Should I carry on with copper treatment

Jmilt444 · Sep 24, 2020

Hi so my fish are currently in a hospital tank for ich and I’ve been using cuprazin for the past 4 days they all seem a lot better and are eating and generally healthy- is it too soon to stop the treatment as I don’t want to stress the fish more than I should be? 2 tangs and 2 clownfish I’ve read tangs are very sensitive to copper this is the reason I ask, so basically my question is if I stopped dosing now would this have an effect on the results? Can’t seem the find the solution online anywhere so thought I would ask on here!
Cheers

Jay Hemdal · Sep 24, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

My problem is that Cuprazin is a UK/European product that I haven't used. I presume it is organically chelated copper, but I'd hate to guess on that. Do you use a test kit to monitor the proper levels, or is it just dosed by volume?

Tangs are not particularly sensitive to copper products like Cupramine, Copper Power and Coppersafe. I generally keep the fish in copper for a minimum of two week, and usually I'll opt to run it for a full 30 days.

Jay

Jmilt444 · Sep 24, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef!

My problem is that Cuprazin is a UK/European product that I haven't used. I presume it is organically chelated copper, but I'd hate to guess on that. Do you use a test kit to monitor the proper levels, or is it just dosed by volume?

Tangs are not particularly sensitive to copper products like Cupramine, Copper Power and Coppersafe. I generally keep the fish in copper for a minimum of two week, and usually I'll opt to run it for a full 30 days.

Jay

Hi thanks 4 reply yeah it’s chelated copper & a mixture of malachite green/ formaldehyne & ok thanks I guess I’ll leave them alone then!

Jmilt444 · Sep 24, 2020

Jmilt444 said:
Hi thanks 4 reply yeah it’s chelated copper & a mixture of malachite green/ formaldehyne & ok thanks I guess I’ll leave them alone then!

& yeah I test via sechem- But u can also dose by volume according to the bottle! Thanks again

Jay Hemdal · Sep 24, 2020

Malachite green is tricky - it can act as a cumulative poison. Years ago, I dosed it at a known safe level. I then performed partial water changes and re-dosed a proportional amount. Did that 3 times and then killed all of the fish - despite the fact that the concentration of malachite green in the water never exceeded the normal dose.

Jay

Jmilt444 · Sep 24, 2020

Wow, I was thinking of switching to cupramine before but that has some sold. I will transfer fish to sterile tank and re start medication with cupramine as it seems to be far safer than cuprazin (from what I have read atleast) Once again thanks for the heads up.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 24, 2020

Jmilt444 said:
Wow, I was thinking of switching to cupramine before but that has some sold. I will transfer fish to sterile tank and re start medication with cupramine as it seems to be far safer than cuprazin (from what I have read atleast) Once again thanks for the heads up.

When you say move to a sterile tank, do you have a good way to manage the ammonia? I’d hate for you to go from the frying into the fire!
Jay