Go ahead and use sand in QT

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Humblefish

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Alright, I honestly don’t understand what ionic gradient is, but I think I get the point that the 0.2 is an average and it can fluctuate withih the day. But, with that being said isn’t the “error” also worth mentioning as well? This is especially helpful for those with ionic copper, because if the fluctuation rate is at 0.05 (which means that your concentration could drop to 0.45), doesn’t that mean that it has a chance to fall below the therapeutic level and therefore restarting your daily counter of copper?

Sand may not be the best thing to use with Cupramine. This is why I prefer Copper Power – wider therapeutic range. You can ramp it all the way up to 2.5 ppm, and most fish are still going to be fine with it. So, just treat around 2 - 2.25 ppm to compensate for the possibility of copper leaching
 

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More surface area for bacteria to colonize = increased degradation of Chloroquine and other medications. So, sand in QT might be best suited for using copper.

After encountering some hiccups, I just sent off CP water samples to be analyzed with a spectrophotometer. So, I should know by next week just how rapidly CP degrades in a newly setup QT with minimal nitrifying bacteria. The plan is to hopefully establish that as a successful base line, and then keep going until I can figure out just how mature a QT has to be before CP becomes unusable.

Very interested in this. And glad to hear about the sand. Fish love sand. Or some type of substrate.
Thank you
 

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Sand may not be the best thing to use with Cupramine. This is why I prefer Copper Power – wider therapeutic range. You can ramp it all the way up to 2.5 ppm, and most fish are still going to be fine with it. So, just treat around 2 - 2.25 ppm to compensate for the possibility of copper leaching

So, based on your experiment. Sand can be used for chelated copper but not recommended for ionic copper given the more forgiving therapeutic range of chelated copper. With that being said, does it apply to all forms of chelated copper. Or do you recommend more testing on other brands of chelated copper to check for absorption rate?
 
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So, based on your experiment. Sand can be used for chelated copper but not recommended for ionic copper given the more forgiving therapeutic range of chelated copper. With that being said, does it apply to all forms of chelated copper. Or do you recommend more testing on other brands of chelated copper to check for absorption rate?

Chelated copper is chelated copper. I can't prove this, but Coppersafe & Copper Power are probably MFG by the same chemical company. They just slap different labels on the bottles. However, Endich apparently does a better job of QC. ;)

But 1.5 - 2.0 ppm is the established therapeutic range for ALL chelated copper. Has been for 40+ years I've been doing this. Copper Power recommends 2.5 because they know most fish can tolerate it being overdosed. Might not be a bad idea if this copper resistant velvet is a real thing. Which it might be (or soon will be), because most of the big wholesalers are now keeping their fish in 1.0 ppm Copper Power. Thanks wholesalers! This is kinda how antibiotic resistant superbugs got started... :mad:
 

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We use silica sand on all our QTs in store.
Copper is monitored 2-3 times a week and only needs minor top up due to bagging.
In addition to helping fish like wrasses acclimate better it Just helps the bacteria have more place to colonise
 

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30 odd years ago when most people that I knew had fish only tanks ran on undergravel plates with crushed cockle shell on top with a graveltidy (netting) and coral sand on top. If they got white spot or whatever they would treat the full tank with copper then. Once treatment was finished a water change was done and a poly filter used to remove the copper but it will still of been in the sand ect. The best was it worked then so it's not that different to QT of today so yes use it. I couldn't have a tank without sand for the sanity and safety of the fish and I can't understand people who don't have sand in their DTs to me they are missing a part of the system. But we are all different I suppose they don't have a flooring down at home either. LOL
 

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I’m currently QTing a green coris wrasse, diamond goby, and an ignitus Anthias in a 10g with sand. Didn’t feel right not giving at least the Goby something. The bag was maybe $10 so tossing it after the QT is done didn’t feel like a huge waste. Especially if it helps get them through the 4-6 weeks. The goby spends most of his day moving it around and the wrasse buries himself at night.

I also have one chunk of dry rock. Since it was a bag of live sand I went ahead and quick cycled the tank before adding fish. So I am monitoring nitrates instead of ammonia.So Far copper hasn’t fluctuated much at all.
 

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Answered my own question by not reading closely enough!
 
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Shooter6

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Ever thought about using glass beads in place of sand? The glass beads sold at hobby lobby, come in a variety of colors. I think they are either for making jewelry or melt down to make sculptures. Not sure which though
 
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Ever thought about using glass beads in place of sand? The glass beads sold at hobby lobby, come in a variety of colors. I think they are either for making jewelry or melt down to make sculptures. Not sure which though

That could work, provided nothing leaches out/off of them. White, brown or black glass beads would best simulate a substrate.
 

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They make glass beads for sand blasting in different sizes. Those might be a good alternative.
 

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You can also used silica based pool sand, but be careful none is stuck to the fish when transferring. Tomonts (parasite eggs) can encyst to sand.
But won’t the copper(C.P.) kill the parasite and its tommont if maintained at therapeutic levels for 30 days. Following 2 week observation?
 

TheShrimpNibbler

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But won’t the copper(C.P.) kill the parasite and its tommont if maintained at therapeutic levels for 30 days. Following 2 week observation?
From what I understand, copper cannot kill ich in the tomont stage, just the theronts. Since I have heard of tomonts not hatching for up to 72 days, sand with a living tomont on it after 30 days doesn’t seem impossible.
 

YoX

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Curious to see your results on CP Humble.

I think it goes without saying to dry out your sand or discard between QT cycles to keep bacteria from colonizing...
Why do you say that? Wouldn't part of the point be to allow for nitrifying bacteria to build up and ghost feed in between to have a constant QT tank running?
 

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Curious to see your results on CP Humble.

I think it goes without saying to dry out your sand or discard between QT cycles to keep bacteria from colonizing...
Why do you say that? Wouldn't part of the point be to allow for nitrifying bacteria to build up and ghost feed in between to have a constant QT tank running?
 

bruno3047

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I always have sand in my QT when I introduce a new fish. And I agree that it is much more comfortable for them. However, because of the unstable levels of copper in the presence of aragonite, I suck all the sand out before I administer any medications. By this time, it will be slightly stressful for the fish but not as stressful as if there was no sand from the beginning.
 

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Why do you say that? Wouldn't part of the point be to allow for nitrifying bacteria to build up and ghost feed in between to have a constant QT tank running?
Bacterial biofilms will degrade medications so that's the main concern here.
 
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