or two all the white spots disappeared and the fish looked healthy.

The reason I did 2.25ppm is because I read that dwarf angels are sensitive to copper. So I was not sure if I should reach the 2.5ppm.

Now my issue is these white spots started appearing on my clownfish when It was approaching the 30 day mark. It could be on the other fish but hard to tell compared to the black clowns.

I also dosed Para Cleanse to see if it would help but white spots are still there. They have been in QT for around 36 days so far.

Now I'm not sure what to do at this point.. should I raise the copper to 2.5ppm? or am I dealing with something that copper cant fix?


Thanks!

Appears to be secondary bacterial lesions. If it were ich, you will see the amount of dots increase in number and location each 24 hours. See how it looks tomorrow. Do not add paracleanse to the copper and 2.25 level is acceptable
It takes coppersafe a couple of days to begin to take effect

 

[nikevx]

Thank you for the info! I have been monitoring very closely and can confirm the white spots have slowly increased over the last 24 hours. Like I said in my post they have been in copper for 36 days at 2.25ppm. Is it it common to have it show up this far into the QT?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you for the info! I have been monitoring very closely and can confirm the white spots have slowly increased over the last 24 hours. Like I said in my post they have been in copper for 36 days at 2.25ppm. Is it it common to have it show up this far into the QT?

Dark colored clownfish show mucus spots very clearly. This may not be ich.

I take it you're using a Hanna HR meter to test the copper? If so, 2.25 ppm is fine.

You say the spots have been increasing in numbers, but I only see a few. Are they also changing location? Ich spots will come and go, changing location every few days.

 

[nikevx]

Dark colored clownfish show mucus spots very clearly. This may not be ich.

I take it you're using a Hanna HR meter to test the copper? If so, 2.25 ppm is fine.

You say the spots have been increasing in numbers, but I only see a few. Are they also changing location? Ich spots will come and go, changing location every few days.

Yes I'm using the Hanna Copper HR to test copper. Looking at them today they are in the same spots and have not changed location. The female clownfish only has maybe 3-4 spots. The male clownfish has quite a bit more spots. I'll try to attach another quick video.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes I'm using the Hanna Copper HR to test copper. Looking at them today they are in the same spots and have not changed location. The female clownfish only has maybe 3-4 spots. The male clownfish has quite a bit more spots. I'll try to attach another quick video.

This video helps a lot. This isn't ich. I can see the white patches are raised up. These are either mucus, or they could be flukes. Normally, you cannot see flukes on a fish, just the damage that they do. In these dark clownfish though, I wonder if you can more easily see flukes?

That said, how long ago did you dose the Paracleanse? Did you see any improvement after using that? That is essentially the same product as General Cure and it has praziquantel in it that treats for flukes. You do need to dose it multiple times - at least twice, 8 days apart.

 

[nikevx]

This video helps a lot. This isn't ich. I can see the white patches are raised up. These are either mucus, or they could be flukes. Normally, you cannot see flukes on a fish, just the damage that they do. In these dark clownfish though, I wonder if you can more easily see flukes?

That said, how long ago did you dose the Paracleanse? Did you see any improvement after using that? That is essentially the same product as General Cure and it has praziquantel in it that treats for flukes. You do need to dose it multiple times - at least twice, 8 days apart.

So looking at my notes I actually did two treatments of Para Cleanse. I don't think I did them 8 days apart though.. probably two weeks apart. I did the 5 day treatment per the instructions on the back. I did not notice much of an improvement. Should I try a freshwater bath?

 

[MnFish1]

Hello,

I recently introduced a fish to my DT that was sick and killed my white tail bristle tooth tangs before I could figure out what it was.

I started up a 20 gallon QT tank because I knew it was an emergency at this point. I put my Flame Angel, Two clownfish, and a damsel in the QT.

Using copper power I raised it to 2.25ppm over a few days. After about a week or two all the white spots disappeared and the fish looked healthy.

The reason I did 2.25ppm is because I read that dwarf angels are sensitive to copper. So I was not sure if I should reach the 2.5ppm.

Now my issue is these white spots started appearing on my clownfish when It was approaching the 30 day mark. It could be on the other fish but hard to tell compared to the black clowns.

I also dosed Para Cleanse to see if it would help but white spots are still there. They have been in QT for around 36 days so far.

Now I'm not sure what to do at this point.. should I raise the copper to 2.5ppm? or am I dealing with something that copper cant fix?


Thanks!

I didn't read the other comments - but - in general - there are 2 possibilities - your copper test is wrong, or the spots are not ich

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So looking at my notes I actually did two treatments of Para Cleanse. I don't think I did them 8 days apart though.. probably two weeks apart. I did the 5 day treatment per the instructions on the back. I did not notice much of an improvement. Should I try a freshwater bath?

If you didn’t see even temporary improvement after the paracleanse, that makes it unlikely that these are flukes.

Idiopathic mucus plugs are a possibility here…. Unknown cause, but not likely to be serious.

I may have missed it - are the fish showing ANY other symptoms other than the visible spots?

 

[nikevx]

If you didn’t see even temporary improvement after the paracleanse, that makes it unlikely that these are flukes.

Idiopathic mucus plugs are a possibility here…. Unknown cause, but not likely to be serious.

I may have missed it - are the fish showing ANY other symptoms other than the visible spots?

Jay,

Now that you mention it one of the clownfish did have white stringy poop. I have been soaking their food with Focus but it looks like it has gone away. But besides that no other symptoms very active and eating like normal.

Do you think they are okay to go back into the DT? Or should I wait it out and see how they look in a week?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Jay,

Now that you mention it one of the clownfish did have white stringy poop. I have been soaking their food with Focus but it looks like it has gone away. But besides that no other symptoms very active and eating like normal.

Do you think they are okay to go back into the DT? Or should I wait it out and see how they look in a week?

Focus is mostly just a binder for other medications, it has a really low dose antibiotic in it, but that isn’t expected to do much, if anything. Binding food with focus and metronidazole at 1% works against gut protozoans that are one cause of mucus feces.

I would wait 14 days to see how they look before moving them back to the DT,

 

[nikevx]

Focus is mostly just a binder for other medications, it has a really low dose antibiotic in it, but that isn’t expected to do much, if anything. Binding food with focus and metronidazole at 1% works against gut protozoans that are one cause of mucus feces.

I would wait 14 days to see how they look before moving them back to the DT,

Jay,

Thanks for all the help! I'll wait 14 days and see how it goes.