Cupramine Overdose

[OceanSprayCranberry]

Have 3 qt tanks running and two have been at therapeutic levels for 2 weeks now. Last week I got new fish and put them in the 3rd tank which I thought had all new water. Long story short I tested the copper level today and it was 0.92ppm and has been this high since yesterday. I noticed the Atlantic blue tang kind of flashing like it had ich but it was doing it just swimming straight and not scratching on anything but other tang is doing fine. A water change was done and levels are down to .45ppm. What are the long term effects and is there anything I should look out for?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have 3 qt tanks running and two have been at therapeutic levels for 2 weeks now. Last week I got new fish and put them in the 3rd tank which I thought had all new water. Long story short I tested the copper level today and it was 0.92ppm and has been this high since yesterday. I noticed the Atlantic blue tang kind of flashing like it had ich but it was doing it just swimming straight and not scratching on anything but other tang is doing fine. A water change was done and levels are down to .45ppm. What are the long term effects and is there anything I should look out for?

Add carbon immediately followed by a few water changes until you have it down to .5
In the mean time, remove the fish

 

[LeftyReefer]

Don't lower it too much. .50 should be the min.
They say therapeutic range is .35 to .50 but I always used .50 as a minimum.

Carbon works too slow, just do a water change to get it down a bit.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Have 3 qt tanks running and two have been at therapeutic levels for 2 weeks now. Last week I got new fish and put them in the 3rd tank which I thought had all new water. Long story short I tested the copper level today and it was 0.92ppm and has been this high since yesterday. I noticed the Atlantic blue tang kind of flashing like it had ich but it was doing it just swimming straight and not scratching on anything but other tang is doing fine. A water change was done and levels are down to .45ppm. What are the long term effects and is there anything I should look out for?

That's about double a dose. Any ideas how it got that high? Could the test have been an error?

Sorry, I don't know what the long term effects of Cupramine is...I've never dosed it that high. Most incidental copper over exposure is fine after a water change.

Jay

 

[OceanSprayCranberry]

It got that high because of my negligence. After the last time I qt’d I though I had cleaned that tank out and had new water running through it, which is why I didn’t check the copper cause I know the exact dose to get the system to .50ppm so I was just gonna double check once I got there.