Proper dosing of Coppersafe

[Brew12]

I'm fortunate to still have one of the older bottles of Coppersafe and it reads exactly at the 1.16ppm @ 5ml per 4 gallons as expected. Not sure which product I will switch to when I run out. With the accuracy of the Hanna checker I'm not sure it matters much.

 

[Reefahholic]

Back to sanity after a water change. Hopefully, it didn’t too too much damage to the other fish [emoji29]

Yes sir...I’d leave it right there. I think the other fish will be ok.

Mark a line on the tank and topoff daily or EOD to account for evaporation. This will keep your level on point.

 

[Reefahholic]

I'm fortunate to still have one of the older bottles of Coppersafe and it reads exactly at the 1.16ppm @ 5ml per 4 gallons as expected. Not sure which product I will switch to when I run out. With the accuracy of the Hanna checker I'm not sure it matters much.

Copper Power!

 

[Colton Yuchnewicz]

If you take out 1 gallon of water from a tank that’s at .15ppm. Do you add the fresh 1 gallon of saltwater at .15ppm exactly or slightly over?

 

[JBKReef]

If you take out 1 gallon of water from a tank that’s at .15ppm. Do you add the fresh 1 gallon of saltwater at .15ppm exactly or slightly over?

Any saltwater added (Not ATO or RODI top off) should be added at the proper dosage.

If at any time the therapeutic levels drop below .15 you run the risk of dropping out of proper quarantine.

 

[Colton Yuchnewicz]

Any saltwater added (Not ATO or RODI top off) should be added at the proper dosage.

If at any time the therapeutic levels drop below .15 you run the risk of dropping out of proper quarantine.

Is there any better info on the proper dosage formula or concentrate? Iv read 1.6ml/g but now seeing from others that that will bring it to high

 

[Tplummer]

I want to put some info out which will hopefully clarify the large amount of confusion when using Mardel's Coppersafe.

If you look at the Fritz website they indicate that Coppersafe maintains a total copper of 0.15ppm to 0.2ppm. This is not correct. Not only is this not the recommended dosage for chelated copper but it isn't what their recommended dosing achieves.
They recommend dosing at 5ml per 4 gallons. This works out to 1.16ppm of copper. The problem? Chelated copper needs to be maintained between 1.5ppm and 2ppm to be therapeutic.
To make this even more challenging, the API test kit tends to read on the high side, making the problem even worse.

Have I confused you enough yet? Sorry. Can't help it.

So here is my best recommendation.

Actual dosing should be 1.6mL/gallon to 2.1mL/gallon. I recommend adding 1.6mL of coppersafe to 1 gallon of salt water and taking a test with your API kit. Compare this to your chart and try to think of this color as 1.5ppm, or the minimum recommended level. Then dose another 0.5mL Coppersafe into that gallon and take another test. Try to remember this shade as proper for 2ppm, or the highest level you want.

For slowly raising copper levels as is appropriate for Ich on all but the most sensitive fish, I recommend dosing 0.3mL/gallon every morning and evening for 3 days. This should get you to 1.8mL/gallon at the end for a concentration of 1.7ppm. Another 0.3mL/gallon dose will put you right at the top end if you want to add it.


Hope that helps!

Question,

i have a batch of fish coming in this saturday. First time dosing copper. Using fritz coppersafe and hanna. To get comfortable with this i dosed 1.6 ml of copper in one gallon of sw at 1.018 sg. It reads 2.3 ppm! Temp was at 75. Could the saliniy have anything to do with this?
thanks!

 

[Brew12]

Question,

i have a batch of fish coming in this saturday. First time dosing copper. Using fritz coppersafe and hanna. To get comfortable with this i dosed 1.6 ml of copper in one gallon of sw at 1.018 sg. It reads 2.3 ppm! Temp was at 75. Could the saliniy have anything to do with this?
thanks!

No, salinity won't impact copper readings in any significant manner. Are you using the Hanna checker?

Unfortunately, Fritz has a bit of a reputation for making an inconsistent product. It's possible you have a more concentrated batch than the target strength. Testing regularly is absolutely critical so I'm glad you did a test batch!

 

[tundraguy1106]

Question,

i have a batch of fish coming in this saturday. First time dosing copper. Using fritz coppersafe and hanna. To get comfortable with this i dosed 1.6 ml of copper in one gallon of sw at 1.018 sg. It reads 2.3 ppm! Temp was at 75. Could the saliniy have anything to do with this?
thanks!

Copper power has been great on all the fish I’ve quarantined.

 

[Tplummer]

No, salinity won't impact copper readings in any significant manner. Are you using the Hanna checker?

Unfortunately, Fritz has a bit of a reputation for making an inconsistent product. It's possible you have a more concentrated batch than the target strength. Testing regularly is absolutely critical so I'm glad you did a test batch!

Thanks for the reply Brew. I am using the Hanna checker. I went ahead and ordered some Copper Power. I'm just too new at using copper and don't like the variables I'm hearing about with this product. I'm sure it works well for others, but I don't wanna kill anything I'm responsible for... Thanks for your help on all the fourms. You guys rock!

Travis

 

[marcwjj]

Want to add a data point here, new QT tank, new copper safe bottle, new hanna copper checker (hi702) , so barring my manual user error, the measure should be accurate.

So I dosed 15ml of coppersafe in my 10g tank (over 3days) and the hanna copper checker reads a concentration of 2.59ppm, which is a bit high for therapeutic level (1.5-2ppm)

If I had dosed 12ml, that would be pretty much close to 2.0ppm. This estimate is also inline with manufacture s recommended dosage which is 5ml/4gallon, or 12.5ml/10gallon. I found another thread on this forum another user reported 12ml/10 gallon brings 2ppm.

So my recommendation is: don't just blindly follow the suggestion which seems to be 18ml/10 gallon. Measure it yourself or you risk of toxicating the fish with too high copper !!!

 

[Denimchicken]

I just wanted to come on here and hope someone sees this. I found this post and had been using API to try to see where the copper was at. I was reading the test incorrectly and thought the levels were low. I then stumbled on this post so I started dosing more copper with the color of API still off. I basically followed the combination of this post, not reading through all the forum and bad testing kit, my own fault. I am pretty sure I had between 3-4 ppm of copper using coppersafe for a very brief period. I had a royal gramma die, not sure if it was due to ich or overdosing copper, or both. In any case I bought a Hanna checker dosed the recommended dosage and it was spot on for me. Hope this post makes it to who may be in the same boat.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

^^^^What he said--Hanna tester ONLY way to go!^^^

 

[ProvidenceTidalReef]

All my fish have ich, from a blue tang I added, i have removed all fish from tank this morning all 3 of my fish left are in a 5 gallon bucket with a HOB and an air stone as I have no other way to quarantine.

What would be the recommended dose for a 5 gallon bucket with 5 gallon of water.
I have
1 blue tang
1 dotty back
1clarkii clown (Clark's amonome fish)

I am picking up copper safe tonight and I'm going to start doseing. Already lost my copperband butterfly to the ich.

Need help asap!!!!!!

I have read humblefish on quarantine but he dosnet talk at all about tanks that already have ich and are going fallow.

Furthermore he is impossible to get ahold of now that his popularity has sky rocket.....

Need help dont want to loose the the rest of my fish.

I have dosed metroplex to the bucket. Is this safe to use with coppersafe? Also useing it in there food bound with focus.

 

[reef-geek]

So I can do wc then add cp to dt? Don't want to pullute the bucket and pump with copper

 

[airedwin]

Hello, I dosed at your recommended 2.1ml/gallon into what I think is 15.5 gallon, my hanna copper test came out to be 3.49ppm. Not sure if your dosage is incorrect or if I had less water in my tank than I thought.

 

[airedwin]

Hello, I dosed at your recommended 2.1ml/gallon into what I think is 15.5 gallon, my hanna copper test came out to be 3.49ppm. Not sure if your dosage is incorrect or if I had less water in my tank than I thought.

Oh wow, i just read some other posts here, seems like coppersafe is ****. dang it. I think I killed my tang

 

[Acalin]

Hello everybody,

I am about to start using Coppersafe in my 10 gal QT tank for 5 fish (2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 cleaner wrasse and 1 blue tang). Got the blue tang which brought ich to all my other fish in the DT. (Let's not talk about the part where I kept postponing setting up a QT and hoping that this would not happen to me. I had to hit that wall at full speed to wake up).
Reading all 297 posts in this thread, I know that I will have to get a Hannah checker as well.
My question, however, is not related to dosing, or testing, but about the treatment period.
To make sure I get rid of the parasite in my DT, I will leave it fallow for 76 days.
My understanding is that you only need to treat with coppersafe for 30 days once at therapeutic level.
So the question is: if I continue the treatment for longer, is there any potential issue?
Since I have to keep the fish in the QT anyway after the 30 day treatment would be complete, (to wait for the DT) I was thinking I might as well continue the treatment.
I'm not sure how this would affect the fish.
Also, what is the recommendation on "rinsing" the fish before putting them back in the DT after the treatment?
Do you keep doing water changes in the QT until you get rid of all the copper and then keep the fish there for an extra day once your Hanna reads 0 for copper? Or do you just put the fish for a few minutes in a bucket with water from the DT?
You can probably tell, based on these questions, I'm a newbie.
Thank you in advance for your replies!

 

[airedwin]

Hello everybody,

I am about to start using Coppersafe in my 10 gal QT tank for 5 fish (2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 cleaner wrasse and 1 blue tang). Got the blue tang which brought ich to all my other fish in the DT. (Let's not talk about the part where I kept postponing setting up a QT and hoping that this would not happen to me. I had to hit that wall at full speed to wake up).
Reading all 297 posts in this thread, I know that I will have to get a Hannah checker as well.
My question, however, is not related to dosing, or testing, but about the treatment period.
To make sure I get rid of the parasite in my DT, I will leave it fallow for 76 days.
My understanding is that you only need to treat with coppersafe for 30 days once at therapeutic level.
So the question is: if I continue the treatment for longer, is there any potential issue?
Since I have to keep the fish in the QT anyway after the 30 day treatment would be complete, (to wait for the DT) I was thinking I might as well continue the treatment.
I'm not sure how this would affect the fish.
Also, what is the recommendation on "rinsing" the fish before putting them back in the DT after the treatment?
Do you keep doing water changes in the QT until you get rid of all the copper and then keep the fish there for an extra day once your Hanna reads 0 for copper? Or do you just put the fish for a few minutes in a bucket with water from the DT?
You can probably tell, based on these questions, I'm a newbie.
Thank you in advance for your replies!

I think it is safe to treat past 30 days but it may depend on type of fish as well. I currently am doing the same thing, I have a QT with coppersafe at about 2.4-2.5 and it's been more than 30 days as I'm waiting for the 76 day fallow period. I have two clowns and one damsel in there. I spoke to some LFS and they say they constantly have copper in all of their fish only systems. Not sure if that is good reference though.

 

[airedwin]

All my fish have ich, from a blue tang I added, i have removed all fish from tank this morning all 3 of my fish left are in a 5 gallon bucket with a HOB and an air stone as I have no other way to quarantine.

What would be the recommended dose for a 5 gallon bucket with 5 gallon of water.
I have
1 blue tang
1 dotty back
1clarkii clown (Clark's amonome fish)

I am picking up copper safe tonight and I'm going to start doseing. Already lost my copperband butterfly to the ich.

Need help asap!!!!!!

I have read humblefish on quarantine but he dosnet talk at all about tanks that already have ich and are going fallow.

Furthermore he is impossible to get ahold of now that his popularity has sky rocket.....

Need help dont want to loose the the rest of my fish.

I have dosed metroplex to the bucket. Is this safe to use with coppersafe? Also useing it in there food bound with focus.

Metroplex is safe with copper. 100% get an accurate copper tester, especially with coppersafe