Copper treatment for marine ich questions

T

Taikoboi

New Member
How soon to test for copper after 1st treatment? I have a fish only tank without any inverts. Just rocks and a sand bed. I know the risks of having live rock and sand while treating the tank but I cannot get a QT. My GF will break up with me.



I have a 93 gallon setup with a sump and I treated is with seachem cupramine. So I tested it after couple hours treating and the test results show 0.

Do I need to add more since maybe my rocks are absorbing it or just let sit over night and test again to give it more time?



Also, the website states it's safe to keep the protein skimmer on but do you think I should shut it off during my 3 week treatment?



Should I do any water changes during treatment?



How about lighting? I currently have a radion x30g2 on at 50%. Should I leave it off during treatment or lower the intensity to 10%?



I am testing with APT Copper cu+ test kit



I appreciate all your help thanks.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Do not treat the display tank!!!! You can test immediately but if you treat your DT you will ruin everything!
 
T

Taikoboi

New Member
PSU4ME said:
Do not treat the display tank!!!! You can test immediately but if you treat your DT you will ruin everything!
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I have no choice unfortunately. However I am planning to get rid of the live rock I have and sand after treatment. Will be replacing with much better live rock and sand bed.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
But even your tanks silicone will absorb it, everything does. All equipment etc..... Everything that comes in contact with it. Your inverts are very sensitive to it as well
 
T

Taikoboi

New Member
PSU4ME said:
But even your tanks silicone will absorb it, everything does. All equipment etc..... Everything that comes in contact with it. Your inverts are very sensitive to it as well
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Well I read that it will not get absorbed from support page of seachem cupramine. And it is also less harsh copper.
 
david42

david42

Active Member
Like Saltfan said, Everything will absorb the copper. Only way to clean out the tank will to tear it down. If you don't you will poison the tank for snails and crabs.
You would be much better off buying a small tank to do the treatment .
Then you would have it to quarantine your newest fishes.
 
mikecc

mikecc

Member
A Quarantine tank can be a 5gal bucket. A kids swimming pool. An unused hot tub. Virtually anything.

FishBlender.jpg
 
T

Taikoboi

New Member
PSU4ME said:
You might have already read through this but I figured if post it to make sure.

Lee was our resident marine biologist and provided great advice/research on ich and developed some good threads.


You'll see in here why you shouldn't treat your DT and how to properly treat ich in a QT.
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I've already started the treatment half dosage per instructions. Isn't too late? I had turned off my carbon reactor, uv sterilizer and protein skimmer.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Everything that touches copper treated water should never be used in a reef tank again. So yes it is too late but you can minimize the damage by removing the copper ASAP with carbon and:eek:r cuprisorb. You will need to chuck all your sand and rocks.
 
T

Taikoboi

New Member
PSU4ME said:
Everything that touches copper treated water should never be used in a reef tank again. So yes it is too late but you can minimize the damage by removing the copper ASAP with carbon and:eek:r cuprisorb. You will need to chuck all your sand and rocks.
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Well I never planned to use this as a reef tank. Just fowlr.
 
reefle

reefle

Active Member
as long as there is literally nothing else ever going in that tank except fish. You dont really have a choice at this point. I think the other main concern is having good bacteria die off
 
StirCrayzy

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
With a 93g tank, and a pair of radions, $40 worth of QT hiding in a closet shouldn't be a tough sell.
Hypo would've been a better choice in DT, But since copper is done, may as well see it through.
 
T

Taikoboi

New Member
StirCrayzy said:
With a 93g tank, and a pair of radions, $40 worth of QT hiding in a closet shouldn't be a tough sell.
Hypo would've been a better choice in DT, But since copper is done, may as well see it through.
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Can I use a 29 gallon oceanic biocube for a qt? My friend is giving it away for free.
 
StirCrayzy

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Of course !
Pretty much anything that holds water will work, and you only need a basic sponge filter and air pump, for minimum filtration.
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
I noticed you have a past post showing a sick puffer - where you able to ID positive for Ich? Did you read up on how to treat scaleless fish? They are more sensitive to copper treatments than other fish. Did you mention what brand of copper you are using? I have not had to treat scaleless fish for ich, but I do know that it is always tricky maintaining a copper level where you can kill the parasite but not harm the scaleless fish. Freshwater dips are easier on scaleless fish to help get rid of ich.

Please read this article - halfway down the page there is really good info on how to treat with copper, how often to monitor, do water changes, and watch to make sure the copper isn't killing your fish (they list out 5 different options for treating ich)..... and even more options in this article (which is part II).

Good luck
 
Last edited:
T

Taikoboi

New Member
Oxylebius said:
I noticed you have a past post showing a sick puffer - where you able to ID positive for Ich? Did you read up on how to treat scaleless fish? They are more sensitive to copper treatments than other fish. Did you mention what brand of copper you are using? I have not had to treat scaleless fish for ich, but I do know that it is always tricky maintaining a copper level where you can kill the parasite but not harm the scaleless fish. Freshwater dips are easier on scaleless fish to help get rid of ich.

Please read this article - halfway down the page there is really good info on how to treat with copper, how often to monitor, do water changes, and watch to make sure the copper isn't killing your fish (they list out 5 different options for treating ich)..... and even more options in this article (which is part II).

Good luck
Click to expand...

I haven't found out yet but I'm pretty sure it's ich. I just setup my 29 gallon biocube as qt and placed all the fish in there. I decided to go with hyposalinity treatment. Should I place a uv sterilizer in the qt?
 
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