After Copper

CoralFan1776 · Aug 24, 2018

I'm treating fish for velvet. There may have also been ick involved as well...
See this thread for more details.

I have another 3 days until my fish have been at therapeutic levels for 30 days.
They will stay in the quarantine tank until the display tank has been fallow for 76 days which is more than a month away yet.

My plan was to just not add copper to the water changes at the 30 day point and just let the copper levels drop down to nothing due to water changes. I was going to do several in a row because the yellow tang has not been eating well and I'm afraid it's the copper.
But I just read a thread advocating drying the tank out for 24 hours or more after the 30 days in copper to reduce the risk of reinfecting the QT tank which implies that 30 days isn't really long enough?
Is 30 days in copper long enough?

BTW if it matters...I have two live rocks that were pulled from the display tank for biological filtration in the QT tank. I did this as it was the fastest way of getting the QT tank setup and the fish in copper as quick as possible. The copper level was brought up over about 48-60 hours. I thought I was at the proper level based on an API test kit at the 48 hour mark but added more copper about 12 hours later after reading about the proper way to read the test kit...
I add this as the risk may be increased because of the presence of live rock?

Thanks.

Big G · Aug 24, 2018

The API Copper Test Kit is notoriously inaccurate. Do yourself a favor and get a Hanna HL Copper Checker. This is from a previous post:

"Highly recommend the use of Copper Power. The strength and dosage is right on the money. And if you add in a Hanna HL Copper Checker, you are all set. The thing is awesome. Had a wrasse in QT with copper and was using the API test kit. Color looked good on the test kit, so I thought ok. But the wrasse stopped eating and was swimming a bit off. My new Hanna HL Copper Checker came in the mail. Used it and truth was the fish was over dosed at 2.80 ppm. Did a few water changes and used the Hanna. You could see the copper level dropping. Settled on 1.75 ppm. The wrasse started eating and swimming normally within a few hours. It's currently happy and healthy in my DT. Highly recommend the Hanna HL Copper Checker.

"

You want to remove the copper after 30 days and observe the fish to make sure the parasites are gone. There have been cases of copper resistant parasites and or hobbyist errors that did not clear up the problem. Observation is the key. 7-10 days minimum.

joec · Aug 24, 2018

Do water changes and buy PolyFilter pads , add pad to HOB, and it will remove copper fairly quickly

CoralFan1776 · Aug 24, 2018

Big G said:
The API Copper Test Kit is notoriously inaccurate. Do yourself a favor and get a Hanna HL Copper Checker. This is from a previous post:

"Highly recommend the use of Copper Power. The strength and dosage is right on the money. And if you add in a Hanna HL Copper Checker, you are all set. The thing is awesome. Had a wrasse in QT with copper and was using the API test kit. Color looked good on the test kit, so I thought ok. But the wrasse stopped eating and was swimming a bit off. My new Hanna HL Copper Checker came in the mail. Used it and truth was the fish was over dosed at 2.80 ppm. Did a few water changes and used the Hanna. You could see the copper level dropping. Settled on 1.75 ppm. The wrasse started eating and swimming normally within a few hours. It's currently happy and healthy in my DT. Highly recommend the Hanna HL Copper Checker. "

You want to remove the copper after 30 days and observe the fish to make sure the parasites are gone. There have been cases of copper resistant parasites and or hobbyist errors that did not clear up the problem. Observation is the key. 7-10 days minimum.

Thanks for the response.
I'm sorry I put that piece about the API test kit as an explanation for the 48-60 hours piece. I should have added that I have since gotten a Hanna checker.
I ordered the Hanna copper checker on the first day but it took nearly a week to get to me so I had to use the API until it arrived.
I have been using the Hanna checker since to maintain the levels and yes I agree it is definitely the way to go.

I bet the copper resistant parasites is the answer I was looking for. That would explain why it was recommended to dry out the QT tank before setting it back up again.
So if the copper is going to kill the parasites, it will have done all it's going to do in 30 days...
So my plan is still fine and with observation that no other symptoms present, I should be good to go.

Thanks.