Copper treatment in hospital tank ??????

soily

soily

Member
Hi all, So i have followed lee's advice to cure my ich, i have set up the hospital tank caught all the fish (eventually GGGrrrrrrr) and settled them in. Because the tank was new i could not wait to let the biological filter mature so as per lee's sticky i am doing the water changes. So whats the problem ? well unfortunately i lost my gramma, i am gutted, more because it died due to my lack of experience and understanding than the fact it got the ich. Also i have decided against the hyposalinity treatment and gone for the copper treatment. BUT heres my problem i am using a product available in the UK called CUPRAZIN. The instructions say to dose at 2.5ml per 37.5 litres on days 1,2,3,4,6,8 and 10 and to stop if infection clears. Now as i am doing frequent water changes i am obviously diluting the medication so where do i stand. Also the fish already appear to be clear of spots and have definitely stopped flashing (this after 4 days) so do i stop treating or continue for a bit.

INFO: cuprazin contains 1.7%w/w copper sulphate 0.3%w/w formaldehyde 0.11%w/w malachite green.

THANKS!!!:banghead:
 
soily

soily

Member
Ps Remaining fish 2 clowns and a cleaner wrasse all looking much better, very active and eating well. Also with regard to cuprazin there is no info as to how much copper should be in the water as per lee's sticky and his/her preference for using cupramine.
 
L

leebca

Well-Known Member
Well. . . bummer!
:smack:
Not good. All the information you need to do a good treatment (as you yourself have realized), is missing. The treatment obviously assumes not a single water change. It probably also assumes that the copper concentration goes up slowly, but also accounts that some copper is lost due to complexing.

You see, the sulfate form of copper is one of the worst ones to use. Very unstable and very dangerous to the fish. A mistake will cost the life of the most vulnerable fish. In fact, even if you don't make a mistake, that chemical is the kind that will kill the most vulnerable fishes.

This chemical must not be used on any Angelfish (large or dwarf), Eel, Stingray, etc.

The Formalin and MG are weak treatments for Marine Ich and neither is successful on their own. Apparently the maker had a brainstorm to combine them to improve the med's efficacy (which it doesn't!!).

Now that I've scared you. :eek: (Sorry). I don't know how to help much here. I would obtain and use a copper test kit to know how much medication to add for the water changes. If you can get one and know the proper concentration to maintain, then you can move forward with these controls. You can continue your water changes and add back the med to maintain the proper level of copper.

There are two problems here: Finding the test kit that measures copper in this state, accurately/reliably; and
knowing what number on the test kit is the correct number to hold the copper concentration.

I don't know what copper test kits are available to you, so I'm not going to be able to do much for you on that one. Maybe read the package and insert to be sure it measures 'free' (as opposed to 'chelated' copper). It can measure both. That's okay too. But it must say it measures 'free' copper.

Regarding the second, I have forgotten most of the old guidelines. This form of copper hasn't been used in over 25 years to cure Marine Ich (in the Western world, anyways). However, I would target a reading of 3 ppm free copper, and maintain that reading on the proper test kit.

Sorry I can't be of much more help. You can't obtain Salifert Test Kits and Cupramine in the UK? Salifert is based in one of the Scandinavian countries and thought you'd be able to obtain their test kit line there in the UK. If you can, then the Salifert Copper test kit will be one I would use in this case.

:confused:
 
W

WVUReefer

Member
Just my $.02
First copper treatments only effect ich at a certain stage in the life cycle. Any ich not in the stage of life will survive( ex. eggs). Also, as stated above the chems used are dangerous to marine life, and a simple mistake can cost you. When treating for ich I have found the best and healthiest way was to use hypo salinity. It effects the parasite at all stages of life, and is far more acceptable to vertebrate marine life. I have a dedicated tank for treatment, also if you have a FOWLR tank it can be done in the tank, being there are no inverts present in the tank. In me QT tank I use a heater a few large shells for cover and a HOB filter. I run carbon in the filter as their are no chems to worry about filtering out. I also use a portion of filter media from the DT in the HOB to provide some quantity of bio filtration. I keep the fish in there for 8 weeks. It is hard to not have them in your DT for so long, but the time is not worth the risk. I feed often, but sparingly. I also do water changes. Keep the tank bare bottom to insure no growing or incubating spots for the parasites.
 
soily

soily

Member
I am tearing my hair out. I got hold of cupramine and a salifert test kit (60 mile round trip in the car) got them home and proceeded to add the cupramine to the hospital tank. Then i tried to test only to find the $~#£"%& test kit measures in ppm and i need to measure mg/l beat_dead_horse :rolleyes: HELP anyone?
 
soily

soily

Member
Thanks reefmack i think i am more stressed than the fish lol. I take it that the specific gravity and temperature dont affect anything.
 
soily

soily

Member
Thanks lee, i had read the sticky but as stated i am a bit stressed about this so i had forgotten the info. Just seem to be bouncing from one problem to another at the mo (skimmer and heater broke down). but thanks for the info i think i am getting on top of it now.
 
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