I don’t agree obviously with putting copper in the DT and treating it for ich. But I am curious.
What copper did you use and how much?
What did you use to get it out?
How big is you tank and how much rock work?
How did you do to deal with all the inverts dying?
How soon, did you put your tank back together?
I take it you QTed your coral and snails etc. for encrusted?
Did you just remove all your rock work, how did you get ALL coral out?
Will do, in fact, a lot of people who don’t QT kinda say the same thing.
I have a 90 Day Quarantine process, meaning nothing goes in my Display for 90 days after I get it. Nothing at all.
I have a lot of rock maybe 60 - 80 pounds I'm guessing (maybe more).
I'm running Seachem Cuprisorb and Chemi Blue for copper removal.
I have a separate Quarantine for inverts, it's also where a breed pods.
I did not remove any rock, sand or anything like that. If I did have any encrusting corals I would have just left them because for me the health of my fish family is more important. I don't believe in Ich management at all and I think it's somewhat cruel.
This is my process for totally and permanently getting rid of Ich.
1. You're going to need two more tanks in addition to your display Tank. I know, sounds like a lot to deal with but hear me out. Fish and Coral costs hundreds of dollars tossing 30 bucks into a couple Petco tanks is a small investment. Petco has deals which you can get aquarium for less than a dollar a gallon. Then you need a cheap sponge filter and a hang on back filter.
2. Take all Coral and inverts out of your display Tank and put them in Quarantine. For Coral Quarantine a 20 Gallon Petco tank should big enough. If you can get a small frag of gsp that would be great.
3. The second tank you bought will be your hospital tank. This is where you will treat any New Fish for Ich, Velvet, Flukes, Worms, injuries or anything. This tank is truly a Hospital or ER for your fish friends.
4. This is going to be the hard part but it's the most important. You have to dose your display Tank with Copper. Ich is in your tank and no matter what you do it will always be in there unless you dose that tank with copper. Leave your fish in that tank and get some Seachem Cupramine Copper. Follow the instructions on the label precisely. You'll also need a Copper checker and I highly recommend the one made by Hanna. You also need to wipe down your sump and clean off any salt creep. Clean any area on or around your tank where water pools in anyway. You don't want to give the ich parasite anywhere to wait out this process.
5. Once Copper treatment is over do a 50 percent water change. Get some Seachem Cuprisorb and put it in a high flow area in sump or just a high flow area. Keep testing your water until your copper level is barley detectable (I added Xenia and GSP when copper level was 0.03). Leave the Cuprisorb in your sump.
6. Now you're ready to start your new Quarantine process. Step 5 should last any where from 2 weeks to a month. So your Coral Quarantine has been sitting a little while with no fish. Now you want to go out a get a new fish. Trust me, you need this new fish friend. Get a Square Tail Tang (tiny one) they are cheap and phenomenal at eating algea. You need to put this fish through Quarantine; so it'll go into your Hospital Tank for Copper Treatment. After Copper treatment, treat the fish with prazipro. This fish should spend 30 days in your hospital tank.
7. After your new tang friend has done 30 Days in the Hospital Tank you can move him to your Quarantine Tank with all your Coral and inverts.
8. Monitor your new tang friend in your Quarantine tank for 60 days. If you don't see any white spots and the fish is eating and in good health then congrats you're now ich free. If not put your new friend back in the hospital tank for treatment and steps 6 and 7.
9. If you want you can put the Square Tail tang in your display but personally I would leave him in the Quarantine Tank until he gets too big for it.
10. You can now start adding coral back into your display Tank. I'd do one frag at a time, just to make sure all elements (alk, mag and calcium) present in the water. GSP would be a great coral to put back in your tank first.
I also would throw away any cheap items that could have ich like Nets. Any equipment you can't replace should be soaking in a bucket with copper and bleach throughout this process. However I would just get all new stuff.
Remember, from this point on NOTHING EVER goes directly into Display Tank. Nothing. Not even Copepods, not Chaeto Algae, nothing! This is very important. Assume everything you buy has ich on it or in it.
That being said, my wife is basically in charge of everything inside our house with the glaring exception of my fish tanks. She has zero say there!
