Marine Velvet and Copper in DT

[Aries360]

Hello everybody, I am new to this thread and excited to be here. (Wish I joined a while ago). Let me tell you all about my story partial success and partial failure. We have a 360 gallon aquarium with lots of rock and no way to get the fish out. For 12 years I’ve never had an issue but I know I was playing with fire. I never quarantined my fish. Never had an issue. My recent addition of Morrish idols and PBTs had a ride hitched of Marine velvet. I’ve always had ICH in there but I just did a big water changed and it would keep it at bay as our fish are very healthy. Or we’re very healthy. Unfortunately before I knew what happened we lost about 50% of our fish. Which was upsetting for me and my wife because we had some of them for over 10 years. Some of the bigger one survived but a lot died. Since then I am currently running copper in my display tank. Before anybody starts yelling at me it is physically impossible to remove all of the fish from a 360 gallon tank. It is a bare bottom tank. So I picked the lesser of two evils and removed all of the coral and I am having a friend watch my Coral in his tank. So now I have just rock and fish. My question is how soon after I am ready to stop running the copper can I put the Coral back in. Also how long should I run the copper For? Obviously I took out whatever inverts I could catch which was not many. And I removed all of the coral I could. I have had the copper in there just over one month. Just did my water change and maintain the same copper level with the copper safe.
New fish list
3 blue hippos
2 Fiji fox faces
2 reg fox faces
2 rabbit fish
2 sailfin tangs
2 maroons
4 perculas
2 skunk clowns
1 queen angel
1 flame angel
1 coral Beauty
2 high hats
1 white tail bristletooth
15 orange anthias
3 yellow tang
1 purple tang
3 leopard wrasse
3 royal gramma
2 Picasso clowns
2 convict tangs
Due to fear of another wipeout there will be not any other fish added to this tank after the copper treatment is done! At some point in a couple months I would like to put the coral and invertebrates back. Also need to know if I should quarantine them as well?

 

[fishguy242]

hi,welcome to the reef
hopefully did not transfer velvet to friends tank on coral...
#fishmedic

 

[LAReefer4Life]

hi,welcome to the reef
hopefully did not transfer velvet to friends tank on coral...
#fishmedic

+1

Inverts and corals are sensitive to copper and it could easily leach out from the rock. You may never be able to add them back into this aquarium unfortunately.

 

[Aries360]

hi,welcome to the reef
hopefully did not transfer velvet to friends tank on coral...
#fishmedic

He has a separate tank for coral only that NEVER has fish. So if I did it doesn’t matter . How long can marine velvet live for? Roughly 2 months? Which is when I plan on bringing back the Coral

 

[Aries360]

Hello everybody, I am new to this thread and excited to be here. (Wish I joined a while ago). Let me tell you all about my story partial success and partial failure. We have a 360 gallon aquarium with lots of rock and no way to get the fish out. For 12 years I’ve never had an issue but I know I was playing with fire. I never quarantined my fish. Never had an issue. My recent addition of Morrish idols and PBTs had a ride hitched of Marine velvet. I’ve always had ICH in there but I just did a big water changed and it would keep it at bay as our fish are very healthy. Or we’re very healthy. Unfortunately before I knew what happened we lost about 50% of our fish. Which was upsetting for me and my wife because we had some of them for over 10 years. Some of the bigger one survived but a lot died. Since then I am currently running copper in my display tank. Before anybody starts yelling at me it is physically impossible to remove all of the fish from a 360 gallon tank. It is a bare bottom tank. So I picked the lesser of two evils and removed all of the coral and I am having a friend watch my Coral in his tank. So now I have just rock and fish. My question is how soon after I am ready to stop running the copper can I put the Coral back in. Also how long should I run the copper For? Obviously I took out whatever inverts I could catch which was not many. And I removed all of the coral I could. I have had the copper in there just over one month. Just did my water change and maintain the same copper level with the copper safe.
New fish list
3 blue hippos
2 Fiji fox faces
2 reg fox faces
2 rabbit fish
2 sailfin tangs
2 maroons
4 perculas
2 skunk clowns
1 queen angel
1 flame angel
1 coral Beauty
2 high hats
1 white tail bristletooth
15 orange anthias
3 yellow tang
1 purple tang
3 leopard wrasse
3 royal gramma
2 Picasso clowns
2 convict tangs
Due to fear of another wipeout there will be not any other fish added to this tank after the copper treatment is done! At some point in a couple months I would like to put the coral and invertebrates back. Also need to know if I should quarantine them as well?

 

[Aries360]

+1

Inverts and corals are sensitive to copper and it could easily leach out from the rock. You may never be able to add them back into this aquarium unfortunately.

I highly doubt ever! Some say two water changes and then coppersorb for two weeks. In regards to inverts. Some of the dang blue legs are still alive shockingly. And yes my copper levels are perfect. I got those rocks from a nasty intercoastal originally I’m sure there were plenty of chemicals in them. maybe not for several months. But I’m sure/hopefully a tiny tiny amount of copper will not change much especially since I do 250 gallon water changes once a month.

 

[MnFish1]

He has a separate tank for coral only that NEVER has fish. So if I did it doesn’t matter . How long can marine velvet live for? Roughly 2 months? Which is when I plan on bringing back the Coral

The problem with copper in the display is that it can be adsorbed onto the rock - and you will likely need multiple water changes - or a lot of cuprisorb or something like that to remove the remaining. There are numerous protocols - but the bottom line you will need a good copper level checker that can accurately measure very low levels - and the levels should basically be 0 for at least a couple weeks IMHO.

This comment won't help you - I'm posting it to educate others who might be in the same situation. Another option is taking out the corals, etc - and using a hypo salinity protocol - which avoids the problems with copper.

 

[MnFish1]

I highly doubt ever! Some say two water changes and then coppersorb for two weeks. In regards to inverts. Some of the dang blue legs are still alive shockingly. And yes my copper levels are perfect. I got those rocks from a nasty intercoastal originally I’m sure there were plenty of chemicals in them. maybe not for several months. But I’m sure/hopefully a tiny tiny amount of copper will not change much especially since I do 250 gallon water changes once a month.

Use a copper test - not guesswork IMHO. Copper levels in the ocean are 0.25 ppb. In tanks doing well - 0-80 ppb. Toxicity to certain corals can be seen as low as 10 ppb. The good news is that some of the copper usually in our tanks is bound to organics - which can make it less toxic - which is why some people have levels that would seem toxic but they don't have problems.

As far as Cuprisorb - goes - yes - in a small tank - you can remove copper rather quickly. You will need a TON of cuprisorb to remove copper from 360 gallons - since it will be being produced (potentially) for some time.

The next sentence I'm sure is going to sound harsh - and it's not meant to be at all. As you yourself admitted, you made a mistake by not QT'ing your fish. Please don't make a second one by re-adding your corals back to your tank too soon - and without confirming consistent low copper levels Best of luck - it looks like a nice tank

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Another option is to trash the rock which is what I would do at this point unless you want to risk losing your corals.

 

[situming123]

I use copper power to deal with ich & velvet. 100% work!! I usually dose 2.8-3ppm(which is high lvl for other brand of product, but this lvl of copper power works fine for those fish on your picture, I have 80% of fishes you are having on the picture). People said I'm crazy to dose this high lvl of copper to treat the fishes, but now I know the reason why is because they are using different brands such as Seachem. It seems like you have no choice and you need to dose copper directly to your DT. It will take 5-7 days to pure the velvet. However, you need some Cuprisorb to pure the copper after the treatment, it takes another week for it to make sure no more copper to kill your corals. Raise your tank temperature to 80 degree and keep it stable.

 

[Aries360]

I use copper power to deal with ich & velvet. 100% work!! I usually dose 2.8-3ppm(which is high lvl for other brand of product, but this lvl of copper power works fine for those fish on your picture, I have 80% of fishes you are having on the picture). People said I'm crazy to dose this high lvl of copper to treat the fishes, but now I know the reason why is because they are using different brands such as Seachem. It seems like you have no choice and you need to dose copper directly to your DT. It will take 5-7 days to pure the velvet. However, you need some Cuprisorb to pure the copper after the treatment, it takes another week for it to make sure no more copper to kill your corals. Raise your tank temperature to 80 degree and keep it stable.

Ok cool , thank you. I have been running Coppersafe at 1.5-2.0. (Per their website) . It will be two months to date in my DT come this weekend. My fish all look immaculate and I have not lost any fish since I have added the copper. I also have added all the fish I desire to add so they can also be treated by the copper. So my question is I guess, I have seen some people say 76 days the tank must be no fish for velvet to run it’s cycle. Is this true with the copper rule or is the two months enough. I am doing my water change next week so deciding wether to do copper a third month or start riding of the copper. And yup I have cuprisorb standing by after the water change? Thank you. My current fish are
Fish 7/16/2022

3 blue hippos

2 Fiji fox faces

2 regular fox faces

2 rabbit fish

2 sailfin tangs

2 maroons

4 perculas

2 skunk clowns

1 queen angel

1 flame angel

1 coral beauty

2 high hats

1 white tail bristletooth

20 orange anthias

3 yellow tangs

1 purple tang

3 leopard wrasse

3 royal gramma

2 Picasso clowns

2 convict tangs

59 fish

 

[situming123]

Ok cool , thank you. I have been running Coppersafe at 1.5-2.0. (Per their website) . It will be two months to date in my DT come this weekend. My fish all look immaculate and I have not lost any fish since I have added the copper. I also have added all the fish I desire to add so they can also be treated by the copper. So my question is I guess, I have seen some people say 76 days the tank must be no fish for velvet to run it’s cycle. Is this true with the copper rule or is the two months enough. I am doing my water change next week so deciding wether to do copper a third month or start riding of the copper. And yup I have cuprisorb standing by after the water change? Thank you. My current fish are
Fish 7/16/2022

3 blue hippos

2 Fiji fox faces

2 regular fox faces

2 rabbit fish

2 sailfin tangs

2 maroons

4 perculas

2 skunk clowns

1 queen angel

1 flame angel

1 coral beauty

2 high hats

1 white tail bristletooth

20 orange anthias

3 yellow tangs

1 purple tang

3 leopard wrasse

3 royal gramma

2 Picasso clowns

2 convict tangs

59 fish

you are doing great with coppersafe. 2.0 is the best number for this product. however, it doesn't really that long term treatment as long as they have no velvet over 3 weeks since all fishes completely out of velvet. you tank is big, so it might takes more time to make sure velvets are pure. they usually be fine within a month. by the way, when u do water change, make sure to check the copper lvl and they suppose to be lower. pure the copper for the rock takes long time. copper is strongly attached on your rock. you need a bit more cuprisorb to pure them if the ppm not going down after water change.

 

[T-J]

I highly doubt ever! Some say two water changes and then coppersorb for two weeks. In regards to inverts. Some of the dang blue legs are still alive shockingly. And yes my copper levels are perfect. I got those rocks from a nasty intercoastal originally I’m sure there were plenty of chemicals in them. maybe not for several months. But I’m sure/hopefully a tiny tiny amount of copper will not change much especially since I do 250 gallon water changes once a month.

Comes here asking when they can put corals back into DT after dosing copper to DT. Gets a proper response from an established member. Basically tells them they're wrong.
Like others have said, not to sound harsh, but if you're just looking for someone to confirm what you want to hear (that you can put stuff into a previously treated DT), you don't need anyone's permission. Just do it. I mean, I wouldn't, but it's your tank.
Best of luck!