Worried During Copper Safe Treatment

[Sapere_Ceta]

Over a week ago, I mentioned how my betta fish was showing signs of a parasitic infection (I’m pretty certain they are some type of gill fluke) and asked for some thoughts to confirm my approach.

It’s been eight days so far of Copper Safe treatment. For the past few days, Samphan was showing much more normal behavior (doing his wiggle dances, being active and exploratory, not flashing or twitching). 
However today (day eight), he’s pretty lethargic and sticking close to the top. Not much gill movement (so no heavy breathing), no appetite at all (which is a new symptom) and occasional head twitching. 
 

I did a 10% water change and dosed Copper Safe only for the water replaced (as it is chelated and remains in the water for up to a month and until its water changed out). There was no behavioral change, good or bad. I’m unable to check the therapeutic level of copper because the copper test kit I ordered that was supposed to arrive the same day as the medication keeps being delayed, and there’s no other way I can get it. So I’ve been very careful to calculate the dosage amount and dose with a syringe to keep it exact as I can. 
 

I’m a little worried, given the lack of appetite and lethargy. I do know that lack of appetite can occur with Copper Safe. It could also be that more parasites have hatched and are now bothering him as well, as another thought I’ve had. 
But I want to confirm with you all if keeping the Copper Safe in the water (and still continuing treatment) is a good idea. What are all of your thoughts? 
 

Edited January 14, 2021 by Sapere_Ceta

[Sapere_Ceta]

I decided to do a 15% water change without dosing copper for the water replaced. 
I don’t see any typical copper poisoning signs, like rapid breathing or erratic swimming. 
But the lethargy, no appetite, and staying close to the surface without much gill movement has me a little worried. So, I feel as though water changing is a safe precautionary measure. He was doing so well the past few days.. I’m not sure why he’s seemed to have taken a bad turn. 

I’m hoping the water change I did will reduce any stress. Do you all think I should do more, I’m trying not to stress him out too much since I did another earlier (it was supposed to be the only one, but his symptoms still had me worried). I’ve thought about completely moving him to a different setup, but I don’t know if it really would be the best idea, and his symptoms aren’t seemingly dire, so I feel as though a transfer wouldn’t help. 
Any thoughts on how to approach this, or potentially thoughts on if I should keep water changing out the medication, take it out completely, or leave it in as is?
 

[Colu]

Have you considered using aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons  giving him a break from the copper safe treatment for 5days

[Sapere_Ceta]

2 minutes ago, Colu said:

Have you considered using aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons  giving him a break from the copper safe treatment for 5days

I originally had him treated with salt of the same dosage you recommended, started it on December 18th when I got him. I added him to an upgraded and larger holding tank maybe eleven or twelve days ago (that was the final day of salt treatment), and then he started showing symptoms not long after. I’m not confident salt did anything for him.

[Colu]

Have you got access to general cure or prazipro these would work better for parasitic infection

[Sapere_Ceta]

Just now, Colu said:

Have you got access to general cure or prazipro these would work better for parasitic infection

Unfortunately not. I tried to find Prazipro and was unsuccessful, and I couldn’t find general cure either. I had went online for the shops near me, but most had neither. I ended up looking on Amazon, but the shipping is so delayed that it would take weeks to arrive. Any purchase I've made on Amazon recently, like the copper test kit for instance, has gotten lost while shipping and has yet to arrive. 

[Colu]

If can't general cure or prazipro try Esha gdex  has same active ingredient as general cure praziquantel

[Sapere_Ceta]

3 minutes ago, Colu said:

If can't general cure or prazipro try Esha gdex  has same active ingredient as general cure praziquantel

Alright, I’ll see if I can find it. I’ll bring it up online now. Thanks for the advice

[Sapere_Ceta]

1 hour ago, Colu said:

If can't general cure or prazipro try Esha gdex  has same active ingredient as general cure praziquantel

Unfortunately, I can’t find ESHa GDEX anywhere. I’m not really sure what to do. I feel like he’s getting worse. He keeps staying to the top, but he’ll abruptly stop swimming and just start to drift downwards until he swims back up again. I don’t know if I should set up a smaller tank and put him in that, or just leave him in this one.. 

[Colu]

You might be able to get Water life gill and body fluke treatment sterazin as salt and copper safe have not worked other then getting another treatment there is nothing else I can suggest

Edited January 15, 2021 by Colu

[Sapere_Ceta]

11 minutes ago, Colu said:

You might be able to get Water life gill and body fluke treatment sterazin as salt and copper safe have not worked other then getting another treatment there is nothing else I can suggest

I understand, I think that’s definitely worth looking into, and I’ll start looking into it. 
He started having extreme difficulty keeping himself up in the tank. So I decided to quickly jump onto setting up a shallow holding tank. I matched everything as well as I could, and I scooped him out with my hand quickly to add him to the tank. He made it through, though it definitely did cause his breathing to spike. But I feel as though this gives him a better shot while I figure out another game plan if he makes it through. He was looking so bad in the other tank, that to me, there’s no shame in trying another approach at this point. 

I’m gradually adding salt to get up to the 1 tablespoon per 2 gallon dosage in the meantime. I figured it at least can’t hurt, and I guess we’ll see how he is tomorrow. 

[Colu]

Hope it works out

[Sapere_Ceta]

14 hours ago, Colu said:

Hope it works out

Unfortunately, he didn’t make it. Putting him in there did help give him the ability to get air easier, and he started to move around slightly better. But over the course of last night, his fatigue seemed to be getting worse and worse the later it got. It’s really heartbreaking to have lost him. He seemed like he was doing better until yesterday. I keep thinking if there was something I did wrong, and so kept going through everything over and over again. My mom even helped me go over anything I did the past week to see if I made an error (I write everything down when a fish is sick), but we couldn’t find anything. 
I just feel like I’ve failed him. This was the first fish I’ve had in over six years. I’ve had to give everything up because of my disability, and I thought it was finally time to try having a fish again. I don’t know what else I could have done. By the time he started getting worse again, I could tell it was going to be too late..

[Colu]

Sorry to hear that  he didn't make it

[FrozenFins]

sorry to hear about your fish death. I wish you the best.