Dosing copper to your DT...the documented journey.

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

I plan on treating for 30 days. Your absolutely right. I should add more fish bit I feel I was reaching the limit already. I have a few more on my list.

If you add more fish, start them in qt at 1.0. Get them up slowly to your tank before you drop in

 

[LJLKRL05]

They stated many petshops run copper indefinitely in their systems and that makes sense.

I want to mention that some pet shops do run copper in their systems, but if they do not run it at therapeutic levels constantly, all it does is suppress the ich and you will think you are getting a healthy, ich free fish.
If you do not quarantine the fish you will introduce ich into your system, and you know the rest of the story.

 

[Marc88]

I want to mention that some pet shops do run copper in their systems, but if they do not run it at therapeutic levels constantly, all it does is suppress the ich and you will think you are getting a healthy, ich free fish.
If you do not quarantine the fish you will introduce ich into your system, and you know the rest of the story.

You are right. I have 4 LFS in my area. Two run copper below therapeutic levels in their tanks that hold incoming fish. A lot of major distributors do this as well to increase the survival rates of incoming fish. That and hypo.

 

[Marc88]

I did two tests this morning. This is what I had.

 

[Marc88]

Here's a timeline for those who are still interested now...or will be curious in the future. Rocks are absorbing some of the copper. It's not as drastic as I expected, but it is happening. I am still trying to decide where I will go in the future as far as replacing the rocks or not—still going to play that by ear.

I plan on doing 30 days of copper, ten down ending somewhere around the end of May. Between all the buckets I have laying around and my 44/20 gallon brute trash cans, I have the capacity to do a 104 gallon water change. It is not quite 100% but close enough. I am planning on doing that at the end of this treatment, then adding the CupiSorb, which will be run in a reactor.

Saw an algae bloom that I didn't want to deal with, so I decided to go lights out until the end of May. We will see how that goes. Hopefully, it will have the desired result.

Any suggestions along the way are welcome.

 

[Marc88]

I forgot the most important part...no fish have been lost

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

Hows it going?

 

[Marc88]

Hows it going?

It's still going. 7 days left cooper is holding steady. I still test every morning. I have to add about 3 ml every few days.

I'm about to start a new thread after 20 days in copper I saw what I thought was Ich on my hippo.

I am trying to get an ID on it to determine if it's Ich it something else. From what I know, I can't imagine ich would survive in 2.5 ppm of copper power. Look at the photos below. The first few we're taken May 3.

These were taken today.

 

[Marc88]

I've been running copper at 2.5 ppm since April 20th. I was going to stop the treatment on May 20th. I may just push it to the end of the month.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

doesn't look good. if that is ich, the cycle starts all over after it drops. maybe someone else can chime in. I already hit the 30 day mark but I added new fish about 2 weeks ago so I'm going to go another 2 weeks and then pull and observe.

 

[Marc88]

I hope that's not the case but we will see.

I posted it here if your interested.

Can Ich survive in theraputic copper?

The question above. Also, is this ich or something else? Bonus question, how long does it take for the injury from ich to heal? Here's the brief backstory. I suffered a Ich outbreak in my DT posted here...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

looks like we had a similar issue. my powder blue had some kind of infection as well. i started running cuprisorb and charcoal, all signs of infection gone.

 

[Marc88]

looks like we had a similar issue. My powder blue had some kind of infection as well. i started running cuprisorb and charcoal, all signs of infection gone.

Based on BigG's possible diagnosis, I'm going to proceed with pulling the copper on the 20th. I can imagine Ich could live in therapeutic copper for a month. This, coupled with the fact no other fish has symptoms, makes sense to me. So, I purchased the Glucan and purple and red nori sheets. I'm going to try to improve my diet more. I'll also be running UV on the system as well. We will see if it holds up in the long run. Time will tell.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

Based on BigG's possible diagnosis, I'm going to proceed with pulling the copper on the 20th. I can imagine Ich could live in therapeutic copper for a month. This, coupled with the fact no other fish has symptoms, makes sense to me. So, I purchased the Glucan and purple and red nori sheets. I'm going to try to improve my diet more. I'll also be running UV on the system as well. We will see if it holds up in the long run. Time will tell.

I had copper in the tank for about 35 days however I purchased a couple of baggai 2 weeks ago. I'll just be watching closely the next 2 weeks but I think my tank is clear!

if that's the case... now how do I get corals in without introducing ich etc

 

[Rick.45cal]

So I’m just going to throw this out there for you, but the Hanna Copper checker is a High Range test and will be virtually worthless at determining when you are at very low levels of copper for inverts and corals to return to the tank. It will become inaccurate at “reef safe” levels of copper. Just a heads up for when you treatment is finished and you’re scrubbing the copper out of the system you will need to use a much more accurate test kit for low levels, or rely on ICP tests to tell you when you’re there. Otherwise I’m interested to see where this leads as I am skeptical by nature and likely fit into camp 3 until I see evidence otherwise. . Good luck, I’m glad your fish are looking better.

 

[Marc88]

So I’m just going to throw this out there for you, but the Hanna Copper checker is a High Range test and will be virtually worthless at determining when you are at very low levels of copper for inverts and corals to return to the tank. It will become inaccurate at “reef safe” levels of copper. Just a heads up for when you treatment is finished and you’re scrubbing the copper out of the system you will need to use a much more accurate test kit for low levels, or rely on ICP tests to tell you when you’re there. Otherwise I’m interested to see where this leads as I am skeptical by nature and likely fit into camp 3 until I see evidence otherwise. . Good luck. I’m glad your fish are looking better.

Thanks for the advise! I planned on using ICP tests as a real conformation. Based on the amount of copper I had to dose through the process continuously, I expect it to leach for a few months. I'm also going to continually run copper absorbing media of different types for a few months as well.

We will see the end result. I appreciate you checking in.

 

[Marc88]

I had copper in the tank for about 35 days however I purchased a couple of baggai 2 weeks ago. I'll just be watching closely the next 2 weeks but I think my tank is clear!

if that's the case... now how do I get corals in without introducing ich etc

I'm no expert by any means but conventional wisdom in the matter would say you have to keep them in a separate QT for corals and inverts only. Keep them housed for 76 days before transferring to you DT. It's important that your coral QT remain fishless.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

I'm no expert by any means but conventional wisdom in the matter would say you have to keep them in a separate QT for corals and inverts only. Keep them housed for 76 days before transferring to you DT. It's important that your coral QT remain fishless.

this is what I was afraid of and I guess this brings us back to the original conundrum. there is no escaping the 2.5 months of fallow tank.

 

[Paul B]

This is easy. When this hobby started we kept copper in the water continuously because we didn't know what we were doing and neither did anyone else. We actually didn't even have liquid copper so we used pennies.

Anyway, those rocks and gravel are still in my tank almost fifty years later but I did wait a few years to put in corals.
There were no corals for sale anyway.

But in your case, I would have removed those few rocks you have to a five gallon bucket with salt water. Then I would have gotten red, clay bricks like they sell in Home Depot for a buck or so each and used those because fish need hiding places and they are not afraid of bricks like they are of PVC pipes.

I use bricks all the time. After the fish are cured, I would change a good part of the water and add cuprisorb or carbon until there is no more copper. Then remove the bricks and maybe build a bar be cue out of them and replace the rock after you fresh water dip them for a few minutes.

Don't worry about copper being absorbed by the silicone as that is an old wives tale that any old wife can tell you.

After the fish are cured, try to go the natural route so they never get sick again.
Good Luck.

BTW, your Hippo tang also has HLLE

 

[Marc88]

I tested my phosphate this morning and to no surprise it was off the charts. Two more days and I will do my massive water change. Hopefully this will off set the high nutrients.