Dealing with Ich in a FOWLR

[Bkatz1]

First of all, I DO NOT HAVE ICH, I am setting up a new FOWLR. We already have a reef tank upstairs. This new tank will stay a FOWLR. So with only sand and rock in the tank, if I were to have an Ich, Velvet, or Brook outbreak in the tank, can I just treat the DT? Can you use CopperSafe, Cupramine, ect in a DT that will never have coral or inverts in it? I do not have this issue now, but I am just looking for experiences and options for the road ahead. All fish are OT'd before entering but I still would like to know what treatments would be detrimental to the tank, and what would be ok. I even had a LFS even say that dosing therapeutic levels of copper consistently (with no parasite present) could be done as an added form of prevention. I have had no experience with keeping larger "non reef safe" fish. Our stocking will be smaller tangs, dwarf angels, ect. The tank is 60x24x25 if that makes a difference.

I have a 5 year old reef tank upstairs that I am fortunate enough to never have dealt with these parasites... yet. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

First of all, I DO NOT HAVE ICH, I am setting up a new FOWLR. We already have a reef tank upstairs. This new tank will stay a FOWLR. So with only sand and rock in the tank, if I were to have an Ich, Velvet, or Brook outbreak in the tank, can I just treat the DT? Can you use CopperSafe, Cupramine, ect in a DT that will never have coral or inverts in it? I do not have this issue now, but I am just looking for experiences and options for the road ahead. All fish are OT'd before entering but I still would like to know what treatments would be detrimental to the tank, and what would be ok. I even had a LFS even say that dosing therapeutic levels of copper consistently (with no parasite present) could be done as an added form of prevention. I have had no experience with keeping larger "non reef safe" fish. Our stocking will be smaller tangs, dwarf angels, ect. The tank is 60x24x25 if that makes a difference.

I have a 5 year old reef tank upstairs that I am fortunate enough to never have dealt with these parasites... yet. Thanks in advance.

Hyposalinity can be an option. It works for ich and some species of flukes, but not for velvet or Brooklynella.

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Adrift]

Jay what do feel about the H202 method?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Jay what do feel about the H202 method?

I ran some H2O2 bench testing last year, but I had no active disease cases to try it out on at the time, so sorry, I don’t have any direct experience.
Jay

 

[Bkatz1]

Has anyone heard of people actually dosing a regular small amount of therapeutic copper (if that's even a thing). I thought long term exposure of any kind eventually shortens fish life and causes organ damage?

 

[Spare time]

First of all, I DO NOT HAVE ICH, I am setting up a new FOWLR. We already have a reef tank upstairs. This new tank will stay a FOWLR. So with only sand and rock in the tank, if I were to have an Ich, Velvet, or Brook outbreak in the tank, can I just treat the DT? Can you use CopperSafe, Cupramine, ect in a DT that will never have coral or inverts in it? I do not have this issue now, but I am just looking for experiences and options for the road ahead. All fish are OT'd before entering but I still would like to know what treatments would be detrimental to the tank, and what would be ok. I even had a LFS even say that dosing therapeutic levels of copper consistently (with no parasite present) could be done as an added form of prevention. I have had no experience with keeping larger "non reef safe" fish. Our stocking will be smaller tangs, dwarf angels, ect. The tank is 60x24x25 if that makes a difference.

I have a 5 year old reef tank upstairs that I am fortunate enough to never have dealt with these parasites... yet. Thanks in advance.

Cupramine is supposed to be fine since somehow it doesn't get absorbed by the rock. Coppersafe will not come out easily.

 

[Miami Reef]

You can use copper in a FOWLR. I recommend copper power (not cupramine). If you have a lot of rocks and sand, you will most likely need to test and dose daily.

My FOWLR has one week left before it’s officially ich free. It will accomplish copper inside the FOWLR for 6 weeks. I had to dose .20ml almost every day during the 6 weeks.

Running Carbon and UV slightly lowers the copper concentration, which I’ve been using. But it’s very easy to test and redose IMO.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Has anyone heard of people actually dosing a regular small amount of therapeutic copper (if that's even a thing). I thought long term exposure of any kind eventually shortens fish life and causes organ damage?

You should never dose less than a full dose of copper, it just isn't effective at lower doses. It has to be an "all or nothing" sort of thing. I know some dealers keep low doses of copper in their tanks, but that is a mistake.

I've kept fish in coppersafe for over 4 months with no issues, but I prefer to run a 30 day treatment and then stop.

I hear this "organ failure" thing once in a while, but I've never seen it, and that is with having veterinarians performing necropsies on my fish. I heard the same rumor about formalin - that if you use it, your fish will die two years later. That is also false.

Jay