Coppersafe+seachem prime?

arvind · Apr 26, 2016

Second day QT for me and my ammonia shows at Alert level (0.05). I added 2.5ml of prime in a 30g tank. Is this alright? Happened to read up and I found that it is Not advisable to add prime with cupramine but couldn't find anything on coppersafe & prime.

Has anyone used this combination?

melypr1985 · Apr 26, 2016

I wouldn't advise adding prime to any QT with any type/brand of copper in it. Instead try doing a 50% water change when the ammonia creeps up. It's much safer for the fish. Watch them carefully. It may be smart to go ahead and do a water change at this point.

cmcoker · Apr 26, 2016

And add the copper to the new water before adding it to the tank to keep your levels up

melypr1985 · Apr 26, 2016

cmcoker said:
And add the copper to the new water before adding it to the tank to keep your levels up

^^ exactly right

Humblefish · Apr 26, 2016

Ammonia reducer + Cupramine (ionic copper) usually means a tank full of dead fish, as the ammonia reducer will increase Cupramine's toxicity 10x.

However, there is anecdotal evidence that this phenomenon does not occur when mixing an ammonia reducer with a chelated copper product such as Coppersafe or Copper Power. Perhaps @Randy Holmes-Farley can explain exactly why this is.

4FordFamily · Apr 26, 2016

Humblefish said:
Ammonia reducer + Cupramine (ionic copper) usually means a tank full of dead fish, as the ammonia reducer will increase Cupramine's toxicity 10x.

However, there is anecdotal evidence that this phenomenon does not occur when mixing an ammonia reducer with a chelated copper product such as Coppersafe or Copper Power. Perhaps @Randy Holmes-Farley can explain exactly why this is.

Agree.

I will say though that when I used coppersafe a lot (before I knew NOT to mix prime with it) I killed a TON of fish in QT and it wasn't ammonia because I did have an ammonia badge. So I would NOT advise this mix at all.

arvind · Apr 26, 2016

Alright, I should have asked before adding the Prime. Anyway, Did a 50% water change the ammonia levels are back to normal. I did not add additional copper to the new water though. If Prime does increase the copper to toxic levels, I thought adding more copper might make the problem worse. Can I wait until tomorrow morning before adding additional copper?

Humblefish · Apr 26, 2016

arvind said:
Can I wait until tomorrow morning before adding additional copper?

Yes, but remember the treatment clock restarts.

arvind · Apr 28, 2016

My fish survived after foolishly adding Prime to control Ammonia. So either it is true that ammonia reducers do work with Coppersafe or the 50% water change helped the matters. Either way I am good for now.

The ammonia level dropped to alert again in two days. It is a 33g tank and the tangs are XL sized so I guess I have to be prepared to change 50% water every two days. Should I also cut down on feeding? I feed every day. Should I switch to every other day?

melypr1985 · Apr 28, 2016

Just keep up with the water changes and siphon out any uneaten food. Dont leave uneaten nori in the tank for too long either as it breaks down quickly and can foul the water. Your problem probably centers more around the fact that tangs (especially large ones) make really large poops. It's quite gross when my purple tang lets one loose.