Save my powder blue tang

[hollister]

The air pump does no good in a salt water tank. Your salt water recieves disolved oxygen from a gas exchange at the surface and good constant water flow helps alot.
You want from 10 to 25 gph flow times the tank size.You need around 1200 gph flow in there.
I think you said you have a 100 gph power heads , if so its not near enough. You could have very low oxygen in there and this would highly stress the fish resulting in problems..

[b0bab0ey]

Originally Posted by hollister

The air pump does no good in a salt water tank. Your salt water recieves disolved oxygen from a gas exchange at the surface and good constant water flow helps alot.

I disagree. An air pump draws oxygen from outside of the aquarium and pumps it into the aquarium by way of bubbles breaking at the surface. Back before powerheads, we used air pumps/air stones to push water through lift tubes of u/g filters and deliver O2 to our s/w tanks. Even today dissolved oxygen is delivered from protein skimmers via microbubbles. Same basic concept as an air pump/air stone. The only downside IMO to using air pumps/air stones is salt creep.

[hollister]

You can disagree if you want , it might help slightly but not near enough in a salt water tank. Your tank breaths like me and you . In with the good and out with the old. And this happens at the surface as long as there is good water flow.

Forget it. Its just true. and i dont want to argue.

[LargeAngels]

Originally Posted by 85galsalty

I just had a thought .. Do you or anyone think its still necessary to use Prazipro even though I dipped him for 20 mins in freshwater and put him into a newly set up QT environment directly after the dip ?

Definitely need to treat for flukes. Medications and FW dips only kill the adults and not the eggs. 20 min FW dip is very long. I don't ever do more than 5 minutes. Glad he is recovering.

[85galsalty]

Originally Posted by hollister

The air pump does no good in a salt water tank. Your salt water recieves disolved oxygen from a gas exchange at the surface and good constant water flow helps alot.
You want from 10 to 25 gph flow times the tank size.You need around 1200 gph flow in there.
I think you said you have a 100 gph power heads , if so its not near enough. You could have very low oxygen in there and this would highly stress the fish resulting in problems..

Just want to clarify, I need 1200gph of flow for a 20 gal hospital tank?

[LargeAngels]

I think someone needs to work on their manners and math.

ANY disturbance at the surface helps in gas exchange. I'd probably add another small powerhead, but I wouldn't worry too much.

[Dr Colliebreath]

Originally Posted by 85galsalty

Just want to clarify, I need 1200gph of flow for a 20 gal hospital tank?

No, I think you will be fine with the filter (or powerheed) plus your air pump, which will add water movement, add oxygen and enhance the air-water surface gas exchange. if your filter is only 100 gph, I would be inclined to add a 200 gph powered, but you should be ok without it. You might want some sort of limited cover in case the fish jumps.

[85galsalty]

Alright so I added another power head Aquaclear 30 to the tank. PBT seems to like it.

It appears he is making a good recovery from fin rot. All of his fins aren't fully developed yet so I'm wondering how long should I wait to use the Prazipro? He doesnt appear to have flukes on him yet (not to say he wont). Do I wait until he has fully recovered every piece of his missing fins? Is there any secondary infections I should be prepared for once I use the Parzipro.
Also another note, he has shown no signs of ick. I know this type fish is a magnet for it. So what does anyone think the chances are (after all that he has been through with me) of him coming down with it?

[b0bab0ey]

Originally Posted by 85galsalty

Alright so I added another power head Aquaclear 30 to the tank. PBT seems to like it.

It appears he is making a good recovery from fin rot. All of his fins aren't fully developed yet so I'm wondering how long should I wait to use the Prazipro? He doesnt appear to have flukes on him yet (not to say he wont). Do I wait until he has fully recovered every piece of his missing fins? Is there any secondary infections I should be prepared for once I use the Parzipro.
Also another note, he has shown no signs of ick. I know this type fish is a magnet for it. So what does anyone think the chances are (after all that he has been through with me) of him coming down with it?

I wouldn't wait for him to make a complete recovery from fit rot, as that can take months. Once you're completely done with the 5-day Maracyn treatment, wait a few more days then move forward with the Prazi. Do a WC/run carbon to take the Maracyn completely out of the water before starting the Prazi (just to be safe). He's got at least 10 days of Prazi coming, dose 5 days apart. Make sure you do a substantial WC before starting the second round of Prazi. After all that, see how he looks. If he still looks like he's on the mend from the fin rot, then he just needs recovery time, no further meds. Ich is always possible but don't worry about it unless you see symptoms of it.

[85galsalty]

Just as I was getting excited about the PBT's recovery and how quickly his fins were growing back, he developed ich. Sigh.
I am most comfortable with hypo as treatment for ich and have successfully treated a clownfish, but I am concerned because the PBT did not have good results from the extended fw dip treatment. I worry he won't fare well in low salinity for the required duration. Anyone here have first hand experience with PBT and hypo? Also, I have read that Prazi is compatible with fresh water, so treating with Prazi during hypo *should* be okay?

[85galsalty]

This PBT is a fighter. Transferred him to a clean tank and started hypo last week. He is now on day 4 at 1.009, and currently displaying no signs of ich. He has a voracious appetite. I am really impressed at the rate of regrowth of his fins, and his sores have healed nicely. Prazipro treatment will start tomorrow. Check him out

[gonpostal]

Looking good!

[sandwi54]

sounds good! looks like you're winning the war. just make sure that you hold the salinity at 1.009 4 weeks after the LAST spot is seen. then slowly raise the salinity back to 1.02x, at no more than 0.002 per day. observe for another 4 weeks and if no ich at all, voila and put him into the DT.

[85galsalty]

Counting down the days!
Salinity check (at least) twice daily.
Thanks for all the advice and support. I will continue to post updates on his progress.

[jmicky41]

Amazing, I thought he was a sure goner.

[b0bab0ey]

Wow, he looks much better! I have a PBT "Typhoid Mary" that I went thru hell with in QT. She's now the star of my DT (see link below).

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/al...ictureid=31904

[85galsalty]

Originally Posted by b0bab0ey

Wow, he looks much better! I have a PBT "Typhoid Mary" that I went thru hell with in QT. She's now the star of my DT (see link below).

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/al...ictureid=31904

Great looking PBT! So glad to hear you had a positive outcome with her. How much time did she spend in QT? and how long has she been in your DT?
I'm so pleased with this fish's fight that I don't mind the fact that the QT set-up will be taking up (needed) space in my living room through the holidays

[b0bab0ey]

Originally Posted by 85galsalty

Great looking PBT! So glad to hear you had a positive outcome with her. How much time did she spend in QT? and how long has she been in your DT?
I'm so pleased with this fish's fight that I don't mind the fact that the QT set-up will be taking up (needed) space in my living room through the holidays

She was in QT for 4+ months, as it took that long to get her healthy enough to move to the DT. I mean, it was just one thing after the other with that fish. First, she had Flukes and that took 4-5 rounds of Prazi to completely knock out. Then she developed a secondary bacterial infection and that took two rounds of Maracyn 1 & 2. Next she started showing symptoms of swim bladder disorder, by swimming in circles at the surface. But I think that's actually some sort of intestinal issue she has from eating too much nori, because once I limited her daily nori intake (and stopped feeding red nori altogether) those symptoms completely went away.

So, yeah, I went thru hell with this fish and had to spend $$$ on various meds for her. But ya know what... every time I pass my DT and see her swimming around or when she eats the nori right out of my hand... it always makes me

[hollister]

No in a 20 gallon 2 to 300 gph would be enough. I may have misunderstood the tank size.
But 10 gph flow times the tank size would be the minimum. I think you had 100 gph pump. Still a little small. You want this tank as stress free as possible and good disolved oxygen levels would help this .

Also not sure how you can get a tone of somebody from a typed repley. I just want to help and sometimes after a 12 pack i mis read. But my intension still the same.

[sandwi54]

Originally Posted by hollister

No in a 20 gallon 2 to 300 gph would be enough. I may have misunderstood the tank size.
But 10 gph flow times the tank size would be the minimum. I think you had 100 gph pump. Still a little small. You want this tank as stress free as possible and good disolved oxygen levels would help this .

Also not sure how you can get a tone of somebody from a typed repley. I just want to help and sometimes after a 12 pack i mis read. But my intension still the same.

i think you meant to post in another thread where you were debating with someone else about the proper gph from a powerhead...

[jason2459]

Really glad to see the tang pull through. For future reference limit the freshwater dip to 5 minutes. It's long enough to find out if its fluke but not to long to cause to many fluke to die off. A freshwater dip is not going to kill all of them no mater how long you do it. The fish will die first. Its not about curing, that's what prazi is for, but for a quick relief so the fish doesn't die before the meds kick in. Having to many die off at once can actually cause secondary issues like infections like you saw with your tang because the parasites leave behind small sore and the fishes immune system is already compromised.

[85galsalty]

It's been a while since the last update, but the PBT is doing very well. This weekend marks 4 weeks in hypo! During which he has received 2 rounds of Prazi treatment. The biggest challenge during hypo was keeping the pH at acceptable levels with the low salinity. I will spend the next week slowly raising his salinity(and pH) and keeping fingers crossed that the following 4 weeks go unchallenged. I am really looking forward to adding this guy to the main display.

[b0bab0ey]

Originally Posted by 85galsalty

It's been a while since the last update, but the PBT is doing very well. This weekend marks 4 weeks in hypo! During which he has received 2 rounds of Prazi treatment. The biggest challenge during hypo was keeping the pH at acceptable levels with the low salinity. I will spend the next week slowly raising his salinity(and pH) and keeping fingers crossed that the following 4 weeks go unchallenged. I am really looking forward to adding this guy to the main display.

Glad to hear this!

[sandwi54]

Awesome! Now you just gotta take care of the internal worms!

[85galsalty]

28 days since I last posted this PBTs (aka Little Fin/Skinny ) progress. Hypo ended Dec 5th and its almost been 4 weeks of observation with no sign of ich. I decided to add one more dose of Prazipro 3 days ago and a bump appeared. Hopefully its a dying fluke?? If so should be gone in another month or so before going into the main display. I'm starting to think this tank is home forever for this fish.

Treated for internal worms using Ultra Cure PX. He definitely had internal worms.The fish poop is now undetectable after treatment.

I'm starting see why maybe this little fish is still alive, he is a meanie. Chases the water change hose around the tank when I do water changes. Feisty little guy . Hope he isn't this aggressive in the MD.