Crypto question

[Dickie]

Hey folks.
Im currently treating my royal gramma with a copper sulphate and formaldehyde mix medication for crypto ( marine ich). This is the 6th day of the 11 day course of treatment. All white spots are gone and he has stopped gasping. Is eating and appearing active, curious and full of life. Today was a designated break from treatment day, as prescribed by the directions on the box. I notice just now that he just glanced off his hide 3 times in a row. My question is this: is glancing at this point something to worry about? Should the treatment period be increased, or reset to day one based on this behaviour? Is it normal for a fish to glance on occasion after they have been cured of crypto or does this glancing indicate an enduring infection?

Thanks

 

[Qasimja]

have you maintained the level of copper for all these days?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

One question I have is - what form is your copper in? I imagine you have different products that I do in the US, but it would help me get a handle on your treatment regimen if I knew if you were using plain copper, or an organically chelated product. Also, do you have any idea as to the concentration of the formalin?

The royal gramma flashing may be nothing, it may be irritation from the copper/formalin, or it could be flukes...

Jay

 

[Dickie]

have you maintained the level of copper for all these days?

I have followed the instructions religiously.

 

[Dickie]

One question I have is - what form is your copper in? I imagine you have different products that I do in the US, but it would help me get a handle on your treatment regimen if I knew if you were using plain copper, or an organically chelated product. Also, do you have any idea as to the concentration of the formalin?

The royal gramma flashing may be nothing, it may be irritation from the copper/formalin, or it could be flukes...

Jay

Heres pictures of what Im using.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No concentrations listed on the bottle - pretty typical of aquarium medications (sigh). One thing - the daily dose implies to me that the copper is only lightly chelated (perhaps just with citric acid). A highly chelated copper would be add once and be done. I would urge you to buy a copper test kit and monitor relative dosing when your treat with this, also be very sure that you know the exact volume of water you are treating, not just the tank's "rated volume". For example, in the US and 29 gallon tank actually holds about 22 gallons.

Jay

 

[Dickie]

The

No concentrations listed on the bottle - pretty typical of aquarium medications (sigh). One thing - the daily dose implies to me that the copper is only lightly chelated (perhaps just with citric acid). A highly chelated copper would be add once and be done. I would urge you to buy a copper test kit and monitor relative dosing when your treat with this, also be very sure that you know the exact volume of water you are treating, not just the tank's "rated volume". For example, in the US and 29 gallon tank actually holds about 22 gallons.

Jay

The concentrations are on the 2nd pic? My copper test kit just arrived. The api one I had failed to detect any copper at all just after a dose replaced it with a seachem one. I also have cupramine by seachem here. How safe is it to switch medications?
Thanks for your input

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, I missed those numbers this morning, to early and not enough coffee! So, i ran those numbers, they just don’t make any sense! It ends up with a working dose of .4 ppm copper which is twice normal for ionic copper, and the dose for formalin works out to be .5 ppm, where a typical daily dose is 12 to 25 ppm....so in the end, there must be something about this medication that I’m misunderstanding.
Let me know what the copper test says. I do not think that the gramma flashing is an issue of immediate concern...
Jay