Therapeutic Cupramine level these days?

[Shilpan Patel]

Hey guys! Got a hippo blue tang and a Midas blenny in quarantine. They’ve spent 30 days in NZ quarantine, then 24days at the LFS waiting to be bought and then I bought them 2 weeks ago. I observed them for a week and now I’ve started therapeutic cupramine (sorry I know copper safe better but we don’t have it here). I got it up to 0.5-0.6 four days ago. Fish are fine and eating. I’ve been keeping it around 0.6. Did an emergency 10% water change now because despite putting a 3 month old filter sponge from my sump into the QT I still had a small rise in ammonia (0.02 on the SeaChem alert, green colour). After WC i must’ve calculated something wrong because cupramine level dropped to 0.48 (Hanna checker).
My plan is to do 14 days at therapeutic cupramine and then move the fish to one more QT for a final week observation before my DT.

So now I’ve gone below copper 0.5 do I have to restart my countdown again? Or is a therapeutic range actually like 0.4-0.5?

 

[Reef Psychology]

I wouldn't trust the test much. I think those things only test total ammonia like most do, so it's probably going to test high due to cupramine being attached to ammonia. You have to use the SeaChem Ammonia test kit which measures free ammonia, not total. You're probably fine. I wouldn't worry too much about a couple of days either, but there's no harm resetting the timer.

 

[Dierks]

So now I’ve gone below copper 0.5 do I have to restart my countdown again?

at .48 nope you are all good, do not let it get below .4 or you should start over.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Thank you very Much team! Yeah the Tang is eating fine at 0.60 so I’ll just keep it there to give me some buffer. Brilliant thank you so much team.

I’m just gonna restart the timer haha…been down the “didn’t quarantine properly and didn’t wait long enough” road before 5 years ago and that wasn’t pretty. Will not be repeating that again haha…

 

[threebuoys]

Certainly, .48 is within the accuracy range of the Hanna checker, so no problem there. Since you already have the fish in QT, I encourage you to continue the treatment for the full 30 days recommended by our protocol. Two more weeks is a small price to pay for added peace of mind.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I typically run Cupramine for a minimum of 21 days. Dropping to 0.48 isn't an issue in terms of affecting the treatment timeline. Although these fish were quarantined, the two weeks they spent at the LFS reset that status to "non-quarantined" by virtue of being mixed in with other fish there.

Remember that copper is effective against protozoans, but there are other disease issues to guard against. notably flukes. Neither of these fish are super prone to flukes, but they still benefit from a praziquantel treatment - two treatments, 8 or 9 days apart.

Watch your midas blenny, be sure you feed it multiple times a day:

Skinny Blenny issue

Skinny blennies: Midas blennies are much more difficult to maintain than their common presence in the pet trade would have you believe. They are very prone to starvation. It is unknown if this is due to not feeding them often enough, not feeding enough, feeding the wrong foods, or if internal...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Thank you Jay! If Ich stays on fish for 7 days, why run for 21? Or is it because you are treating something else too? Or just extra length to be safe in case the ich is an outlier.

ok I’ve just realized my LFS does sell praziquantel so I’ll do that treatment once I move the fish to the second QT after the cupramine is finished.

oh yup I’ve only been feeding the blenny once a day. I’ll feed it more thanks for the link. The blenny is very very hungry when I go and feed it. Clearly needs to be fed more.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you Jay! If Ich stays on fish for 7 days, why run for 21? Or is it because you are treating something else too? Or just extra length to be safe in case the ich is an outlier.

ok I’ve just realized my LFS does sell praziquantel so I’ll do that treatment once I move the fish to the second QT after the cupramine is finished.

oh yup I’ve only been feeding the blenny once a day. I’ll feed it more thanks for the link. The blenny is very very hungry when I go and feed it. Clearly needs to be fed more.

No medication is 100% effective. You need multiple exposures of the theront stages of ich on different days to ensure they are all killed. Also, the tomont (resting) stage is not affected by copper, so if you stop copper too soon, these can still release theronts that in turn reinfect the fish.

If you want to go less than 21 days (and 30 is safer!) you need to move the fish out after 14 days, but while they are still in full copper. Move them to a "clean" tank so any tomonts remain behind. Do this only if you have a really compelling reason to rush things though......

Jay