Need help diagnosis Powder Blue problem

[dkelly]

Hello, I need help diagnosising my Powder Blue. I've had him about 5 weeks and successfully fought off White Ick. Moved him to the main tank and after about a week I noticed this new problem and moved him back to QT tank. None of the other fish have problems. The spots have grown in the last 2 days. Can anyone help with diagnosis?

http://picasaweb.google.com/dkellygm/Fish">http://picasaweb.google.com/dkellygm/Fish</a>

Thanks!
Dwight Kelly

 

[cgill311]

I'm not sure what you're looking at. Can you get some better pictures?

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Well he has signs of major stress, Something major is going on. What do the spots look like? Any texture to them?

What is the perams of both your QT tank and your main tank? What else is in the main tank? How big is both tanks. How did you correct the Ich? Where did you get the fish from?

 

[dkelly]

Hello, the spots have white edges and get darker towards the middle. They are of several different sizes and shapes. The fish is active and not breathing heavly. His appetite is not strong although he does take some nibbles of algae.

The QT tank params are : Amn = 0.2, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 4, Ph = 8.2, Sg = 1.023, Temp = 78

 

[dkelly]

Brandon, I got the fish from Aquarium Showcase. The QT tank is 30g and the main tank is 210g. He's the only fish in the QT tank. I treated the Ich with periodic freshwater dips and Formalin and Malachite Green.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Humph... Ok that is kind of what I thought. Seems too me to be some sort of stress. Problems is this advanced is not good. My first thought, which could still be true, is cyanide sickness. Could also be a bad reaction to Formalin and Malachite Green. That is pretty nasty stuff. You did not tell me what else you had in your main tank. Was he getting picked on at all?

I would leave him in the QT tank. Give him a few large pieces of PVC to hide in a de-stress. Keep the water VERY clean and feed enriched, healthy foods that he will take. (Selcon is a good additive) This should boost his immune system and help him through.

Did you dip in the Formalin or treat the QT tank? How long was treatment and if you dipped Formalin, how long was each dip? Did you PH adjust your FW dip? (I assume you did or the fish would be worse off)

I hope Panda chimes in with his thoughts too. But that would be my advice right now.

 

[dkelly]

Xyzpdq0121;38102 wrote: You did not tell me what else you had in your main tank. Was he getting picked on at all?

My main tank has a Picaso Trigger, Sailfin Tang, Tomato Clown, 3-stripe Damsel and a Blue Regal. All of the fish get along. No aggression.

>Did you dip in the Formalin or treat the QT tank? How long was treatment and if you dipped Formalin, how long was each dip?[/QUOTE]

FW dips had treated with 1 capful. I didn't treat the QT tank for initial 4 days.

> Did you PH adjust your FW dip?

yes

thank you.

 

[family reefer]

lower the salininity in the QT to about .018 or so. These parasites do not like that but the fish will be fine. freshwater dip each day making sure temp and ph are the same. ( about 5- 10 minutes each day) good luck. I want to add one of these to my new 220 but these are the stories that scare me.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

dkelly;38113 wrote: My main tank has a Picaso Trigger, Sailfin Tang, Tomato Clown, 3-stripe Damsel and a Blue Regal. All of the fish get along. No aggression.

That you saw. The trigger and the Regal could stress out some fish pretty badly. Heck for that matter so could the clown and damsel. But I do not think that is the cause here.

>Did you dip in the Formalin or treat the QT tank? How long was treatment and if you dipped Formalin, how long was each dip?

FW dips had treated with 1 capful. I didn't treat the QT tank for initial 4 days.

Does this mean you did treat the QT with Formalin after the initial 4 days or you only dipped for 4 days?

I still say it is environmental or left over shock from treatment. As long as he keeps eating good food, he should pull out of it ok. Once he stops eating, you got a big problem on your hands. There is not much you can do at this point, IMLE, other then provide him a stable environment with good food and water chem. You might try adding a bit of Epsom Salt about 1.5 teaspoons per 10 gal to the QT tank. Other then that, hope and pray!

 

[dkelly]

Got home and can tell you the name of the treatment I am using. Seachem's ParaGuardâ„¢. Their website claims " blend of aldehydes, malachite green, and fish protective polymers that effectively and efficiently eradicates many ectoparasites (e.g. ich, etc.) and external fungal/bacterial/viral lesions (e.g., fin rot)"

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Paraguard is a Malachite Green and Gluteraldehyde based product. I would bet a dime to a dollar that your tang is having a very bad reaction to the Malachite Green or a "allergic" reaction to the Gluteraldehyde. Both are NASTY stuff. Two things that I want you to do, run carbon in your QT tank. This will remove any Malachite Green and Gluteraldehyde left in the seals of your tank. The second thing is not use those products again! There are safer ways to control and kill Ich. I love Seachem products but Paragaurd does not gaurd against much. IMHO, Copper is safer to use the Malachite Green and Gluteraldehyde. Atleast you can test for copper and research on doseage has been done more times then I can count.

 

[reefscape]

well said brandon

 

[dkelly]

Xyzpdq0121;38230 wrote: Paraguard is a Malachite Green and Gluteraldehyde based product. I would bet a dime to a dollar that your tang is having a very bad reaction to the Malachite Green or a "allergic" reaction to the Gluteraldehyde. Both are NASTY stuff.

Hello, thank you for the advice. I was under the impression that Paraguard was "safer" than copper treatment. I've used Cupramine before but switched to Paraguard. Paraguard did help me "kick ich" in my main tank.

I had a 130g tank for 4 years and never had ich. I woke up 6 weeks ago and discovered that a corner seal had failed and flooded my basement office. There was only about 10" of water left in the tank. Luckily the fish and the live rock survived. I purchased a new 210g tank (upgrade! :thumbs and established the new tank. My wife talked me into purchasing some new livestock. The Powder Blue was one of her picks. Along with them came ich. The other inhabitants of the tank are now back to 100%. Hopefully the PB will get recover also.

I'll clean the QT tank of Paraguard and monitor how he responses. Thank you for the advice.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Glad I can help....

Safer is a relitive term. Some are safer for certin fish then others. My first course of action with Ich would be a FW dip (glad you did one to start off) and then Hyposalinity treatment. This is about as safe as it gets.

I am very glad that you atleast have a QT tank. I hope that the rest of the main system is infact Ich free. Give each fish that come in a FW dip and a two week (I do a 3-4 week) stay in your QT tank. This should keep your system Ich free.

Back to the original problem. Like I said, keep him well fed (but not enough to dirty his water) and I would soak his food in something like Selcon. Keep us updated and let us know how it goes. He is a beautiful fish and I hope he pulls through.

 

[paul692]

i had the same problem with my powder blue i put him in a hospital tank for 3 weeks and treated him with rid-ich.put him back in my 75 gal. tank he was covered up with ich in 3days after i had treated him in a hospital tank. i treated him with garlic guard in his seaweed i bought a cleaner shrimp he ate i the ich off him in 2 days . i didn't think it would work but it did . all in the 75 gal. tank no more ich and no more scratching the rocks. good luck. also i run a uv steralizer.

 

[dkelly]

The main tank has remained ich free (including the "ich magnet" Blue Regal), thankfully. I also run a UV sterilizer. I can't have inverts in the main tank because of the Trigger. I have 3 QT tanks and have been considering using one to house inverts such as cleaner shrimp.

The encouraging thing is that the PB is still energetic if thinner than before his problems started.

 

[paul692]

the only thing i could get to work was a cleaner shrimp it worked better than any medication. i was skeptical at first but i'm a believer now.make sure your water tests are all normal

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I will have beby cleaner shrimp for sale here in a month or two!!!

 

[dkelly]

Good news! The PB is recovering nicely. I think what he had was sores from the Ich.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ummm Ich should not cause sores like like in my experience but good to know that he is recovering nicely.