Hypo-Salinity and Cupramine Ick treatment

Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Just finished subject treatment with great results. Darwin Clown clean in 8 days.
Raised temp to 81.5, then 7 days at 1.009 followed by the addition of cupramine at half the recommended SW dose for another 7 days and then back up to 1.024 in another 7 days. Now transferred from 5g hospital to 20g QT.

Day 4.....spots diminishing
Day 8......spots gone
Day 9-21.....no reoccurrence,

I have read that doing both is not recommended. I am not sure why. Seems to work great.
Clown eating well, moving well and even pair up with a new Darwin in QT.
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Your treating a very hardy fish that can take a lot of stress, also you treated with copper at half the usual dose. So, you got away with this.

Had you treated a more delicate fish and/or used a full strength copper treatment, your results could have been far different.
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Always been a risk taker. In this case the fish had little chance to survive (lost lateral line and swimming on side, some head standing, of course not eating for say a week) but your right, is a hardy fish. Hopefully I do not have to perform this on any other fish in the future. Keep in mind treatments where sequencial and not at same time. Watched the process carefully and at least did not see much stress after the 7 day hypo treatment. Of course this stuff is completely experimental and is not recommended.
 
Little_Smudge

Little_Smudge

Member
Just a quick question uncle99

When you refer to headstanding, is something different to the behaviour of clowns as sometimes mine do that - mainly after I’ve turned the lights off? I assumed it was just one of the strange and funny characteristics of clowns, or should i be concerned?
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Nope, no concern. The "head standing" I am referring to is when the Ick parasites are consuming the fish, it becomes very lethargic and can't seem to stay horizontal resulting in a lazy looking side swim and sometimes point straight down face to the substrate....once Ick has gone this far the fish will likely die. If your fish is "acting like a clown" ( the wiggle movement) and is eating as it did before it's not Ick....I believe Ick attacks the gills firstly making it hard for it to breathe....at this point it will refuse food.
If I remember your post, you state that your clown is eating and moving like normal, no signs of any stress. So it's not a form of Ick. Not sure what those spots are, nanoreef4fun made a guess which does seem to fit. She attached a link if I remember, you may want to have a read.

Remember, clowns are a real hardy fish so that always works in our favor.

If the behavior changes, eating stops or spits increase, ping us back and we will try and help further.....good luck....hope all is well
 
Little_Smudge

Little_Smudge

Member
Ahh ok now I understand...brilliant thank you Uncle99

I hope the treatment process you’ve explained above has worked out for you and the fish :)
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Yes, thanks, 100% recovery and ready to back into display.
Keep in mind that some very experienced hobbyists which I respect thought this process very risky and maybe the fact that clowns are hardy led more to success and the process itself. Not recommended for delicate species.

In that case I would probably go with Only one method, likely Hypo as it is the least stressful.
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Happy to report that it has now been 3 weeks since we put the Darwin clown cleaned of Ick through a cupramine then hypo salinity treatment back in the display. Fish are clean, tank is clean, Ick cycle is broken.....never had Ick in quarter century of salt.

I believe the culprit was a new male clown for pairing which was harassed by the female, this is where Ick started.....nasty stuff.....hope to never see it again. Future pairings will be done outside of the display.
 
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