Rescue Tank for Treatment

[Ben FL]

Hi,

My 4 fishes need a copper treatment (Ich - Cryptocaryon Irritans).

I'm setting up an old 36 gallons tank to do this.

I would like to get 36 gallons of my main tank and put it into the rescue tank (to avoid a new fishes acclimatation).

For the rescue tank harware, I have :
- Heater
- Air pump
- Circulation pump
- No light (the tank will be placed near a windows to get the outside light)
- No skimmer
- Some PVC pipes to make some hiding places

Is it OK for the rescue tank for the harware ?

Now I have some questions :
- How to do with NO2 ? Is there will be NO2 peak ?
- Should I put some Bacteria in this tank or useless ?
- Does I have to make some water changes while the treatment (except for issues with too elevated copper rate in case of sensible fish) ?

This is my first rescue tank and I would appreciate some advices

Thanks a lot
Ben FL

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I would put a hang on filter(no carbon) instead of a circulation pump. You want something to filter out particles. Do you have any filter media or rock that you can move over to help with the beneficial bacteria? Don’t worry about nitrite, it is ammonia that is the issue in marine tanks.
Jay

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

+1 for the HOB filter

I threw some old filter material and some rocks to seed bacteria. They can absorb copper so they are essentially trash after. Ammonia alert badges are a good idea

 

[Pistol Peet]

You can use Prime in a tank that has copper in it this was an ammonia detoxifier so the ammonia will still be in there it just won't be toxic to the fish

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

You can use Prime in a tank that has copper in it this was an ammonia detoxifier so the ammonia will still be in there it just won't be toxic to the fish

But don’t use Prime if you are using Cupramine....it breaks the amine/copper bond, releasing a possibly deadly amount of free copper into the tank.
Jay

 

[Bfragale]

+1 on the HOB filter- just remove carbon so you don’t remove all your copper treatment.

also po4 And no3 shouldn’t matter too much of there are no corals. Ammonia badge as mentioned above is good- but get a new one lol. I have an old one that found out hard way didn’t work lol.

I think water change should be held off as to not dilute the treatment. But if your doing multiple treatments non-concurrent I would run carbon and water change in between treatments.

I always add an air pump too. I like the wooded air stones- seems to make more bubbles lol.

but good luck my friend and happy reefing!

 

[Pistol Peet]

Thanks for the extra info on that I did not know that it's very helpful to know I've always used copper safe and know that it is safe with prime as it's a chelated copper ... cupramine copper has always seemed a little harsher than the copper safe

 

[Ben FL]

Thanks a lot for all your inputs

I'll try to get an hang-on filter and an ammonia alert badge.

I plan to use Odinex or Colombo Cobrasal, I don't know if it is Chelated or not Copper.

What is Prime ?

EDIT : in case of ammonia rate increase, what I have to do ? Water change ?