might have messed up

[codycolina707]

so my 150 has velvet and instead of trying to pull out 140 pounds of rock and sand i decided to pull maybe 40 pounds out of my other tank and catch all the fish and move them over to my 150 so i can treat with copper.that being said the 150 only had about 5 hermits and 5 snails which i caught and the rocks only a month old so not much life on it just hope it works out that and i feel like just the stress from trying to catch the fish in the 150 would of been the end for them.only thing is people have me worried about saying how hard it is to get back out of your system which i kinda doubt but guess ill find out

 

[artieg1]

I would focus on the long term, not short term. Make a plan so you never face this again, and then work backwards from that. I think that means catching all fish (even if you have to remove all water), go fallow, treat, religiously QT.

 

[MTBake]

Are you talking about dosing copper in your main tank? I wouldn't do that if someone paid me to.

 

[codycolina707]

Are you talking about dosing copper in your main tank? I wouldn't do that if someone paid me to.

yeah i dosed my new 150 with copper no way was removing 140lbs of rock and 160lbs of sand along with 100+ gallons of water didnt seem feasible let alone like i said i highly doubt these tangs would've stood a chance after the stress of catching them they are still eating and are familiar with there surroundings.even running cuprisorb for the next 6 months after seemed easier than pretty much tearing it down

 

[Triggreef]

Yeah thats a lot of doing the wrong thing in one thread. You won't have good results this way if I'm understanding correctly.

Copper gets absorbed by calcium carbonate (liverock). So whats going to happen is your going to dose copper and in a day or 2 you will test and there will be no more copper. You will have to add everyday to keep up with absorbtion, and even at that, you may not be able to dose enough.

Copper is only effective at .30 which you won't have

 

[MTBake]

yeah i dosed my new 150 with copper no way was removing 140lbs of rock and 160lbs of sand along with 100+ gallons of water didnt seem feasible let alone like i said i highly doubt these tangs would've stood a chance after the stress of catching them they are still eating and are familiar with there surroundings.even running cuprisorb for the next 6 months after seemed easier than pretty much tearing it down

I would have drained that tank and removed the rock to get the fish out and into qt. Know it sucks but it's very hard to remove copper from a dt. Its also hard to keep copper levels where you need them in a large dt with rock and sand. Hope it all works out well though.

 

[Triggreef]

I was interrupted there.... For it to be effective you would have to maintain that level of copper over .30 for an extended period of time. For ich it would be 76 days. For velvet I'm not sure honestly without looking it up but I would guess 28 days or more as the life cycle of the parasite is faster. If it drops below .30 at any point in time for any amount of time, you would have to start over as that would leave an opening for a cyst to break and new paraasites to reinfect the fish, starting the cycle over. These cysts can rupture at any time for example 3 to 28 days (maybe not accurate numbers but for demonstrative purpose). This is why the parasite is so effective at life. It is by design.

So understanding all that, you should be understanding that what your doing is wasting time and money and has no chance at working.

 

[Triggreef]

Yeah the other part is what happens when all is said and done and you want to begin with corals, nems, inverts... Copper will be infused in your rock and maybe sand. How will you know when it is released back into your water, other than when things die?

 

[codycolina707]

Yeah the other part is what happens when all is said and done and you want to begin with corals, nems, inverts... Copper will be infused in your rock and maybe sand. How will you know when it is released back into your water, other than when things die?

well at this point trying to save these fish is more important than worrying about a hypothetical down the line story anyway i know people have done this i did some research before coming to this decision and like most thing in this hobby some say its possible others will say nope its not gonna happen you ruined your tank negativity

 

[artieg1]

Well, you did title your post "I may have messed up"!!

I hope you can hear the caring and concern in the posts above. It is not "negativity" for its own sake. We aren't flame posting about politics or something subjective. Adding copper to a DT and maintaining that level for 30 days has actual real physical scientific impact. It's not "well some people say this." It sounds like you are already invested in this approach, literally, so there's not turning back the clock. But I'd hate for anyone to read this thread and think this is a good idea. Heck, even ensuring you are maintaining therapeutic copper levels with that much absorbing material is herculean, not to mention waiting for it to leach back out over time.

So given that you are already invested, I would make sure you are testing copper levels each morning and night. If it dips below therapeutic levels at any time for 30 days, you run the risk of doing this all for nothing. Remember, copper does not treat the fish; it prevents re-infection of the fish.