Purple Tang - Cupramine sensitivity?

[Jetbkk]

I have 2 small tangs in a 25g QT tank for the last 3 weeks -- a 3" Sohol and a 4" Purple Tang.

Both have looked really good until the last week, where I witnessed the Sohol flashing quite often on the pvc pipe on bottom of the tank. Some white spots developed on the left side of its body -- they look more like white areas as opposed to grains of salt (Ich) but as I'm super cautious after being devasted by Ich a short time ago I decided the safe thing to do was to treat with Cupramine.

I dosed according to instructions -- the first day the level was .25 and the fish seemed the same. I dosed again the next day, bringing the level up to .50 as instructed.

When I looked at the tank this morning, the Purple Tang had gone from looking fine to looking really bad. The front half of it's body had lost color and was a whitish blue. It isn't swimming much and it isn't eating. Yesterday it ate like a pig and swam all over.

The Sohol seems the same as yesterday. So I can only assume that the Purple Tang has a problem with the .50 dose of Cupramine.

I did a 50% water change to lower the copper levels and I hope that will have some effect.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I will really be devastated if I lose both those fish.

[DaveK]

Treating fish is almost always very stressful to them. You did about what I would do. At this point just wait and see. If the fish looks ok, you can increase the dose slightly and work up.

Also, tangs are really hit hard by ick, so this could be the result of the disease, rather than the treatment.

Good luck.

[ddelozier]

Tangs are tough cases. They are notorious for having ich. A buddy kept his in a Qt 40G breeder for 3 months treatment and the fish seemed fine. He had white ich spots on him the day after he was moved to the DT... i hesitate to advise because i've never been brave enough to get a tang. but this i can say, if the copprimine is having a bad reaction with them, you could try hyposalinity w/ antibiotics.

[major fish]

My mimic tang hated being in copper for well over a week until it got used to it. It did however last the distance with the treatment. This could be the same scenario you are facing with your purple tang. He just laid in the corner of the tank, hardly eating and breathing faster than an unfit 44 stone woman who just run the 100M in 8 seconds! I treated with the addition of an air stone and salinity at 1.019.

Tangs do change colour, depending on mood too and the purples mood has significantly changed. Its fins may also go ragged, as happened to my tang.

I agree with ddelozier in that tangs can be tough cases to crack. I know plenty of people who used to us a QT for new arrivals and still got ich, even after not having any additions for 3 years. There are also people who treat ich in the DT with the use of turbulent water flow. (Well one which I was told about, but with 400 fish, he ain't got the option to take them out to treat). The turbulence does apparently work.

It could be perfectly feesible that the Sohal did not have ich and the copper treatment is not needed to be done on them. Sohals are normally not friendly to other tangs and the flashing could have been territorial, then the marks bought on by damaging itself whilst flashing.

I would certainly do as you are....QT all new additions. Copper tangs as a matter of course.

[Jetbkk]

Thank you all for the great feedback. I will stay the course and hopefully these guys will make it into the DT..

[leebca]

Cupramine is the best copper treatment for all marine fishes, including the Tangs. There are so many problems with wild-caght fishes that when some are undergoing treatment it is tempting to blame the treatment when the fish does poorly. But, I can assure you it isn't the treatment -- it's one of a couple dozen other things, the least of which is that the fish just isn't going to get along in the captive world.

[Jetbkk]

24 hours after 50% water change the Purple Tang has its normal color back, although it stopped eating and isn't swimming around like before. Copper is .25 at the moment..

[PSU4ME]

If i remember correctly (which mayeb not!) but isn't the second dose of cupramine supposed to be 48 hours after the first? If so (and again i'm not certain) but it could just be the fact that it hit him quick and he wasn't able to ease into it.

Good luck!

[Jetbkk]

The Sohol died today, which is a real bummer. They are so hard to find over here and I really had high hopes for this one. It just would not eat, not matter what I tried and I could see it withering away.

The good news is that the Purple Tang looks great. He's eating a lot, swimming a lot, and is really alert. I have not increased the Cupramine above .25 though. I'm not even sure I need to be treating copper to begin with, as the Sohol's symptoms really didn't look like Ich -- they looked more like scratch marks or possibly some bacterial thing, and the Purple Tang never showed white spots or anything at all. I guess I'm in a holding pattern for now and will keep a close eye on him to see if anything changes.

[whippetguy]

Sorry about your loss but happy the purple tang is thriving