Cupramine and the biological filter

[Shilpan Patel]

Hey guys! I’m quarantining a sailfin tang in a 40gallon long with cupramine at the moment. Cycled the tank with a dead shrimp before starting for 2.5 weeks (ammonia and nitrites went to 0). I’m using a canister filter appropriately sized with SeaChem matrix and some ceramic noodles too. I used a few pieces of live rock to seed during the cycle, but I removed these before starting cupramine.

Does cupramine permanently or temporarily destroy the biological filter? I’ve had a small ammonia spike (SeaChem alert when to green or “alert”) which I find very odd given I cycled the tank. I just did a water change. Can I expect the filter to “catch up”? Or will the use of cupramine mean I’ll be battling with water changes for the remaining 3 weeks of quarantine?

Cupramine is currently 0.5, fish is eating fine. I’m feeding seaweed and a pinch of pellets and a pinch of flake every single day spread out as 3 meals.

 

[Brew12]

Hey guys! I’m quarantining a sailfin tang in a 40gallon long with cupramine at the moment. Cycled the tank with a dead shrimp before starting for 2.5 weeks (ammonia and nitrites went to 0). I’m using a canister filter appropriately sized with SeaChem matrix and some ceramic noodles too. I used a few pieces of live rock to seed during the cycle, but I removed these before starting cupramine.

Does cupramine permanently or temporarily destroy the biological filter? I’ve had a small ammonia spike (SeaChem alert when to green or “alert”) which I find very odd given I cycled the tank. I just did a water change. Can I expect the filter to “catch up”? Or will the use of cupramine mean I’ll be battling with water changes for the remaining 3 weeks of quarantine?

Cupramine is currently 0.5, fish is eating fine. I’m feeding seaweed and a pinch of pellets and a pinch of flake every single day spread out as 3 meals.

That seems unusual to me. I've never had copper hurt my bio filter once it was well established. It makes me wonder if the matrix was well seeded or if most of the filtration was being performed by the live rock.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you, I think that maybe the issue.

Right the ammonia is undetectable again for the moment. I have put a sponge in my DT again. If the ammonia spikes again I will transfer it and hopefully that will solve my issues

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you, I think that maybe the issue.

Right the ammonia is undetectable again for the moment. I have put a sponge in my DT again. If the ammonia spikes again I will transfer it and hopefully that will solve my issues

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you, I think that maybe the issue.

Right the ammonia is undetectable again for the moment. I have put a sponge in my DT again. If the ammonia spikes again I will transfer it and hopefully that will solve my issues

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you, I think that maybe the issue.

Right the ammonia is undetectable again for the moment. I have put a sponge in my DT again. If the ammonia spikes again I will transfer it and hopefully that will solve my issues

 

[Brew12]

I have put a sponge in my DT again.

Make sure you put the sponge in an area where water flows through it, like between baffle plates on a sump. Just floating them in the sump may not work.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Thank you I will do that.

Also the ammonia spiked again. I’ll do another water change. I might actually put some live rock rubble in from my DT and then throw it out afterwards. I know it’ll drop my cupramine concentration but I’d rather monitor copper frequently and dose extra, than have to deal with ammonia spikes.

 

[miyags]

Was your DT infected with ich?I had a hard time with ammonia,this last round of fish I treated with cupramine. Luckily I had a extra well seeded sponge filter I added.And that did the trick.Before I added it,I was doing lots of water changes.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

No, my DT was fallow for 16 weeks. and it’s had fish in it for 6 months after that who all went through 6 weeks of QT each and haven’t shown any signs of disease.

Ok I think I’ll put the rubble in the QT. That’ll buy me some time as it will keep ammonia down until the sponge filters are ready in a week I suppose. I’ll just have to test and keep dosing cupramine daily as required. I’m keeping my copper at 0.45 at the moment. Tang is doing fine on the bright side.

 

[lion king]

I'm still not sure why people are so afraid to treat with copper with rocks in the tank, it just absorbs some and you just need to test diligently. Removing the rock after you cycled your tank is what threw off your filtration, I've never had a problem maintaining a viable biological filtration while using cupramine. We have so much better testing and understanding today and you should not be afraid of using copper with rocks in the tank. Other meds that you can not test for is a different story.

 

[infinite0180]

Go get some BioSpira from Petco or something. I have had amazing results with it. It will reseed your Matrix and prevent any ammonia spikes while it does so! Its like $10 for a small bottle, go get some today!

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Yes I ended up putting some rubble back in from my DT and it may have helped control my ammonia, I agree that was the cause. Sometimes I prefer to avoid it, there are times when I don’t have the time to test daily and that’s why I prefer an inert substance.

When I emailed SeaChem they told me that matrix does not absorb cupramine as it is inert. This will probably be my go to QT medium now.

And thanks for the advice infinite I actually went out and bought some SeaChem stability for that exact reason. Ammonia is at 0, so seems to be doing something.

 

[infinite0180]

Good deal! Thanks for the info on the Matrix. I have some in my tank already. Maybe i will get some more just incase i need to cycle a tank ASAP!

 

[Preggy]

Will the live rock or bio cubes not absorb Cupramine

 

[Ross Petersen]

I'm still not sure why people are so afraid to treat with copper with rocks in the tank, it just absorbs some and you just need to test diligently. Removing the rock after you cycled your tank is what threw off your filtration, I've never had a problem maintaining a viable biological filtration while using cupramine. We have so much better testing and understanding today and you should not be afraid of using copper with rocks in the tank. Other meds that you can not test for is a different story.

Old thread here but someone hopefully still reading...

I have a few ceramic bio-media balls as a substrate for nitrifying bacteria... can I confirm:

A) Reasonable to keep a few of these in my quarantine tank as a substrate for bacteria?
B) Good idea to dose some nitrifying bacteria on occasion to keep the biological filter stable?

 

[lion king]

Old thread here but someone hopefully still reading...

I have a few ceramic bio-media balls as a substrate for nitrifying bacteria... can I confirm:

A) Reasonable to keep a few of these in my quarantine tank as a substrate for bacteria?
B) Good idea to dose some nitrifying bacteria on occasion to keep the biological filter stable?

If you are talking about maintaining a viable biological filter in an empty tank, just put a few drops of ammonia in the tank to keep the bacteria fed. It's not about adding more bacteria, it's about adding food. I keep a bottle of Dr Tims ammonia on hand just for this purpose. I would usually dose 1 drop to each 3 gallons or so, every week or 2.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Glad I found this thread! I just started a QT tank as I had an outbreak of ich in my DT. Luckily I had a 20 long set up with a canister packed full of matrix. This was set up maybe 3 or 4 months ago. Broke the 20 down and bought a bigger tank and am using the canister on it. Just added my first dose of cupramine today.

how long does it take to read results? I tested 5 minutes later and didn’t see an increase in copper. I oughta get a better test kit than API to I assume.