Dosing cupramine to display with coral removed

[cedwards04]

So apparently my qt process wasnt up to par, and some fish in my display got ich. I have a bit of a dilemma and I am looking for an alternative that can help me out.

I know the tank would need to go fallow for 90 days (76 really but whatever). The problem with that is, I am leaving town for a week, and will have a house sitter while we are gone. I use my guest room for my qt room. The wife is extremely displeased with this whole situation as she has stated there is no way she will allow this while our guest is here.

I am desperate for a faster solution, or I will be forced to rehome the fish.

If I remove my coral/inverts (not many in there), can i dose cupramine to the display for the 14 days it recommends, and then run carbon and cuprisorb to remove the cuprimine from the display making it safe for coral/inverts again?

Would the coral need to stay in qt for 90 days as well, or would they be good to go sooner, like say 6 weeks or so (for some reason I am thinking this is what I heard about ich and coral qt).

Seachem claims cupramine can be dosed to a tank, and then removed with carbon/cuprisorb and then stocked with coral. They claim it does not leach out of the sand/rock like other forms of copper treatment. Of course I am scared to trust it.

Any help would be great. If the answer is to rehome the fish and start over, I'll put my big boy pants on and do it, I just was hoping to find some other way as my daughter is quite fond of her fish.

 

[lmm1967]

Most people have ich in their tanks.
Have you thought about managing it instead of trying to eliminate it?

 

[cedwards04]

Most people have ich in their tanks.
Have you thought about managing it instead of trying to eliminate it?

At this point I am open to any suggestions. I have no idea what can be done to "manage" it. It has slowly spread to every single fish. I have run a 25watt uv sterilizer on the tank since day 1.

 

[W1ngz]

It can be removed, but it's really not a recommended solution. Check out this thread:

How To Remove Copper From DT

First of all, best practice is to NEVER dose copper in a display tank, and to use a quarantine tank. It is much easier and safer. Copper in a DT can heavily dampen your nitrogen cycle in your tank, and will leach in to your rock, substrate, and equipment. As a result, the amount of copper...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[W1ngz]

Most people have ich in their tanks.

I really don't think this is true.

 

[miyags]

Coral would need to be QT for 76 days before being added back to DT

 

[W1ngz]

At this point I am open to any suggestions. I have no idea what can be done to "manage" it. It has slowly spread to every single fish. I have run a 25watt uv sterilizer on the tank since day 1.

Do you have any reefer friends who would be willing to house a quarantine tank for you? At least they could tank sit for the week you're gone. 2.5 months is a big ask, but if someone has the space they may not mind.

 

[cedwards04]

Doing a lot of google searching on the topic of ich/parasites in reef tanks. From what I am reading, with the exception of 1 strain of ich, everything else will be dead by the 45 days fallow mark. The 1 strain that survived 76 days did so in 68 degree f water. It is suspected the cold water slowed it down, allowing it to live longer.

That being said, my best option given my current circumstances may be to go fallow for 45 days, then reintroduce the fish slowly. I have 60 days from today until I leave town. If my fish get ich again, hopefully I'll be home by then and able to do the full 90 days. It's a dice roll, but the odds definitely seem to be in my favor on this.

Thoughts?

 

[cedwards04]

Do you have any reefer friends who would be willing to house a quarantine tank for you? At least they could tank sit for the week you're gone. 2.5 months is a big ask, but if someone has the space they may not mind.

I have a few local reef friends, but none of them have offered, and they all know my situation, so I hate to ask. Dont want to burden anyone. I'd say worst case scenario I will donate them to my lfs guy. We have a good relationship. I feel like he would at least give me some credit to go towards repurchasing. I wouldn't expect it to be an even trade out, the guys gotta pay the light bill ya know.

 

[phatduckk]

If you’re in town for the next 60 days I’d say just run QT till you leave. As you said, most ich lifecycles are complete in < 50 days. I’d either do that or move the QT to the garage (if you have one) and go full 76 if possible.

 

[W1ngz]

I've read that before as well that things are all but clear after 6 weeks, and the extra 30 days is only because there's a non 0 chance of a more long lived strain.

It saves you scrapping all your rock with copper in the display, and you get to keep your fish.

Sounds like your best chance.

 

[Big G]

Some info to help you decide with solid facts about what Ich is by Humblefish

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Jamie7907]

Copper can be removed from a tank/live rock or sand but it isn’t as easy or fast as you would like. Carbon alone won’t remove it. I have used carbon in conjunction with several cuprisorb packets and Metasorb Or poly filter all at the same time over several months to remove copper and was able to keep corals again.

 

[jsvand5]

I have used copper in my 90g display before. It’s really not that big of a deal but getting the copper level stable is initially time consuming. I would not try it without a Hanna checker. The same tank and rock now has SPS and anemones in it with no issues. Big water change and cuprisorb for a few weeks and you are fine for inverts again. 14 days won’t be enough though. 14 days is only sufficient if the fish will be moved out of a treatment tank into a clean tank after the 14 days is over.

How long has the tank been set up for?

 

[cedwards04]

I have used copper in my 90g display before. It’s really not that big of a deal but getting the copper level stable is initially time consuming. I would not try it without a Hanna checker. The same tank and rock now has SPS and anemones in it with no issues. Big water change and cuprisorb for a few weeks and you are fine for inverts again. 14 days won’t be enough though. 14 days is only sufficient if the fish will be moved out of a treatment tank into a clean tank after the 14 days is over.

How long has the tank been set up for?

Tank has been up since august. So around 5 months. It's been a nightmare. Algae problems, dinoflagellates, now ich. This is my 3rd tank and by far my most difficult.

I think I'm going to do 45 days fallow while I treat fish in qt with copper. Then slowly move the fish back to the display. I feel like this is my best plan of action given my 60 day time frame.