Paying the price for no carantine

[Koty]

I want to update and ask few more questions regarding the trestment period. Since yesterday all fish are in a 45 liter bucket with a pump and a few dead coral skeletons and 6 maxpect balls. I have a seachem amonia checker as well. Taking them out was a pain that took many hours. Had to take out corals and rocks.
I am using coppramin and try to maintain 0.5 ppm using a JBL test kit. Copper is showing 0.2 to 0.3. I already redosed twice. I guess the rocks are absorbing it. Fish look misrable but nobody died since including the ones that had simptoms. I tried a small piece of masstick but fish shoed no interest. Is it the copper or the velvet that is causing the lost sppetite,?

I want to confirm that i will stop the treatment after 14 days and wait another 2 monthes befote returning to the DT.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I want to update and ask few more questions regarding the trestment period. Since yesterday all fish are in a 45 liter bucket with a pump and a few dead coral skeletons and 6 maxpect balls. I have a seachem amonia checker as well. Taking them out was a pain that took many hours. Had to take out corals and rocks.
I am using coppramin and try to maintain 0.5 ppm using a JBL test kit. Copper is showing 0.2 to 0.3. I already redosed twice. I guess the rocks are absorbing it. Fish look misrable but nobody died since including the ones that had simptoms. I tried a small piece of masstick but fish shoed no interest. Is it the copper or the velvet that is causing the lost sppetite,?

I want to confirm that i will stop the treatment after 14 days and wait another 2 monthes befote returning to the DT.

Maintaining fish in a bucket long term is going to be a problem. As you've seen, the rock used as a passive biofilter also tends to pull copper from the water (don't use that rock in a reef tank in the future). You need to have some sort of mechanical filter in there, as well as good aeration (not just circulation).
I've not used the JBL test kit, so I can't comment on its accuracy. One trick is to mix up some seawater to use as a water change, and dose it with the exact amount of copper, let it mix, then test it. You should be at 0.50. If not, the test kit, or the way it is being read, may be off.

I also don't like to rely on the seachem badges, do you have another way to measure ammonia?

Jay

 

[Koty]

Great news is that fish got their appetite back. This suggests that the loss of hunger is Velvet related. Loss of appetite is the first odity i saw in my DT Bfore seeing the first dead fish.
I got an air pump in.
After copper treatment will move fish to 120 liter tank. This will be my future carantine.
IME the seachem patch is very good. One should consider that it detects the toxic form of amonia which is lower than total amonia at pH around 8.4. I actually tested it before using it during my cycle