I am new to the hobby, and feel like I'm letting my fish down.
I first got these 2 clownfish in September of last year, and had them in my 15 gallon for a month, everything was looking good.
Then one of them developed some white spots and I crossed referenced with images of clowns with ich and decided it was that.
I purchased a 10 gal tank, HOB filter, air stone, and heater. Got myself some copper power and a salifert copper test kit.
Treated them for 3 weeks, the stopped treating with copper and let them stay in the tank till March to allow for a full fallow period.
When I went to put them back into the DT I noticed that the same one who originally had ich still had it.
I re-treated the tank with copper, and it started to go away after a few days. On week two he only had two tiny spots that looked like they were healing up. But now on week three of the re-treatment and it is flaring up again, and I'm kinda at a loss.
Only the one clown has ever had any spots, it also happens to be the clown who seems less dominant and eats less. This makes me think that because it's getting less food it's immune system is struggling to keep up and that's why the ich is persistent? But how is the ich living through the 2.0+ ppm of copper? I am fairly certain I have kept it above therapeutic levels the whole time, though it's hard to tell as the salifert test only goes to 2 ppm.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I just want to get them healthy, i feel bad that it has gone in this long, and I am failing them. They seemed so happy in the display tank, and not as much in the QT. There are PVC elbows for them to hide in.
I first got these 2 clownfish in September of last year, and had them in my 15 gallon for a month, everything was looking good.
Then one of them developed some white spots and I crossed referenced with images of clowns with ich and decided it was that.
I purchased a 10 gal tank, HOB filter, air stone, and heater. Got myself some copper power and a salifert copper test kit.
Treated them for 3 weeks, the stopped treating with copper and let them stay in the tank till March to allow for a full fallow period.
When I went to put them back into the DT I noticed that the same one who originally had ich still had it.
I re-treated the tank with copper, and it started to go away after a few days. On week two he only had two tiny spots that looked like they were healing up. But now on week three of the re-treatment and it is flaring up again, and I'm kinda at a loss.
Only the one clown has ever had any spots, it also happens to be the clown who seems less dominant and eats less. This makes me think that because it's getting less food it's immune system is struggling to keep up and that's why the ich is persistent? But how is the ich living through the 2.0+ ppm of copper? I am fairly certain I have kept it above therapeutic levels the whole time, though it's hard to tell as the salifert test only goes to 2 ppm.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I just want to get them healthy, i feel bad that it has gone in this long, and I am failing them. They seemed so happy in the display tank, and not as much in the QT. There are PVC elbows for them to hide in.