Need clarification about copper use in DT for Brook

[KarenG]

I am fairly new so please bear with me. I have an all in one 32 gallon tank. Two weeks ago one of my clowns showed signs of Brooke. I was unable to quarantine my other clown and cardinal because my quarantine tank had two new clowns that my son was going to take to college. I went to the LFS ( where I have bought all of fish and aquarium items) and they suggested fresh water dips and using cupramine in the tank And to take out my carbon, all the snails, crabs and starfish. I did and then I dosed twice. I lost one clown and the second began showing signs but cleared up and is now eating and acting like his happy self.
I took a water sample for the LFS to test on Friday, it read .5 with copper. They suggested putting the carbon back in and wait a few more weeks and then test again.
I have been trying to learn more about this process, but I am now worried about the rock and sand in my tank. Will they always have copper in it now?
so stressed! I will never dose DT again if at all possible- I may need to set up 2 quarantine tanks!

any suggestions or words of advise on how to get back on the right track would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

[Gareth elliott]

Copper will not treat brook if thats what you are dealing with.

but to remove copper takes a very long time. It binds to rocks and sand, a lot of cuprasorb, carbon poly filter, etc over a long period of time.

 

[Old Fritz]

Okay so there are a few problems. 1) copper doesn't treat Brook meaning if it was Brook it just killed the one fish and Brook isn't super infectious like ich or velvet, or it was velvet mislabeled as Brook (they can have similarish symptoms) 2) I wouldn't add your inverts for a while and I would keep running carbon long after you add them in as sand and rock will keep leaching out copper into the water. I've noticed some inverts can handle low levels of copper but it isn't a guarantee. It would've been better to just buy 2 10 gallon tank and treat in that if it was Brook.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

It sounds like your lfs gave you some horrible advice I’m afraid. Never dose copper in your DT.
Like Gareth said, it will bind to your rock and sand and will take a long time to leach out.
You might test zero down the line but a sudden drop in PH could potentially make the rock release more previously bound copper.

This is probably not what you want to hear but I would personally remove the rock/sand and reboot the tank rather than trying to deal with the consequences and uncertainty if you want to keep inverts.

I’m so sorry for your situation.

 

[KarenG]

Copper will not treat brook if thats what you are dealing with.

but to remove copper takes a very long time. It binds to rocks and sand, a lot of cuprasorb, carbon poly filter, etc over a long period of time.

Thank you for your help. They commented about 6 weeks but I am not sure I can believe what they say. Would you begin using the cuprasorb now or wait until the number drops?

Also, do you think it is better to leave the lone clownfish or try to introduce another one asa partner when the tank is clear?

 

[Old Fritz]

Thank you for your help. They commented about 6 weeks but I am not sure I can believe what they say. Would you begin using the cuprasorb now or wait until the number drops?

Also, do you think it is better to leave the lone clownfish or try to introduce another one asa partner when the tank is clear?

It's hard to say because if it was Brook adding a clownfish will stress it and likely catch it since copper won't eradicate it. If it was another disease like ich or velvet then you would want to just run the full copper treatment for 2 weeks to a month but you should do this in qt with every fish you get

 

[KarenG]

It sounds like your lfs gave you some horrible advice I’m afraid. Never dose copper in your DT.
Like Gareth said, it will bind to your rock and sand and will take a long time to leach out.
You might test zero down the line but a sudden drop in PH could potentially make the rock release more previously bound copper.

This is probably not what you want to hear but I would personally remove the rock/sand and reboot the tank rather than trying to deal with the consequences and uncertainty if you want to keep inverts.

I’m so sorry for your situation.

Is there a way to clean the rock. I read on a post about dipping it . Sorry for all the questions, I am reading and hearing lots of differently ways to handle this.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Id let the chemical media do its thing, water changes could speed it up possibly but might get really expensive, say you get box of io for $50, thats only 5 100% water changes for your volume. Give or take.

How To Remove Copper From DT

First of all, best practice is to NEVER dose copper in a display tank, and to use a quarantine tank. It is much easier and safer. Copper in a DT can heavily dampen your nitrogen cycle in your tank, and will leach in to your rock, substrate, and equipment. As a result, the amount of copper...

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