Blue tang has bad white spots

[Humblefish]

So do I still need to keep the concentration 1.5-2.0 for 30 days ?

Yes

What I don't understand is how can this product be sold if the instructions aren't correct e.g. You need a certain brand of test kit to use it etc ?
They also state 10 day treatment

There is no regulatory body which monitors/enforces the accuracy of fish medication labels. They don't even enjoy the same protections as dogs & cats, so mfgs can pretty much make any claim they want.

 

[Empress]

Hi guys. Sorry to interrupt, but I just bought an API copper test kit and it didn't come with directions.

I got the color chart and it shows the picture of the vial but it's hard to tell if I'm supposed to look down it or thru it.

Do I look down the vial or through the vial? Thanks as always. [emoji846]

And hoping your fish makes it through.

 

[Humblefish]

Do I look down the vial or through the vial?

Look from the top down. With the white part of the color chart under the vial. Best viewed under (but not directly in) natural sunlight IME.

 

[Empress]

Look from the top down. With the white part of the color chart under the vial. Best viewed under (but not directly in) natural sunlight IME.

Perfect. Thanks a bunch. [emoji41]

 

[aykwm]

Once you hit the therapeutical range then yes you start the 30 days.
The instructions on the product are correct, but each aquarium is different and has several parameters that will alter the dosage needed, to be on the safe side you need to test it to ensure you are in the correct range, as mentioned earlier copper is toxic, too low and its not toxic enough for the parasites, too high and it becomes toxic to fish.

Marine velvet has a short life cycle but some strains have long one, although the common ones usually takes few days, some will take 20+ days. Thats why its recommended to treat for 30 days. Copper does not effect the parasite on fish or the encyst, it kills the free swimming ones (dinospores), so if you treat for 10 days then stopped, the fish might seem healthy, but it will most likely be reinfected (if the 20+ day strain is in the system). In addition to that, when treating with copper, the symptoms might disappear from the fish (especially after few days of treatment), but this does not mean its free from parasites.

 

[Biznizface]

What about the JBL copper kit is that ok because my LFS had that one
Perhaps I could swap the salifert one for this one ?

 

[aykwm]

What about the JBL copper kit is that ok because my LFS had that one
Perhaps I could swap the salifert one for this one ?

I am not familiar with that test kit, but you would want a test kit that can read higher than the dosage amount to ensure you are within the range. The JBL seems to read to 1.6 only, so you will not know if you dosed 1.75 or 2 or 2.5. In this case you will risk poisoning the fish. On the other hand, API can read up to 4, so you will know exactly where you are on the scale.

 

[Empress]

14 days is all I'm treating for once I hit 2.0ppm mark. And if all goes good and they're all eating they'll go into a bigger and 100% sterile observation tank in the other room for at least another 2 weeks. If things are STILL going good after that, I will try to do a water change using only display tank water and maybe I'll drop in a small handful of DT sand and a small rock (just to get them excited). LOL. If no nastiest show up they graduate to the display tank.

I'm holding my breath and hope we don't get hit with bacterial infections from the copper. I'd rather deal with velvet than bacterial infections!

But for now I'm feeling pretty confident I know what I'm doing and have lots of medications and supplies on hand. But of course I will always need the R2R experts (they know who they are) and I log on everyday! Love this forum. Happy Reefin'.

 

[Biznizface]

Hi guys decided to follow your advice and just get cupramine.

The tang has been fine since I dipped him but has white spots again today but he is very active and still eating.

I am assuming the directions on the bottle of cupramine are not correct because you say must be 30 days at a certain level etc ?

So I now have the salifert copper test kit and cupramine please if you don't mind can you give me a run down of what I should administer to my QT and when and how much etc I have a 50L approx QT ?

 

[aykwm]

Since its velvet you are dealing with you need to add copper at a faster rate, so you need to get to a concentration between 0.35 to 0.5 within 2-3 days.
The dosage on the bottle is reliable, you can follow it and then check your copper level. The test kit is important so you can be sure that you are within the level, each tank is different and there are variables that might affect the copper concentration, thats why with test kit you will be sure that you reached the recommended level.
Although 14 days should be sufficient to kill any velvet on the fish, but 30 days is needed to ensure any newly hatched cyst won't infect the fish again and complete the cycle again, while in cyst stage copper won't kill or affect the parasite. Thats why 30 days should be enough time to ensure the parasite has ran its full life cycle and has been completely eradicated.

 

[Biznizface]

How can you be sure it's velvet ?

So as I have 50L I should add 25 drops then wait 48 hours and repeat then yeah ? Then test and it should be in the range then ?

 

[aykwm]

According to the picture you posted in the beggining of the thread it looks more like velvet rather than ich, although both require same treatment.

By 48-72 hours tou should reach your therapeutical level. 0.35-0.5 so yes you can do that. Make sure to test after the first dose to make sure you got the required concentration of 0.25, after doing the test you will have an idea about the variation between recommended amount and the actual amount in water.

 

[Biznizface]

So dose 25 drops (is that right 1st dosage for 50L?) then test straight away or in a few hours or even tomorrow when exactly to test ?