Questions about qt and copper

[JenniferMcK]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this hobby and I've got 2 maroon clowns I saved from petco. I did post about this over on the clownfish forum but I didn't get an answer about my qt. So I originally bought 3 fish from petco. I'm new didn't know any better. 2 ocellaris and a firefish. They all died with a week. They had no visible signs of infection until right around the last 2 days. I'm almost certain it was ick. I did have them in qt fortunately. So I went back to deathco and they actually replaced my fish with 3 more. They also died withing a week with same symptoms. Now I was trying the ttm and I had put gc in the tank. I didn't have copper readily available but have since ordered cupramine and copper power and hannah checker. So then I went back the other day just to get salt and i (even though I know I shouldn't have) passed by their tanks just to see if their fish were sick and wouldn't you know it they had a almost complete wipeout from ich. There were a few stragglers struggling for life. There were also a pair of maroon clowns and I just felt so bad for them. They looked good and we're eating and had no visible signs of ich or velvet, So I bought them and took them home to try and save them. They would've most certainly died if I hadn't. Now they are in quarantine and I'm combining ttm with copper. They're in a 2 gallon clear plastic tub and I'm switching new water out every day with exact same copper levels salinity so on. They're are actually doing really good. Eating and swimming and the bigger one is trying to establish dominance. Still jo signs of infection, but I know its still there so I'm continuing on with treatment. Now my questions are when the 14 days are up for my method I'm giving a shot, I'm going to put them in my qt. It is cycled but I know there is still ick and whatever else in there, so do I need to run a big dose of copper in the qt and/or do a 100% water change? I just don't want to reinfect them. I do have another tank I could set up at anytime but it would be starting over not cycled and I don't want to deal with ammonia and all that mess. Anyway I'd appreciate any and all advice and recommendations.

 

[dwest]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this hobby and I've got 2 maroon clowns I saved from petco. I did post about this over on the clownfish forum but I didn't get an answer about my qt. So I originally bought 3 fish from petco. I'm new didn't know any better. 2 ocellaris and a firefish. They all died with a week. They had no visible signs of infection until right around the last 2 days. I'm almost certain it was ick. I did have them in qt fortunately. So I went back to deathco and they actually replaced my fish with 3 more. They also died withing a week with same symptoms. Now I was trying the ttm and I had put gc in the tank. I didn't have copper readily available but have since ordered cupramine and copper power and hannah checker. So then I went back the other day just to get salt and i (even though I know I shouldn't have) passed by their tanks just to see if their fish were sick and wouldn't you know it they had a almost complete wipeout from ich. There were a few stragglers struggling for life. There were also a pair of maroon clowns and I just felt so bad for them. They looked good and we're eating and had no visible signs of ich or velvet, So I bought them and took them home to try and save them. They would've most certainly died if I hadn't. Now they are in quarantine and I'm combining ttm with copper. They're in a 2 gallon clear plastic tub and I'm switching new water out every day with exact same copper levels salinity so on. They're are actually doing really good. Eating and swimming and the bigger one is trying to establish dominance. Still jo signs of infection, but I know its still there so I'm continuing on with treatment. Now my questions are when the 14 days are up for my method I'm giving a shot, I'm going to put them in my qt. It is cycled but I know there is still ick and whatever else in there, so do I need to run a big dose of copper in the qt and/or do a 100% water change? I just don't want to reinfect them. I do have another tank I could set up at anytime but it would be starting over not cycled and I don't want to deal with ammonia and all that mess. Anyway I'd appreciate any and all advice and recommendations.

After 14 days of copper, I would put them in a new, sterile quarantine system. You can add biospira to a HOB and sponge filter system for ammonia control. I would try to emulate this:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/

 

[JenniferMcK]

After 14 days of copper, I would put them in a new, sterile quarantine system. You can add biospira to a HOB and sponge filter system for ammonia control. I would try to emulate this:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/

OK yes I have read his process and I have already ordered some of the meds he mentioned like spectrogram and focus to bind the gc and I have a few others as well. So new qt +biospira I think I have some on hand actually. What should I do with the qt I have now that's already cycled? Take it down and sanitize and start over?

 

[dwest]

OK yes I have read his process and I have already ordered some of the meds he mentioned like spectrogram and focus to bind the gc and I have a few others as well. So new qt +biospira I think I have some on hand actually. What should I do with the qt I have now that's already cycled? Take it down and sanitize and start over?

I personally would sterilize it. You had a known disease in that tank if I read your post correctly. I guess you could also leave it up for next batch of fish if you plan to run copper on the next batch.

Why are you doing both ttm and copper?

 

[JenniferMcK]

I personally would sterilize it. You had a known disease in that tank if I read your post correctly. I guess you could also leave it up for next batch of fish if you plan to run copper on the next batch.

Why are you doing both ttm and copper?

So I've done alot of research in my short marine fish endeavor. I've read alot of ttm failures from cross contamination etc. I've also read alot of copper failures from resistant strains, fish being in copper too long, levels dropping below therapeutic, etc. So this is kinda like my trial. So my line of thinking is that to prevent cross contamination during ttm, copper will be there to help what falls off the fish and is free swimming to die. And having clean parasite free water every other day helps to prevents free swimmers from attaching if it's a resistant strain or if the copper levels drop by chance. I don't think I've read anyone trying what I'm doing, and maybe it's a little excessive, but imo both methods are extra measure of success to each other. I'm a sahm so I have the time and effort for the extra measures. My plan is to do 14 days of this and then drop them into a qt for observation and maybe another week of copper just to be sure it's erridicated. My 2 fish are in a 2 gallon container with one gallon of water, an airstone, and heater. They're doing really good. Eating and swimming great with no visible signs of ich or velvet. And with only having to change 1 gal of water at a time, I'm not waiting so water and salt mix. Plus I'm not having to worry about amonia spikes with fresh water every other day. And I premixed the water with the correct copper level to make sure it's all the same

 

[4FordFamily]

OK yes I have read his process and I have already ordered some of the meds he mentioned like spectrogram and focus to bind the gc and I have a few others as well. So new qt +biospira I think I have some on hand actually. What should I do with the qt I have now that's already cycled? Take it down and sanitize and start over?

Run bleach through it for 12-24 hours, then drain it. If you want to be extra safe let it dry completely and let bleach water solution sit on HOB filter for a couple days.

 

[4FordFamily]

After 14 days of copper, I would put them in a new, sterile quarantine system. You can add biospira to a HOB and sponge filter system for ammonia control. I would try to emulate this:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/

I agree with this. I would sub metroplex for spectrogram, personally. You CAN do both. Metro will treat fewer bacterial infections but treats brook and uronema. We are testing this and it’s worked well so far. We will update the process soon if this next batch makes it through without incident as well.

 

[JenniferMcK]

Run bleach through it for 12-24 hours, then drain it. If you want to be extra safe let it dry completely and let bleach water solution sit on HOB filter for a couple days.

OK ill do that. I have another 10 gal I can set up for qt. Thank you for the advice

 

[JenniferMcK]

I agree with this. I would sub metroplex for spectrogram, personally. You CAN do both. Metro will treat fewer bacterial infections but treats brook and uronema. We are testing this and it’s worked well so far. We will update the process soon if this next batch makes it through without incident as well.

Well i have gc on hand. will that be good enough or do I need to get just the metro? And do you suggest dosing the eater or feeding it directly bound with focus?

 

[4FordFamily]

Well i have gc on hand. will that be good enough or do I need to get just the metro? And do you suggest dosing the eater or feeding it directly bound with focus?

Do it in the water column and feed general cure. But use pure metro in the water column as the directions say

 

[JenniferMcK]

Do it in the water column and feed general cure. But use pure metro in the water column as the directions say

OK thanks. I'll order some today. It is not sold anywhere near where I live so unfortunately I have to order just about everything for marine fish.