Blotched Anthias & Copper?

[attilak]

Hi,

I am curious if anyone had experience with blotched anthias and copper. I just completed the de-worming stage of the quarantine process for a trio blotched anthias. The next step is the 6 week copper treatment, but know that some fish don't do well with copper. Please let me know if anyone had any negative experience with these fish and copper.

Thanks!
Attila

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Overall, Anthias don't really appreciate copper but there really isn't a good alternative, as they also don't like hyposalinity. I've used Coppersafe on these with no issue. Copper Power would also probably work. I'd be a little leery of using Cupramine, it seems a bit harsher to me.

You know, many people here treat for metazoans (flukes and such) and THEN treat for protozoans with copper - but I don't know why. I feel very strongly that this needs to be done the other way around - protozoans like velvet and ich kill much faster than flukes do, and most fluke infestations don't even get ramped up until you've had the fish for 3 to 5 weeks. I always treat with copper first and then prazi for flukes.

Jay

 

[Phlynamjax]

In my experience, Borbonius Anthias are very easy fish to keep. They are hardy, aggressive, and they eat just about anything. I had two in my previous tank for about 2 years and I QTed them in cupramine for 6 weeks without any issue. I sold them locally because they were getting very aggressive with my wrasses.

 

[attilak]

Overall, Anthias don't really appreciate copper but there really isn't a good alternative, as they also don't like hyposalinity. I've used Coppersafe on these with no issue. Copper Power would also probably work. I'd be a little leery of using Cupramine, it seems a bit harsher to me.

You know, many people here treat for metazoans (flukes and such) and THEN treat for protozoans with copper - but I don't know why. I feel very strongly that this needs to be done the other way around - protozoans like velvet and ich kill much faster than flukes do, and most fluke infestations don't even get ramped up until you've had the fish for 3 to 5 weeks. I always treat with copper first and then prazi for flukes.

Jay

Thanks for the response, Jay. If the fish were not so expensive, I would follow my standard process of doing the 6 weeks in copper. I only use copper power as it has proven to work and also don't believe it is harsh on the fish. I did use Cupramine in the past, but found it to be harder on the fish - and seemed to lose more fish with this product vs copper power.

As for copper treatment prior to Prazi; I do agree with you that in theory doing the copper treatment first makes sense. However, because the copper treatment is 6 weeks and Prazi is 7 days, I figure I get that one first and perhaps that's the reasons others do the same. Furthermore, removing copper is tougher and takes more time then Prazi.

Attila

 

[attilak]

In my experience, Borbonius Anthias are very easy fish to keep. They are hardy, aggressive, and they eat just about anything. I had two in my previous tank for about 2 years and I QTed them in cupramine for 6 weeks without any issue. I sold them locally because they were getting very aggressive with my wrasses.

Thanks! makes me feel better to know that they are hardier fish. I did not know about there aggression! Hopefully that will not be an issue. I will be putting them in my 210 FOWLR, so don't believe these guys will mess with most of the fish in that tank. I will use copper power for the standard 6 weeks.

 

[Wolf89]

You can always look into hybrid TTM method using H2O2.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the response, Jay. If the fish were not so expensive, I would follow my standard process of doing the 6 weeks in copper. I only use copper power as it has proven to work and also don't believe it is harsh on the fish. I did use Cupramine in the past, but found it to be harder on the fish - and seemed to lose more fish with this product vs copper power.

As for copper treatment prior to Prazi; I do agree with you that in theory doing the copper treatment first makes sense. However, because the copper treatment is 6 weeks and Prazi is 7 days, I figure I get that one first and perhaps that's the reasons others do the same. Furthermore, removing copper is tougher and takes more time then Prazi.

Attila

Oh, so when I treat with prazi, I dose 3x 7 to 10 days apart in order to deal with egg laying species like Neobenedenia. That takes to long, and protozoans can get a jump start if I did that first.
Jay