Should I start dosing Copper Power?

[harrisgunter]

Included as many pictures as I could because the quality is not the best. Got this purple tang (aquacultured) last Friday (1week ago) from Salty Underground alongside a one spot rabbitfish and blue sided wrasse.

I have them in this bare bottom observation tank (planning to go 2 weeks or so) with no medication currently. They will be going into a 6ft tank.

I’ve had to separate the foxface and tang with egg crate as they constantly fight with each other but have opened it occasionally to see if they will stop.

It started showing signs of stress today with heavy breathing and some observable slime coat issues. Ammonia via Salifert test was 0. Everyone is eating including the Tang who has been nipping on nori. Can’t identify yet what the tang has, if anything. Should I start dosing Copper Power now and continue with the 14 day treatment? Or wait and see if symptoms worsen?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Included as many pictures as I could because the quality is not the best. Got this purple tang (aquacultured) last Friday (1week ago) from Salty Underground alongside a one spot rabbitfish and blue sided wrasse.

I have them in this bare bottom observation tank (planning to go 2 weeks or so) with no medication currently. They will be going into a 6ft tank.

I’ve had to separate the foxface and tang with egg crate as they constantly fight with each other but have opened it occasionally to see if they will stop.

It started showing signs of stress today with heavy breathing and some observable slime coat issues. Ammonia via Salifert test was 0. Everyone is eating including the Tang who has been nipping on nori. Can’t identify yet what the tang has, if anything. Should I start dosing Copper Power now and continue with the 14 day treatment? Or wait and see if symptoms worsen?

With this type of tang, they are prone to ich and would not be a bad idea for 30 days at 2.25ppm monitored with a Hanna brand copper test kit and also monitor ammonia levels with a reliable test kit

 

[harrisgunter]

Included as many pictures as I could because the quality is not the best. Got this purple tang (aquacultured) last Friday (1week ago) from Salty Underground alongside a one spot rabbitfish and blue sided wrasse.

I have them in this bare bottom observation tank (planning to go 2 weeks or so) with no medication currently. They will be going into a 6ft tank.

I’ve had to separate the foxface and tang with egg crate as they constantly fight with each other but have opened it occasionally to see if they will stop.

It started showing signs of stress today with heavy breathing and some observable slime coat issues. Ammonia via Salifert test was 0. Everyone is eating including the Tang who has been nipping on nori. Can’t identify yet what the tang has, if anything. Should I start dosing Copper Power now and continue with the 14 day treatment? Or wait and see if symptoms worsen?

With this type of tang, they are prone to ich and would not be a bad idea for 30 days at 2.25ppm monitored with a Hanna brand copper test kit and also monitor ammonia levels with a reliable test kit

So I would need to go ahead and dose copper for everyone then? They share the same observation tank currently. Is 30 days the recommended time with Copper Power? I read 14 days as long as you maintain therapeutic levels and that starts after the ramp up period of 5-7 days.

I have the Hanna HI702 High Range Copper, Salifert Copper, and a Salifert Ammonia test. Is the Salifert Ammonia test reliable enough? Their Cu test seems to be unreliable at low levels.

 

[helmsreef]

To me it seems like an overall water quality issue, what are you using for bio media? I would ditch the decorative piece as well and replace with some sort of inert media like seachem matrix. Also with the wrasse you will want to ramp up slower than you would normally. I usually target 1.0ppm with copper power for the first day and then .25ppm to .5ppm daily until you reach your target. I have done many wrasses in this method. 14 days would be ok if everything goes perfectly and levels of copper never drop but you are better off going the whole 30 days at therapeutic levels.

 

[harrisgunter]

To me it seems like an overall water quality issue, what are you using for bio media? I would ditch the decorative piece as well and replace with some sort of inert media like seachem matrix. Also with the wrasse you will want to ramp up slower than you would normally. I usually target 1.0ppm with copper power for the first day and then .25ppm to .5ppm daily until you reach your target. I have done many wrasses in this method. 14 days would be ok if everything goes perfectly and levels of copper never drop but you are better off going the whole 30 days at therapeutic levels.

It has a HOB filter with seachem matrix in it currently that was seeded from the display tank but also had therapeutic levels of copper power. That was 6 months ago. I have been ghost feeding since. 2 weeks ago I performed a ~75% water change and ran cuprisorb until copper levels were near undetectable.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So I would need to go ahead and dose copper for everyone then? They share the same observation tank currently. Is 30 days the recommended time with Copper Power? I read 14 days as long as you maintain therapeutic levels and that starts after the ramp up period of 5-7 days.

I have the Hanna HI702 High Range Copper, Salifert Copper, and a Salifert Ammonia test. Is the Salifert Ammonia test reliable enough? Their Cu test seems to be unreliable at low levels.

NOT 14, BASED ON LIFE CYCLE BUT 30 DAYS. Great on ammonia tests. Treat the purple and keep an eye on others. and do not ramp copper but get to level right away as ramping allows a given disease to take hold of the fish

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I would need to go ahead and dose copper for everyone then? They share the same observation tank currently. Is 30 days the recommended time with Copper Power? I read 14 days as long as you maintain therapeutic levels and that starts after the ramp up period of 5-7 days.

I have the Hanna HI702 High Range Copper, Salifert Copper, and a Salifert Ammonia test. Is the Salifert Ammonia test reliable enough? Their Cu test seems to be unreliable at low levels.

Yes - all fish sharing the same water system should be dosed with an amine-chelated copper for 30 days. 14 days is too short, and is very bad advice. The ramp up period needs to be ONE DAY. 5 to 7 days is also horrible advice, your fish are showing symptoms now. If this is velvet, they'll be dead before you reach a full dose.

Use the Hanna HR meter. Add half a calculated dose, let it mix for a few hours, test with the Hanna meter, and add the adjusted second dose to reach 2.25 ppm

Your ammonia level may read 0.5 ppm after dosing, that is normal, it is a bound version. Do NOT add any ammonia removing, that can break that bound, releasing more toxic ionic copper.

 

[harrisgunter]

So I would need to go ahead and dose copper for everyone then? They share the same observation tank currently. Is 30 days the recommended time with Copper Power? I read 14 days as long as you maintain therapeutic levels and that starts after the ramp up period of 5-7 days.

I have the Hanna HI702 High Range Copper, Salifert Copper, and a Salifert Ammonia test. Is the Salifert Ammonia test reliable enough? Their Cu test seems to be unreliable at low levels.

Yes - all fish sharing the same water system should be dosed with an amine-chelated copper for 30 days. 14 days is too short, and is very bad advice. The ramp up period needs to be ONE DAY. 5 to 7 days is also horrible advice, your fish are showing symptoms now. If this is velvet, they'll be dead before you reach a full dose.

Use the Hanna HR meter. Add half a calculated dose, let it mix for a few hours, test with the Hanna meter, and add the adjusted second dose to reach 2.25 ppm

Your ammonia level may read 0.5 ppm after dosing, that is normal, it is a bound version. Do NOT add any ammonia removing, that can break that bound, releasing more toxic ionic copper.

Thanks Jay! Just did the first half dose. As for ammonia, should I just expect anything over 0.5ppm to require an immediate water change? Also what do you recommend for water change process and scheduling while medicating? I assume every few days and match the copper dose before adding? The tank should be cycled, and I added some fluval cycle before putting them in for good measure.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Jay! Just did the first half dose. As for ammonia, should I just expect anything over 0.5ppm to require an immediate water change? Also what do you recommend for water change process and scheduling while medicating? I assume every few days and match the copper dose before adding? The tank should be cycled, and I added some fluval cycle before putting them in for good measure.

So - tracking ammonia is tough to do when dosing these amine-chelated products. What I do is sort of "subtract" the first 0.5 ppm, so I would not become concerned until the tested ammonia level reaches 1 ppm. However, you do need to know if your test kit reads total ammonia and not just the un-ionized (like I think the SeaChem badge does).