Quarantine with Copper Question

[mdobbins]

Hello I am currently treating a new firefish with copper in my quarantine tank before adding her to my DT. I’m doing the copper as a precaution because when I first started this tank (my first) earlier this year. I had a breakout of ick and lost everything, so we’re starting over and quarantining like I should have from the beginning (lesson learned). My question is my copper dropped below 2.0 during the water change process. I was on day 6 of copper, do I really have to start the 14 day clock over again?

 

[Michael Hughes]

Yes, you have to reset the treatment window if copper drops below 2.0. According to Jay's QT protocol on this site, 30 days should be the minimum for proper copper quarantine.

Incidentally, I'll be quarantining a firefish soon too!

Thankfully you caught this early (day 6) instead of having to restart on day 20+.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello I am currently treating a new firefish with copper in my quarantine tank before adding her to my DT. I’m doing the copper as a precaution because when I first started this tank (my first) earlier this year. I had a breakout of ick and lost everything, so we’re starting over and quarantining like I should have from the beginning (lesson learned). My question is my copper dropped below 2.0 during the water change process. I was on day 6 of copper, do I really have to start the 14 day clock over again?

How long was it below 2 ppm and how low did it go? What copper product are you using? The time for the safer chelated copper is 30 days, the harsher ionic copper is 21 days.

 

[mdobbins]

I’m using copper power and it was maybe 30 min to an hour.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I’m using copper power and it was maybe 30 min to an hour.

There is absolutely NOTHING you need to do about that quick of a drop, it happens all the time when doing water changes....

 

[Michael Hughes]

There is absolutely NOTHING you need to do about that quick of a drop, it happens all the time when doing water changes....

For future reference, how long of a drop below 2.0 necessitates resetting the 30 day window?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

For future reference, how long of a drop below 2.0 necessitates resetting the 30 day window?

There is no set rule. I’m just frustrated because this dogma got started out there that “any drop below 2 requires a restart” and that is simply not true.

Any drop less than 24 hours is inconsequential. Drops for two or three days just require an extension of the same amount of time. If the drop is long enough for the disease to start back up, then for sure you need to start over.

 

[Michael Hughes]

There is no set rule. I’m just frustrated because this dogma got started out there that “any drop below 2 requires a restart” and that is simply not true.

Any drop less than 24 hours is inconsequential. Drops for two or three days just require an extension of the same amount of time. If the drop is long enough for the disease to start back up, then for sure you need to start over.

Interesting, thank you. I had heard that dogma before and assumed it was accurate. Appreciate the clarification!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Interesting, thank you. I had heard that dogma before and assumed it was accurate. Appreciate the clarification!

The trouble is, that dogma isn’t wrong - it does work! It’s just that it isn’t necessary in all cases. Also, some people choose to run shorter copper treatments, not the 30 days that I recommend. In those cases, a drop in copper is more dangerous to the process.