Losing too many fish in QT !
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Paul B
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I think thats it, of course the juvenile I have looks much different but thats the name.
I knew it sounded like asparagus or pomegranate, some kind of vegetable
I knew it sounded like asparagus or pomegranate, some kind of vegetable
OP
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Shoulder Deep in Saltwater.......Again
If anyone is still following along, it appears that something may have gone wrong with the copper I was using (Brightwell Aquatics Cuprion). I decided to switch over to Copper Power (@2.25 - 2.5) but changed nothing else. It has been a few weeks and my newest yellow tang is doing fine (normal eating, breathing, swimming etc) previously any fish I added to the tank would die within the first week of introduction to the treatment tank. Like I said I made no other changes to the tank or my treatment protocol other than switching from brightwell copper to Copper Safe....
RobberyinCSharp1824
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I am RIGHT THERE WITH YOU. I'm so angry - I just lost my SECOND yellow tang to Cuprion. The first was my fault - I screwed up the dose, thinking it was the Coppersafe dose *facepalm*. This time, I slowly raised the dose up to 0.12 (which isn't even the therapeutic level) over the course of a week and came home to find him dead in my QT yesterday. My DaVinci clown survived just fine but what the heck. That bottle is going straight in the trash. Coppersafe or bust from now on; I may just start using the plop and drop method because I've now lost more fish to QT than anything else, including my novice stupidity of never QT'ing fish at all when I first got into this hobby.
Big G
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Copper Power has been much more reliable in dosing and strength. There was a problem with Coppersafe a few months back with strength varying considerably from bottle to bottle.
RobberyinCSharp1824
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Thank you, I will look into Copper Power instead of Coppersafe!
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Shoulder Deep in Saltwater.......Again
Copper Power is what I went with as well. After a few weeks of testing daily with the Hanna LR Checker I am also noticing that the dose is staying stable as opposed to Cuprion where it seemed like I was having to add a couple drops per day...I thought it was absorption as I have some ceramic media in the setup but Copper power has been the same over a week of testing daily. I'm starting to think it must have been something else related to the Cuprion.
RobberyinCSharp1824
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So it's not just me!? I spent hours testing the tank over, and over, and over each day this past week. The rates fluctuated SEVERELY. The first day I got the dose up to 0.11, then I tested it the next morning - 0.09, then retested - 0.12. Then I added 3 more drops (20gal), waited about 2 hours, and got a 0.16 readout. The next day? 0.12.
As a sanity check to make sure it wasn't my Hannah checker, I rinsed every single one of my cuvettes profusely with DI water, and then tested out fresh salt water I made just the other day to ensure the reading was 0, which it was. I had about 10 tiny pieces of Carbon that fell from the filter into the tank I couldn't get out, so I thought maybe it was that, but there's no way ten pieces would fluctuate the reading like that.
I feel like I've just had my sanity restored.
Miller535
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When you do treat with copper, is the treated tank and all the equipment only ever used for copper treatments? Like is that tank only safe to use for the purpose of copper treatment from there on out? Hopefully my question makes sense. lol
RobberyinCSharp1824
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That's my practice, yes. I bought a cheap 20-gallon aquarium kit that came with a HOB filter and lid. Anything that goes in that tank must be compatible with copper and it never gets cross-utilized. I have a powerhead, thermometer, and heater that also stay in that tank ONLY.
I keep filter floss in my DT's that I transfer to the QT each time I'm ready for a new quarantine so there's beneficial bacteria available as a "pseudo-cycle" for the tank. I remove the filter floss when the tank is done.
Miller535
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Yeah, that's what I was assuming was best practice. Just wanted to double check
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Shoulder Deep in Saltwater.......Again
Once you use anything for a copper treatment (tank, filter sponge, rock, net, skimmer, sump, reactor, thermometer, heater etc) that equipment CANNOT be reused unless extensively cleaned ( there are a few posts on R2R that tells you how to do it but I prefer not to reuse it anywhere else)... I personally have a dedicated tank for copper treatments. Everything on that tank is labeled with a red label "COPPER ONLY" and stays on the treatment tank.
