Copper Treatment with sand sifting Goby

[NC2WA]

I would avoid using drops as it is not accurate as accurate as using a syringe that has mL on it.

per the instructions on the bottle, you dose 1mL (which is 16 drops) per 10.5 gallons, wait 48hrs, and repeat dose..final concentration should be 0.5 mg/l

keep in mind this is full strength..

Miyas, with this information, you are dosing 43.75% strength which is OK, I have done this before just need to keep in QT longer than 2 wks..

 

[NC2WA]

gaskin,

at 0.5mg/l copper concentration you leave the fish in QT for 2 wks, do water change to remove copper, and then leave in QT for another 2 wks for observation..if anything should arise then treat appropriately.

you typically want to leave a fish in QT for 6 wks before adding to DT..

if you are using fallow method for DT, 8 wks is the time you should allow for..you are correct, ich needs a (fish) host to survive, take away host, you kill the cycle...

 

[kkgaskin90]

Thank you!

 

[Aquaph8]

I have a 20gal. long. When I use cuprimine,I add 7 drops- skip a day add 7 drops and repeat till I reach .35 to .5 on seachem copper test kit. I also use the stick on seachem ammonia alert. I do 5gal a week water change then add 16 drops/ seems to keep copper on point. I leave them in copper treatment for 4 weeks.

I use this method too but sometimes ramp it up even slower depending on the fish. I also do 4 weeks from the time I get my dose all the way up but never feel the need to get all the way to .5, right around .4 has been plenty for me. After 4 weeks I do a 2 week observation period.

 

[kkgaskin90]

Thank you so much everyone! Cupramine and Seachem copper test will be here tomorrow, so Operation Ich Attack will ensue as soon as it arrives. I will be raising levels slowly since I have an eel I don't want to lose. I'm not looking forward to an empty display, but I'm pretty excited to have an Ich free tank from now on out! I did finally see the Goby eat some of the mysid shrimp I fed today, so I think I will leave out the sand and only add a silica based sand if he seems stressed.
I have a feeling catching them will be the worst part of this whole ordeal! A homemade fish trap worked when I had to evict some evil damsels... Hopefully I won't have to tear my tank up trying to catch them all!

 

[NC2WA]

gaskin,

you are correct..catching them will be the most stress for you (and them).

when I had did fallow on my tank several years ago, I had to remove half the rock from my 375g tank to catch a sly/fast little goby and wrasse...not fun and wont be doing it again.

 

[kkgaskin90]

Oh thank goodness mine's not that big! I'd be going for a swim!

 

[NC2WA]

I did. Took off the shirt n got wet

 

[kkgaskin90]

That's exactly why I wanna fix this problem now so I don't have to do anything like that later (knock on wood)

Do you treat in every new addition in QT or observe and treat what you see?

 

[NC2WA]

gaskin,

short answer yes.

long answer and I think it is worth sharing, is I didn't QT anything until the disaster that happened Nov 2010.

at the time, I had 18 fish most of them large angels..some of them I had for 3 years, as displayed in this pic:

then to complete my "masterpiece" I added a 8-9 inch emperor angelfish which I got from a local fish store. Since I had luck of not QT any of the current stock I went with this theory (this would prove out to be the incorrect decision), after a 1.5-2 wks I notice my prize blueface angel looked "constipated" with an extended belly that was red..the blueface died in several days, then my flame, then majestic, then purple tang, in all the only fishes that survived were the blonde naso tang and copperband butterfly.

In all 11 out of 18 fish died because I did not QT the emperor angel..these deaths were preventable if I would have QT the emperor and used PraziPro; cause of death was worms/flukes that were on the emperor. I almost quit the hobby after this, so after a week or so to reflect, I decided I love this hobby so much (I've bee in it for 20yrs) so I decided to restock, but this time I would QT EVERTHING.

So after that day, I get all of my fish online (DiversDen-LiveAquaria) as they are the only ones that do an extensive QT procedure. Is it full safe, no, which is why I still QT fish from there another 3-8 wks..most of it is for observation so recurrence of parasites does not occur AND to get them eating foods that I feed the main tank.

BTW, I still have the blonde naso tang to this day and has taken me this long to rebuild my "angel heaven". To see a list of the fish I have, read this:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/large-aquariums-180g/144072-welcome-my-375g-jungle.html

HTH,

Kirk

 

[kkgaskin90]

Wow! That's a terrible lesson to learn I can't believe you made it 20 years with no QT... I'm still on year 1!
Beautiful fish
I was just telling my husband about LiveAquaria's QT and how we should "shop" there instead. Our LFS is an Ich infected joke. They preach the "Ich is in every system, the strong will survive" theory... Lost me quite a few fish so I want to do it right.

 

[NC2WA]

gaskin,

keep in mind, angels are known to have flukes/worms, so DiversDen does treat their fish with praziquentel with food for 2 wks AND copper for 2 wks..this gives the hobbyist a good shot of having a healthy fish...plus they have a 14 day guarantee (God forbide something happens to it) and I have had to use this more than once..

for any fish that I get that is not from DiversDen, I treat with PraziPro and do two treatments to be safe..I also do a 2 wk copper treatment..I have 2 55g and one 75g QT tanks, so 4-6 wks minimum in QT before they see my main tank.

 

[kkgaskin90]

So do you strictly observe DD fish unless you see an issue? Or does everyone get the 2 week Prazi 2 week copper treatment?

Luckily I haven't found my obsession, yet! I love my 29g reef but it took a lot of hits and misses and is just now starting to blossom. This 75 is a work in progress...not quite sure what direction it's going yet all I know is it's going to be Ich free

 

[NC2WA]

strictly observe DD fish and only treat when necessary.

any fish that does NOT come from DD, gets 2wk prazi, 2 wk copper, then observation for another 2 wks..

for me, I treat my angels as an investment (they are not cheap), and I want to protect this investment best I can, it only takes ONE fish with parasites to lose an entire tank.

 

[kkgaskin90]

Update: today is 4 weeks in treatment. We lost the goby about a week in. I did a longer treatment time at lower concentration (0.3-0.5) and raised copper level slowly due to eel and goby. The eel is angry-not eating. Here's the real frustrating part:

The blue tang has Ich! Showed up again three days ago. SO....now what?

 

[jedimasterben]

Have you measured the copper concentration daily to ensure that it stayed at the proper levels?

 

[NC2WA]

blue tang in QT? if so, then concentration is not high enough...I believe the bottle says 0.5 is what it needs to be at...if not at that level then raise it..
if not, the put blue tang in QT with copper for a min. of 2 wks..

keep in mind common side effect of copper is loss of appetite.

 

[kkgaskin90]

Yes, I have measured daily.

The fish is in hospital. The reason for lower concentration is that I have an eel-per Seachem, Cupramine is effective at killing Ich at 0.3-0.4, so they suggest keeping it lower for scaleless fish. However, it is at 0.5 this morning.

 

[kkgaskin90]

I wrote Seachem and they advised to maintain 0.5 for 14 days if the eel appeared to be tolerating that level. While the eel hadn't eaten since the beginning of treatment (4 weeks ago), he seemed ok. Today, there are no visible signs of Ich on the Tang (or any other fish in treatment). Tonight after a water change the eel finally ate. Not much, but it made me feel better. My plan from here is as follows:
2 weeks of continued treatment at 0.5
2 weeks of observation (no copper in tank)
2 weeks of Prazi Pro treatment
1 week observation
Return to Display Tank
At that point, the display will have been fishless for 11 weeks. Does the above plan sound OK?

 

[Aquaph8]

I would recommend 4 weeks of copper at this point. For prazi I do 5-7 days, give them a couple days off and then hit them again for another 5-7 days. I've never treated an eel before but if he is eating that's a good sign.