Cupramine or ParaGuard?

[waeleldasher]

I have a pacific blue tang that I bought thinking it had ich. I was just about to treat my existing stock of fish for a mild case of Ich so I went ahead and bought it thinking it would be great to finally get the fish I always wanted and treat it at the same time as my other fish.

I decided my last experience with Copper was very stressful, on me mostly, so this time I tried hypo salinity. After a 3 week treatment of hypo all the fish were ok ( I lost 5 fish during hypo sadly). The Only fish that was the same was this pacific blue.

Looking carefully at the fish I noticed that the spots were different. They're grayish patches that almost look like discoloration and so I assumed it's a fungus. The LFS has another 2 Pacific Blue Tangs that came with this fish and they're all exactly the sane, with the same gray patches. They believe it's just a discoloration of the fish, that there is no cure. Nevertheless I believe this is curable.

I started a malachite treatment on that fish and 5 days later there is not a bit of difference. I've followed the instructions exactly as the manufacturer said and accordIng to then, by the 3rd day I should have seen a dramatic improvement. But nothing so far.

I did a bit of research and it seems Seachem's ParaGuard covers almost all issues. So tonight I pulled the pacific blue out and placed it in a ParaGuard dip, emptied the QT and will place the fish back in after 2 hours of being in the dip. That's twice as long as Seachem says the dip normally takes, but still no difference in the gray patches.

At this point I must decide on what meds to use next. Should I use Cupramine or ParaGuard? Any suggestions or experiences are appreciated.

I'll post photos shortly.

Cheers

W

[waeleldasher]

Here are the only photos I was able to take of my beloved but shy fish. Please ignore the salt that's all over her slime, she tends to hide horizontally and so some salt sticks to her. You can see gray patches on the black sections of the body, there are some on the blue parts too but its not easy to see in these photos.

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss78/waeleldasher/IMG_1696-1.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss78/waeleldasher/IMG_1697.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss78/waeleldasher/IMG_1698.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss78/waeleldasher/IMG_1699.jpg

[waeleldasher]

Just FYI, the rock behind the fish is plastic, so the fish is in a bare bottom QT.

cheers

Wael

[scuzy]

it doesn't look liek anything major on that fish. Maybe I am wrong but it looks ok to me.

[waeleldasher]

Thanks. I'm beginning to think the LFS might be right, which is rare, that in fact like you said, there is nothing wrong with the fish, that it's just discolored in a few spots. I just placed her back in the QT with 100% WC and no meds. I'll see how she does tomorrow and hopefully others may chime in so I may be able to make a decision if I put her in the DT finally or not. Once in the DT it's gonna be a bear to catch her so if she's in there that's it. She's been in the QT for over 4 weeks now. I feel very sorry for her, but I can't take a risk.

Your advice is appreciated.

Cheers

Wael

[waeleldasher]

Here is a new photo I took.

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss78/waeleldasher/IMG_1717.jpg

I could really use some advice. Is this a natural discoloration, perhaps from its capture, or is this some kind of a fungus?

Regards

Wael

[waeleldasher]

Any ideas?

[MrTuskfish]

The pics in post #2 sure look like a parasite. When something is attached to a fin ray point, that's often the case. The last pic is weird. Fungus infections are usually fuzzy. Are the spots in post #6 coming and going? Scratching at all? Acting & eating normally? Not many dealers will ship a fish with capture wounds, they have a rep to maintain. and fish, at the capture site, are dirt cheap. How far apart are these pics? Its hard to believe its the same fish; unless its the "void" time during a parasite infestation. If that's the case, you'll know soon.

[waeleldasher]

It really is the same fish. I know it looks different, but actually the patches are unchanged. The fish is behaving normal,eating, swimming...etc. No flashing.

Given that I've tried various remedies, tonight I started Cupramine. While I doubt it will help, I figured I'll give it a try. If I see any improvement I 3 days then I'll continue the treatment, otherwise I'll end it and dip it in ParaGuard before releasing it in to the DT.

Does this seem reasonable?