Quarantine tank.

[Brandonsegula]

So I setup a quarantine tank a couple of months ago. I had an 18 watt deep blue uv sterilizer I had I through it into the 20 long. My question is can I run the sterilizer while treating with copper if I have to???

 

[melypr1985]

So I setup a quarantine tank a couple of months ago. I had an 18 watt deep blue uv sterilizer I had I through it into the 20 long. My question is can I run the sterilizer while treating with copper if I have to???

Is the QT the 20 long? or is the QT plumbed to another tank via the UV sterilizer? The short answer is no, don't run it while running copper.

 

[Brandonsegula]

Is the QT the 20 long? or is the QT plumbed to another tank via the UV sterilizer? The short answer is no, don't run it while running copper.

No, just a 20 long. The reason why I put the the sterilizer in there was to take away the cloudiness

 

[Humblefish]

My question is can I run the sterilizer while treating with copper if I have to???

No, a UV will break down the ions or chelating agent binding the copper. Which will turn it toxic. You could probably only use a UV with pure copper sulfate pentahydrate, which is very difficult to measure with accuracy.

 

[Brandonsegula]

No, a UV will break down the ions or chelating agent binding the copper. Which will turn it toxic. You could probably only use a UV with pure copper sulfate pentahydrate, which is very difficult to measure with accuracy.

Okay thank you. I'll remove the sterilizer. If I ever have to treat the fish

 

[aykwm]

+1 for the above

You would want to avoid UV when treating with medication as in most cases it will break down medication making them ineffective, and sometimes the breakdown of these medication can create toxic substances.

Most copper used in medications is combined with other components or substances to make it easier to control during quarantine, UV will break these bonds and overwhelm the fish with large concentrations of ionic copper which will be toxic. One of the LFS in my area tried running UV + pure copper but at very low concentration, it didn't work and his fishes got infested with all kind of diseases (at least they didn't get poisoned, but now he changed to regular medications without uv but that experiment was expensive).

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about cloudiness in water, most likely its a bacterial bloom since its a new qt and will have no effect on the fish, it should clear up on its own within few days.