[wozza]

well i have a royal gamma with small white spots on its fins and head, im not sure if its ich or velvet, but what ever one its, would getting a UV unit get rid of it?
i know it wont get rid of the spots on the fish, i have to wate for them to drop off and be in its free floating stage but would the UV eventually get rid of it all?

chees james

[leebca]

Unfortunately not. Not all of the free swimming infecting organisms will pass through the UV. Some come off the fish and go into the substrate then infect the fish without going through the UV.

About the only advantage a UV has when it comes to obligate parasites is that the proper use of a properly sized UV will keep the numbers of the disease from 'blooming' to huge numbers. It won't kill them all for the above reasons.

[wozza]

ok i think i remember reading a post from you saying, if i remove all my fish from my display tank in to a QT tank treat them there, and leave them in there for 8 weeks all the parasites in the display tank will die due to lack of a sutible host. is this correct??
cheers james

[WillieM96]

I've heard the same thing. One thing to consider is that fish usually become susceptible to ich due to stress. I had a royal gramma who showed signs of ich for months and then I decided I would treat him, even though his only symptom was a few spots here and there. I moved him to a qt and he died within 4 days. The spots just overran him when he was moved, so I guess the stress was too much for him. You might be better off treating the stressing factor (overcrowding, water chemistry, etc).

[leebca]

Hi James,

You read correctly: Obligate fish parasites can't live without a fish host. So if the host (fishes) are removed from the display aquarium, the parasite will eventually die off, leaving the display tank disease/parasite-free. But the amount of time to leave the display tank fallow is dependent upon which of the obligate parasites you're dealing with.

If I check your first post, you have not yet diagnosed what parasite/disease you're dealing with, so I can't say how much time to allow the tank to go fallow to make sure that that parasite dies.

[wozza]

say ich takes 6 weeks to die and velvet takes 8 weeks to die, ide just leave it for 8 weeks to be sure both are dead, im sure its one of the two, so ide leave it for 8 weeks, does that sound ok to you?
the time peridos were just for example i dont know how long they do actually take, can you advise me on this??
cheers james

[leebca]

I appreciate your question and I will provide the answer, only I'm still concerned that you haven't diagnosed the problem yet.

If it was Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) then the proper fallow time would be 8 weeks. It has been found that the cyst portion of this organism's life cycle can live up to 6 weeks. You need to a dd two more weeks to that possibility to render the free swimming Theronts the chance to die.

If the condition is from Marine Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum) then the minimum time to leave the tank fallow is 10 weeks.

It would still be optimum to be sure of your diagnosis. There are conditions that resemble both the symptoms and signs of Marine Ich and Marine Velvet.

Good luck!

[wozza]

Thanks for the reply much appreciated.
From when I had white spot in one of my F/W tanks I would say that it looks the same.
So based purely on looks I would say it is white spot, but im not seeing any flicking against rocks and or rapid gill movement.
So that’s were im confused.
But anyways I have set up a 14gal QT tank today and took one of the already mature sponge filters from my main tank and placed it in the QT tank along with all the fish.
I have got a copper based treatment called “ParaCure”
I quote from the bottle “non-chelated copper (Cu2+) treatment for the most common marine fish parasites.”
It says to keep a “therapeutic level” of copper @ 0.3ppm for 10 days.
Does this sound correct to you?

Cheers james

[leebca]

If you can see salt-sized white specks on the fish, then the probability is Marine Ich.

Other considerations. . .If it was Marine Velvet the fish would probably be breathing hard and dead by now.

The flashing (scratching) isn't a must for this infection, but it usually is part of the symptoms since Marine Ich attacks the gills first. Even if the fish doesn't flash, it may just 'dash' now and then, or 'wag' its head now and then.

That copper medication form, that is, cationic copper (Cu2+) is one of the most unsafe (to fishes) copper medications to use for saltwater fishes. Please take some time and read this:
Copper - Treatment, Use, Problems

The above post will explain that there are basically three kinds of copper medications available to treat for this disease: Cationic copper (Cu2+), chelated copper, and organically complexed copper. The first, cationic copper, is hard to control in salt water, and very poisonous to the fish (especially to marine angelfish, some Butterflyfishes, all scaleless fishes, and tangs); the second, chelated copper, is easier to control, safer to more marine fish but still harms/kills some marine fishes (like dwarf angelfishes, scaleless fishes (e.g., sharks)); the third, organically complexed copper, is easier to control, has a wide effective range (meaning you don't have to be fanatical about keeping the concentration 'just so'). is the safest copper medication, and can be used even on sharks, dwarf angels, and other fishes that can't tolerate any other common copper treatment.

For cationic copper like in ParaCure, that level for that amount of time would be proper. Though I would prefer to see a 14-day treatment period. If you make a mistake and go over that concentration, the fish will be harmed or killed. Go under that concentration and you won't kill the parasite. This copper medication should not be used for tangs or angelfishes (full sized or dwarfs), and some Butterflyfishes. It's very tricky to use this kind of medication in saltwater, since the copper will react with the carbonates in the saltwater itself and come out of solution. I urge you (and others thinking about using copper to treat a marine fish) to read the above post.

Hang in there.

[wozza]

Nice one leebca,
i will get my self a copper test kit tomarrow and start the treatment.
ill keep you updated on how it all turns out.
cheers james