I have Ich! Will work for eradication!

[anabechara]

Hi guys!

So, it turns out that I have ich in my tank. (Shocker!) Sadly my Royal Gramma, Princess Maria Violeta, died cause she used to hide a lot and when she came out it was just too late for her. Currently there is only one more fish showing some dots on one side. All the fish are eating great (including the one with the dots) and they don't seem to be in distress.
I have decided to go down the eradication path.

So here is my plan:

Treat all my 5 fish with Seachem Cupramine at 2ppm for 30 days. Then remove the copper and observe.

I will then keep them in the hospital until the fallow period of 76 days is completed in my DT.

I set up a 10Gallon tank with a HOB filter, a heater, an air stone and some PVC tubes for hiding. It is bare bottom. I also added a bag of established media from my display tank. The ammonia alert badge is on the way.

I added 20 drops of the cupramine as instructed in the bottle and will start testing tomorrow.

I have read many threads here, including one article from HumbleFish. And I still have some questions...

1.How often do I need to do the water changes? And what percentage of water?
2. How much cupramine I need to add every time I change the water to avoid going under therapeutic level?
3. I have seen a lot of threads using a different brand of copper. Should I switch to a different brand?
4. How often should I test the copper level? (I bought a hanna kit)
5. Since I am going to do the effort of the long and difficult treatment, I would like to try to treat prophylactically for whatever else I can while all the fish are in the hospital after the month of copper. What else should I use to eradicate Brook and anything else that we can get rid of?
6. What would be a good brand for supplementing Omega 3 for my fishies?
7. And lastly, how on earth do you catch a midas blenny to transfer him to the hospital? For the life of me, I am very close to just taking down the tank and he is just impossible to catch!!! Any tips on that would be great as well!

Thank you so much for any and all the help!
@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 @Sharkbait19

 

[HankstankXXL750]

I don’t have all the answers, but think there is a thread in a sticky at the top of the treatment forum. But, the Midas blenny, does he back into a hole in the rock? And is it one you can get out? I moved a rock from my reef to my predator tank, and my midday hitchhiked. My wife and I watched for him, and when we saw him back into a hole, I covered it with my hand and pulled the rock. Put it in a bucket, or set it on a towel and let him come out.

Test copper at least daily.

Watch your ammonia, make sure the copper doesn’t kill off your bacteria. If it is you will have to change water more frequently. For the water change, I have two 5 gallon buckets that I measured and marked at 3 gallons for an out of tank treatment once. Determine how much your going to change each time, and mark two buckets accordingly, one to drain and one to refill. Determine how many drops to get to your target level of copper by testing. Then add that many drops each time you do a water change.

I bought copper power as it seems to be the consensus that it is the safer and easier one to use on here. However I wouldn’t wait to start treating so unless you can get it locally, I would use what you have.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi, here are my answers:

1.How often do I need to do the water changes? And what percentage of water? You just need to manage the ammonia level to be near zero. If you can do that through beneficial bacterial, you may only need to do one or two water changes during the process.
2. How much cupramine I need to add every time I change the water to avoid going under therapeutic level? You just redose the volume of water you are changing. So, if you change 5 gallons of water, you add just enough copper to dose 5 gallons.
3. I have seen a lot of threads using a different brand of copper. Should I switch to a different brand? Cupramine seems to be a bit harsher and also cannot be used with ammonia removers. I prefer to use coppersafe, but copper power is also good.
4. How often should I test the copper level? (I bought a hanna kit) With cupramine, probably daily, with coppersafe, unless your tank has calcium rock in it, you may only need to test a couple of times, once you get the dose dialed in.
5. Since I am going to do the effort of the long and difficult treatment, I would like to try to treat prophylactically for whatever else I can while all the fish are in the hospital after the month of copper. What else should I use to eradicate Brook and anything else that we can get rid of? Typically, people also dose with prazipro for flukes.
6. What would be a good brand for supplementing Omega 3 for my fishies? People say Selcon, but a good variety of prepared and fresh foods works just fine.
7. And lastly, how on earth do you catch a midas blenny to transfer him to the hospital? For the life of me, I am very close to just taking down the tank and he is just impossible to catch!!! Any tips on that would be great as well! People try fish traps, try catching them at night, but it is still difficult.

Jay

 

[threebuoys]

I notice you said you would treat with cupramine at 2.0 ppm. Please note that the dose for cupramine is 0.50 ppm. If you follow the instructions on the cupramine bottle you should achieve this dosage. You will still need to test as Jay indicated to avoid a copper level that is too low or too high.

Dosage for Coppersafe or Copper Power is 2.50 ppm.

 

[Rmckoy]

Looks like jay answered all
The questions and the one thing I was going to comment was water changes large enough and as frequent to keep ammonia at a safe level
If you were able to transfer enough nitrifying bacteria with media from the dt you might see a slight ammonia spike just keep an eye on it . I’d personally not put all my trust in a badge but test with a reliable test to be sure it’s safe .

foe aminos we are unable to get selcon in Canada and but I was able to find vita-Chem which I assume is similar

Good luck and hope everything goes well .

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys!

So, it turns out that I have ich in my tank. (Shocker!) Sadly my Royal Gramma, Princess Maria Violeta, died cause she used to hide a lot and when she came out it was just too late for her. Currently there is only one more fish showing some dots on one side. All the fish are eating great (including the one with the dots) and they don't seem to be in distress.
I have decided to go down the eradication path.

So here is my plan:

Treat all my 5 fish with Seachem Cupramine at 2ppm for 30 days. Then remove the copper and observe.

I will then keep them in the hospital until the fallow period of 76 days is completed in my DT.

I set up a 10Gallon tank with a HOB filter, a heater, an air stone and some PVC tubes for hiding. It is bare bottom. I also added a bag of established media from my display tank. The ammonia alert badge is on the way.

I added 20 drops of the cupramine as instructed in the bottle and will start testing tomorrow.

I have read many threads here, including one article from HumbleFish. And I still have some questions...

1.How often do I need to do the water changes? And what percentage of water?
2. How much cupramine I need to add every time I change the water to avoid going under therapeutic level?
3. I have seen a lot of threads using a different brand of copper. Should I switch to a different brand?
4. How often should I test the copper level? (I bought a hanna kit)
5. Since I am going to do the effort of the long and difficult treatment, I would like to try to treat prophylactically for whatever else I can while all the fish are in the hospital after the month of copper. What else should I use to eradicate Brook and anything else that we can get rid of?
6. What would be a good brand for supplementing Omega 3 for my fishies?
7. And lastly, how on earth do you catch a midas blenny to transfer him to the hospital? For the life of me, I am very close to just taking down the tank and he is just impossible to catch!!! Any tips on that would be great as well!

Thank you so much for any and all the help!
@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 @Sharkbait19

Jay has the answers covered. One thing to clarify, Cupramine level is .5 not 2.0 which would be the minimum for Coppersafe and copper power which best at 2.25-2.5 and monitor with a reliable test kit such as Hanna brand- No API

 

[kbnh]

How big are your fish? 5 in a 10 gal seems a bit small no? Unless they’re all small?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I notice you said you would treat with cupramine at 2.0 ppm. Please note that the dose for cupramine is 0.50 ppm. If you follow the instructions on the cupramine bottle you should achieve this dosage. You will still need to test as Jay indicated to avoid a copper level that is too low or too high.

Dosage for Coppersafe or Copper Power is 2.50 ppm.

Good catch! Cupramine at 2 will be toxic!

Jay

 

[anabechara]

I don’t have all the answers, but think there is a thread in a sticky at the top of the treatment forum. But, the Midas blenny, does he back into a hole in the rock? And is it one you can get out? I moved a rock from my reef to my predator tank, and my midday hitchhiked. My wife and I watched for him, and when we saw him back into a hole, I covered it with my hand and pulled the rock. Put it in a bucket, or set it on a towel and let him come out.

Test copper at least daily.

Watch your ammonia, make sure the copper doesn’t kill off your bacteria. If it is you will have to change water more frequently. For the water change, I have two 5 gallon buckets that I measured and marked at 3 gallons for an out of tank treatment once. Determine how much your going to change each time, and mark two buckets accordingly, one to drain and one to refill. Determine how many drops to get to your target level of copper by testing. Then add that many drops each time you do a water change.

I bought copper power as it seems to be the consensus that it is the safer and easier one to use on here. However I wouldn’t wait to start treating so unless you can get it locally, I would use what you have.

Thank you!
My blenny is hiding in a hole in the big arch... so impossible to take out the rock. I have put out a trap but I believe that after all the chasing yesterday he is still very scared... I will wait for him to feel more calm... he came put and he looks okay (no white dots and breathing normal)
I will test daily for copper and ammonia.

 

[anabechara]

Looks like jay answered all
The questions and the one thing I was going to comment was water changes large enough and as frequent to keep ammonia at a safe level
If you were able to transfer enough nitrifying bacteria with media from the dt you might see a slight ammonia spike just keep an eye on it . I’d personally not put all my trust in a badge but test with a reliable test to be sure it’s safe .

foe aminos we are unable to get selcon in Canada and but I was able to find vita-Chem which I assume is similar

Good luck and hope everything goes well .

Thank you! I have a hanna tester for ammonia as well. I will use that. I know the badge can be unreliable, but for something extra I will keep it anyway.

 

[anabechara]

How big are your fish? 5 in a 10 gal seems a bit small no? Unless they’re all small?

I have 5 fish that are juvenile. The hawkfish and blenny are about 2.5 inches and the clowns and banggai are about 1.5-2 inches.
I know it is not ideal to have a 10G but I don't have the capability for a larger tank in infrastructure, budget or time. So the 10G will have to do...
Thank you!

 

[anabechara]

Thank you so much for your thorough reply.

I have started doing the copper and tested it today it was 0.38.

I haven't had a chance to catch the blenny yet... I put a makeshift trap with food in my tank and see if he ventures in...

The tank has no rocks in it. Once the level of copper is at goal, do I need to test daily even if I don't change the water that day?

and also, when would I dose Prazipro? I am guessing once the copper month is completed?

Thank you!!

 

[josvanmeer]

one fish; let alone 5; in a 10gal qt tank, you are going to be changing water daily. I would be more worried about ammonia than copper levels at that point. High chance of a fish dying by trying to quarantine like this. I would just live with the ich to be honest, way easier since its not even a disease worth qt'ing for in my opinion. Just feed your fish well and they will all live with it.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I don’t have much to say that hasn’t been already said, other than follow Jay’s advice.
Keep a close eye one ammonia in the qt. I’d move a lot of media from the dt over to ensure there’s enough bacteria.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have 5 fish that are juvenile. The hawkfish and blenny are about 2.5 inches and the clowns and banggai are about 1.5-2 inches.
I know it is not ideal to have a 10G but I don't have the capability for a larger tank in infrastructure, budget or time. So the 10G will have to do...
Thank you!

I missed that in the first read of your post. You need to be REALLY careful using a 10 gallon for a QT. Ammonia can build up much faster than you might imagine - 1 ppm in a day is likely, unless the tank has a very good bio filter.

Jay

 

[anabechara]

I missed that in the first read of your post. You need to be REALLY careful using a 10 gallon for a QT. Ammonia can build up much faster than you might imagine - 1 ppm in a day is likely, unless the tank has a very good bio filter.

Jay

Thank you!
I am checking daily the ammonia level with a hanna tester. The API kit gives bad feelings... and so far so good. I have a bucket of water ready to go in case there is a spike in ammonia.
The tank has a good amount of biomedia already established, so hopefully that helps.
But I will keep checking daily.

 

[anabechara]

Little update:
I caught the blenny! Now all fish are in the hospital.
The cupramine level is therapeutic and the ammonia level is zero.
All fish are eating like the piggies they are. And all fish are breathing nice and slow. They have all claimed a little spot in the 10G tank. The clown that showed the firsts signs of ich looks a tiny bit better.
So, so far it is a good update. I will try to keep updating this, so that others can know what happened in the future.
(I have found many threads that have no end to them and you just don't know if the fish lived or died)
Thank you @Jay Hemdal for your help!!!

 

[anabechara]

Update:
So... unfortunately I ran out of salt (do to the holidays, shipping delays with weather, my lfs running out of supplies) and without water on hand, my ammonia started creeping up in the hospital tank and I had to make the fast decision to just transfer the fish to the display tank... I was able to complete 2 weeks of copper at therapeutic levels. The clown that was sick got better and no other fish developed signs of ich. So far they are doing well without any signs of disease.
I have bought better food for my fish and will try my best to keep their stress under control.
I am already thinking about buying a bigger tank for a better hospital tank for whenever it is needed...
In any case, I wanted to thank everyone for their help and wish you all a Happy New Year!