Current Quarantine Protocol

[jmoney7]

I've had somebody tell me that dechlorinator isn't an issue with amine based copper products, so I'm waffling on that aspect of being careful with reducing agents when using these copper products. I still feel that care must be taken with ammonia reducing products (Amquel, Prime, etc.). So - as long as you use the proper amount of dechlor for the amount of water you are using, you should be fine. The basis for all this are reports I keep having about people running into copper toxicity problems, while I never see that myself. One big difference is that due to my systems, I never use reducing agents, while home aquarists frequently do, but the issue may have some other basis, so I'm still pondering that....

Jay

I read a forum about how prime is only ok to use with copper power. I am using it rn with no issues.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I read a forum about how prime is only ok to use with copper power. I am using it rn with no issues.

Trouble is - nobody has done actual testing on this, it is just anecdotal information. To be safe, you should not use any reducing agents with amine-bonded copper products. Or, if you go use them, don’t use a higher than normal dose. The chemistry of these products are complicated. For example - ammonia reducers bind with free ammonia first, but if used in excess, will they start to break the copper-amine bond? Nobody knows for sure.

 

[jmoney7]

Trouble is - nobody has done actual testing on this, it is just anecdotal information. To be safe, you should not use any reducing agents with amine-bonded copper products. Or, if you go use them, don’t use a higher than normal dose. The chemistry of these products are complicated. For example - ammonia reducers bind with free ammonia first, but if used in excess, will they start to break the copper-amine bond? Nobody knows for sure.

Yeah makes sense

 

[Reefer1978]

@Jay Hemdal could you please explain

"Note: many public aquariums do not move fish out of quarantine unless they are in the middle of a full copper treatment. This vastly reduces the risk from Cryptocaryon or Amyloodinium. To use that method, substitute a copper treatment for this 2 week observation period, and move the fish out around day 10."

a bit more, and would a 14-day Copper QT work as long as the fish were transferred from copper water straight to DT?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal could you please explain

"Note: many public aquariums do not move fish out of quarantine unless they are in the middle of a full copper treatment. This vastly reduces the risk from Cryptocaryon or Amyloodinium. To use that method, substitute a copper treatment for this 2 week observation period, and move the fish out around day 10."

a bit more, and would a 14-day Copper QT work as long as the fish were transferred from copper water straight to DT?

No - 14 day copper treatment is too short, even with ionic copper (21 days for that, 30 days for amine-based copper.) What I'm suggesting is a second rise in the copper level and then move the fish out while they are still in the second copper dose, that reduces the chances that there are any free living tomites in the water.