Ich emergency!! Help with medication please!!!!

[4FordFamily]

And another question, can I or should I run hypo while I run copper? Or just normal salinity? And what should I run the temp at as well?

No do not do both at the same time. For one, copper kills ich more reliably than hypo, and two this is redundant and may well kill your fish.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I'll be using at least a 50 gal tub or larger with 5 fish... 4 of them are large (7-8inches) and one is a small clown. So how does that look for spike time ? If that's even something we can estimate

I didn't realize you were using a 50 gallon tub. You will have some time then...maybe even more than 4-5 days given the volume

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

And another question, can I or should I run hypo while I run copper? Or just normal salinity? And what should I run the temp at as well?

Pick one. I would do copper since copper is effective against both ich and velvet. Hyposalinity only helps with ich.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

I didn't realize you were using a 50 gallon tub. You will have some time then...maybe even more than 4-5 days given the volume

Yeah, due to how large my fish are I want them to have a little bit of room . And awesome !!! That makes me happy to know

 

[Humblefish]

^^ All good advice given above.

 

[JamesP]

Seachem makes a product called Cupramine which is an ionic copper that can be removed from the DT even if it has rock and sand. It does leech back out for a few weeks, but soon becomes undetectable with my Salifert test kit. I did large water changes and ran GAC to pull it out. I did not run their expensive Cuprisorb media at all as it is not much better than GAC but costs a lot more. I wouldn't do it unless you need to, but it can absolutely be done in a DT if you are very careful. It also killed all of the aiptasia I had since i was not following any quarantine process out of ignorance for quite some time and aiptasia found its way in.

I kept my levels at 0.5ppm for 6 weeks after they stabilized. There was a period of a week at the beginning when I had to make additions to maintain 0.5ppm because of rock and sand absorption, but it tapered off and I only needed to add very small amounts after that. I saw ich for 3-4 weeks as the lifecycles continued and copper killed most of each cycle. After 4 weeks it was visibly ich free, but I kept going until 6 weeks at 0.5ppm with daily testing before starting the removal process. It takes a few weeks to pull out the copper, but you will have plenty of time since you need to fallow your corals anyway in a QT for 72+ days. I go 90 days to be safe now. I tested daily the entire time which was roughly 50 tests in a row.

It takes dedication and patience, but it can be done if the situation calls for it. I'm not saying you should do it, just that it can be done and does not ruin everything you own despite what people may tell you. Just make sure it is ionic copper like Cupramine. Chaelated copper is the stuff that you cant get out and should never be added to a DT, but it is much easier to maintain levels. The positive of ionic copper is that it can be easily removed. The negative of ionic copper is also that it can be easily removed.

 

[Sistawolf]

Getting a lot of good advice.. and I'm speaking for myself... I have been where you are.. I could not have a tank today without the help of everyone on this forum.. last but not least.. LISTEN TO @Humblefish and @melypr1985 @4FordFamily ... If you want to save these fish.. regardless if they are telling you what to do themselves or that someone is giving you great advice.. THESE GUYS ABSOLUTELY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT! Good luck and please keep us updated..

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

Getting a lot of good advice.. and I'm speaking for myself... I have been where you are.. I could not have a tank today without the help of everyone on this forum.. last but not least.. LISTEN TO @Humblefish and @melypr1985 @4FordFamily ... If you want to save these fish.. regardless if they are telling you what to do themselves or that someone is giving you great advice.. THESE GUYS ABSOLUTELY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT! Good luck and please keep us updated..

Will do! Thank you

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

^^ All good advice given above.

So I set up my QT last night. 50 gal Rubbermaid tub long. I have a circulation pump as well as a homemade hang on the back filter with pads and bio ceramic. Mixed up salt last night and put a heater in too. By the time I get home after work tonight it will be 24 hours the salt has been mixed and I will transfer the fish.
I have not added the copper yet, I will when I get home this evening. May I add my fish right after ? Or should I wait an hour or few hours after adding the Copper?
Also the kole tang had a small abrasion/scrape on his side. Noticing major at all, but will the transfer into the copper QT be bad for him? Or have negative effects on his wound ?
And last question , still having trouble feeding. Next thing I was going to try will be tying a piece of nori on a rock and putting it in the QT. Will that be ok? A piece of my live rock (that I will not return to the tank) put into the QT for hiding and feeding ? Or will that cause spikes ?

 

[Humblefish]

@Jonathan blackwood You want to add the fish first and then slowly ramp the copper level up over a 4-5 day period. This is assuming, of course, that your fish are infected with ich and not velvet. If they had the latter, I would expect there to be casualties by now.

It sounds like your tang may be developing a secondary infection from the parasites; can you post a photo of him showing the abrasion?

A very small piece of LR in QT will be fine.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

@Jonathan blackwood You want to add the fish first and then slowly ramp the copper level up over a 4-5 day period. This is assuming, of course, that your fish are infected with ich and not velvet. If they had the latter, I would expect there to be casualties by now.

It sounds like your tang may be developing a secondary infection from the parasites; can you post a photo of him showing the abrasion?

A very small piece of LR in QT will be fine.

Will do when I get home tonight. I'll try and get a pic. He might be a little stressed n ticked. But I'll get one lol and yes, I'm sure it's ich. And I hope the cut will heal on its own. If not, will I need vitamins or meds?

 

[Humblefish]

And I hope the cut will heal on its own. If not, will I need vitamins or meds?

You can start off by soaking vitamins in his food, but if it starts looking worse then you'll need to dose antibiotics in conjunction with copper.

 

[stevieduk]

Emergency ich help!!! Please! So I've bought a few fish in the last few days and now I've noticed 2 of my fish have ich. I've been treating with "herbtana" and it's not working. So I've decided to use the last alternative "COPPER". It's going to be a fish only tank. My concern is, since I've used the organic medicine herbtana, can I or should I not combine the two. Copper and herbtana. I'm guessing it will become toxic and kill my fish. If I do a water change and use carbon, will that pull out the herbtana and make it safe to use copper? Or how long do I have to wait to use copper ...??? But I don't wanna wait too long for the ich to worsen please help. I cannot catch the fish to QT either.

stick with the herbtana, thats all i ever use. dose it at the same time everyday for 2 weeks, and it will work

 

[stevieduk]

Are there many (too many to count easily)?

Also herbtana doesn't do anything at all, unfortunately.

Herbtana always works if you use it correctly to the instructions

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

@Jonathan blackwood You want to add the fish first and then slowly ramp the copper level up over a 4-5 day period. This is assuming, of course, that your fish are infected with ich and not velvet. If they had the latter, I would expect there to be casualties by now.

It sounds like your tang may be developing a secondary infection from the parasites; can you post a photo of him showing the abrasion?

A very small piece of LR in QT will be fine.

Here is the copper I'll be using picture compliments to the gf lol

 

[JamesP]

Just be aware that it is chaelated copper. Easiest to use and would be fitting for a qt that will never see inverts. Just make sure everything in the qt is for fish only as it cannot be pulled out like ionic copper. I would recommend the salifert copper test kit as well. Dont add anything unless you have a test kit first.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

According to the directions, how much should I dose/ramp up in the next few days ? 50gal tank I'm using just for fish, nothing else will be in there. I have not added any copper yet
Humblefish

 

[Sistawolf]

This is what I would use.. but with a sechem copper test.. as it's the only test that will give you proper levels..

 

[JamesP]

I know the API test kit wont work with cupramine and obviously the seachem kit does work. I didnt compare the results side by side with the others but i followed the advice of others and used it with salifert with no issues. Im sure the safest bet is to use the seachem test kit.

Cupramine is great stuff though. Its also more gentle on scaleless fish such as mandarins and blennies. Get a seachem amonia alert too as copper messes with most amonia kits as well but the amonia alert seems to work well.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

This is what I would use.. but with a sechem copper test.. as it's the only test that will give you proper levels..

I'll just be using the copper I've already purchased. But what test kit should I use for the copper I have ???