cupermine treatment for ich

[rocky reef]

hi everyone
im about 99% sure my 2 clownfish have ich, but eating well & behaving normally but obviously i want to get rid of the ich entirely before it's too late
i have cupermine getting delivered tomorrow and i'm setting up my 10g qt tank today so that way it's prepared for when they're ready to go in
i do have one live rock and a clove polyp in my dt as well as the 2 clownfish and i'm planning on using a coral dip to treat any possible cysts on the clove polyp.
- what should the water parameters be in my qt tank before putting the clowns in? should it be identical to my dt parameters?
- what is the protocol for a cupermine treatment (as in length of treatment and how often each week to treat)
- what do i need to do to my dt tank during the fallow period in terms of water changes?
- do i need to treat my live rock in any way? or can i leave it in my dt while it's fallow and it'll be fine by the time the fish go back in the dt
sorry about so many questions and thank you in advance!

 

[vetteguy53081]

hi everyone
im about 99% sure my 2 clownfish have ich, but eating well & behaving normally but obviously i want to get rid of the ich entirely before it's too late
i have cupermine getting delivered tomorrow and i'm setting up my 10g qt tank today so that way it's prepared for when they're ready to go in
i do have one live rock and a clove polyp in my dt as well as the 2 clownfish and i'm planning on using a coral dip to treat any possible cysts on the clove polyp.
- what should the water parameters be in my qt tank before putting the clowns in? should it be identical to my dt parameters?
- what is the protocol for a cupermine treatment (as in length of treatment and how often each week to treat)
- what do i need to do to my dt tank during the fallow period in terms of water changes?
- do i need to treat my live rock in any way? or can i leave it in my dt while it's fallow and it'll be fine by the time the fish go back in the dt
sorry about so many questions and thank you in advance!

Any pics under white lighting to support its ich and not something else?
Assuming ich, you would be treating in a separate quarantine setting for full 30 days at 80 degrees at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 monitored by a reliable copper test kit- no api brand

 

[LeftyReefer]

i do have one live rock and a clove polyp in my dt as well as the 2 clownfish and i'm planning on using a coral dip to treat any possible cysts on the clove polyp.
- what should the water parameters be in my qt tank before putting the clowns in? should it be identical to my dt parameters?
- what is the protocol for a cupermine treatment (as in length of treatment and how often each week to treat)
- what do i need to do to my dt tank during the fallow period in terms of water changes?
- do i need to treat my live rock in any way? or can i leave it in my dt while it's fallow and it'll be fine by the time the fish go back in the dt
sorry about so many questions and thank you in advance!

if you are going to leave your DT fallow, which you should, then no need to dip the corals for the cysts.

You can always take water out of your DT and use it to fill your QT.... that way you know your water params will be in line and the clowns will not miss a beat... That tank will need to be cycled though, or do regular water changes.

Cupramine should be given for at least 14 days, 30 days is even better. (I go 30 days in copper).
Once you dose it to the water, it should stay stable, unless you are changing water, which you need to dose copper to the new change water before adding it to the QT. You never want the copper level to drop below therapeutic levels. For cupramine, that is 0.5 PPM. The hanna copper tester is far and away the best tester for copper. If you are going to be QTing regularly, get yourself one.

do regular water changes in your DT, if you have inverts and corals. if not, I'd be less worried about that.

With no fish hosts to live on in your DT, all the eggs/cysts/free swimming parasites will die off over time. You can raise the temperature of your DT to help speed this process along.

good luck!

 

[MnFish1]

Agree with the others. You do not need to do anything to the DT while its fallow.
I would suggest you NOT use water from your display tank in your QT tank - more for 'QT procedural reasons' than any 'real reason' - its just usually best to keep the two systems completely separate - though in this case - its unlikely to cause an issue.

Also - 30 days is best for copper - and there are some new dosing regimens - that recommend slightly higher levels than on the bottle - that can be found in the 'stickies' at the top of the forum. After the 30 days - the fish obviously need to stay in the smaller observation tank - before putting them back into the main display tank.

Of course - then - any 'new' fish - should go through the same QT procedure you used for the clowns. Underscore - that a picture would be nice to see. Best of luck.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Agree with the others. You do not need to do anything to the DT while its fallow.
I would suggest you NOT use water from your display tank in your QT tank - more for 'QT procedural reasons' than any 'real reason' - its just usually best to keep the two systems completely separate - though in this case - its unlikely to cause an issue.

He's going to be treating the QT with copper, so whatever "baddies" are in the DT water will be knocked out with the copper. normally I too keep both systems separate, but no reason you can't use DT water to fill a QT if its going to be treated with copper anyway.

 

[rocky reef]

if you are going to leave your DT fallow, which you should, then no need to dip the corals for the cysts.

You can always take water out of your DT and use it to fill your QT.... that way you know your water params will be in line and the clowns will not miss a beat... That tank will need to be cycled though, or do regular water changes.

Cupramine should be given for at least 14 days, 30 days is even better. (I go 30 days in copper).
Once you dose it to the water, it should stay stable, unless you are changing water, which you need to dose copper to the new change water before adding it to the QT. You never want the copper level to drop below therapeutic levels. For cupramine, that is 0.5 PPM. The hanna copper tester is far and away the best tester for copper. If you are going to be QTing regularly, get yourself one.

do regular water changes in your DT, if you have inverts and corals. if not, I'd be less worried about that.

With no fish hosts to live on in your DT, all the eggs/cysts/free swimming parasites will die off over time. You can raise the temperature of your DT to help speed this process along.

good luck!

thank you, that helped alot! how often should i be doing water changes in my qt? are water changes in the qt necessary?

 

[LeftyReefer]

If the QT is cycled, then water changes are only needed when you want to change meds, etc...
if its not cycled, then you will need to change water in order to manage ammonia levels in the QT tank.

My QT is usually cycled, but I end up doing water changes every few days to remove fish waste and uneaten bits of food. I also do water changes to remove meds from water, rather than waiting for carbon to remove them.

 

[MnFish1]

He's going to be treating the QT with copper, so whatever "baddies" are in the DT water will be knocked out with the copper. normally I too keep both systems separate, but no reason you can't use DT water to fill a QT if its going to be treated with copper anyway.

Yes - I agree - thats what I said. It was more a general comment that it is not a good idea to do that. Especially if there are other fish in the tank (it was more for other readers - that might think - yeah - I'll just use my DT water).

Second - I'd like to hear you opinion. I think its 'ok' but not 'optimal' for the first water addition. But in my strong opinion the water CHANGES - need to be done with freshly made (clean) saltwater?

 

[LeftyReefer]

Second - I'd like to hear you opinion. I think its 'ok' but not 'optimal' for the first water addition. But in my strong opinion the water CHANGES - need to be done with freshly made (clean) saltwater?

Yes, always. no sense adding any baddies after you've been treating your fish in copper for three weeks.... using DT water at that point would undo all your previous work. As i said, only use DT water to fill the QT, not after. After QT is under way, I only use new/fresh SW.

 

[pghreeferteam]

I would investigate on here further regarding the copper test for the type of copper that you're using.


There is also a good QT thread out there.

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[rocky reef]

if you are going to leave your DT fallow, which you should, then no need to dip the corals for the cysts.

You can always take water out of your DT and use it to fill your QT.... that way you know your water params will be in line and the clowns will not miss a beat... That tank will need to be cycled though, or do regular water changes.

Cupramine should be given for at least 14 days, 30 days is even better. (I go 30 days in copper).
Once you dose it to the water, it should stay stable, unless you are changing water, which you need to dose copper to the new change water before adding it to the QT. You never want the copper level to drop below therapeutic levels. For cupramine, that is 0.5 PPM. The hanna copper tester is far and away the best tester for copper. If you are going to be QTing regularly, get yourself one.

do regular water changes in your DT, if you have inverts and corals. if not, I'd be less worried about that.

With no fish hosts to live on in your DT, all the eggs/cysts/free swimming parasites will die off over time. You can raise the temperature of your DT to help speed this process along.

good luck!

thank you so much! i've decided to go for a 10g qt tank and did my first dose of cupramine today and my clowns are looking and acting better already! i used the water from my dt for the qt so i was wondering, how often should i do water changes in the qt? some people have told me to do them regularly (once a week) and others have said to do it daily

 

[MnFish1]

thank you so much! i've decided to go for a 10g qt tank and did my first dose of cupramine today and my clowns are looking and acting better already! i used the water from my dt for the qt so i was wondering, how often should i do water changes in the qt? some people have told me to do them regularly (once a week) and others have said to do it daily

I would get a seachem ammonia alert badge and use that. If there is a hint of change of color from 'yellow' - (safe) you will definitely want to do a change. You can also do daily water changes making sure that you add copper to the proper concentration to the 'new water' before adding it to the tank. The percentage required depends on the amount of feeding, etc that you're doing. I'm sure you could get multiple different recommendations as to the percent. you can use this calculator - to help figure out how much water to change - depending on the apparent build up of ammonia. Some people to 100 percent changes every day - some do less, etc. Hope this helps.

Effect of Water Changes Calculator

Aquarium calculator; Estimate the effect of repeated water changes on the concentration of a given substance.

www.hamzasreef.com

 

[MnFish1]

Yes, always. no sense adding any baddies after you've been treating your fish in copper for three weeks.... using DT water at that point would undo all your previous work. As i said, only use DT water to fill the QT, not after. After QT is under way, I only use new/fresh SW.

By they way - just a quick point - that again may help others. If you have something in your display tank - such as uronema - or something else not affected by copper, adding water from the display tank (again a very low risk - you're correct). can be harmful.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Fwiw, I regularly use Biospira and Microbacter7 to "instantly cycle" quarantine systems, and regular dosing of them prevents ammonia spikes, without causing a drop in copper levels and needing to do water changes.