Rookie mistake...HELP!

[Shellback82]

I made a rookie mistake and that was to add 4 new watchman gobies directly to my display tank, water and all. I know I don't have to tell you what happened next. Note to self...Don't try to do more than one thing at a time. Let's just say I have to start all over again. I have a 125 gal tank with lots of rock. I opted to put as many of my corals and inverts as I could catch into a quarantine tank instead of just the fish for two reasons. First, I had a couple of rose tipped bubble anemones attached to rocks so I had to get them out. Second, the fish are extremely hard to catch with all the rock in the tank. I dosed the main tank with hw-odin-ex copper. I lost every fish but 2 green chromis'. I finally was able to catch them and put them in another quarantine tank where I dosed it with copper. Here's my question. Now that my display tank no longer has any fish in it, can I do a massive water change to try and get the copper and velvet eggs/larvae out and start putting my corals and inverts back in the main tank since velvet supposedly doesn't infect them? I was told that now is a good time to put the corals back while the main tank is going through detox. By the way, I have a copper tester from Hanna and Cuprisorb coming in a couple days.

 

[mdb_talon]

I would definetely start water changes but would wait to put coral back until you get that copper out and are able to test it is gone.

 

[hds4216]

Putting copper in the display is generally a very bad idea because it's absorbed by the rocks, the sand, and even the aquarium silicone in the seals. And basically any level of copper is toxic to invertebrates, they're incredibly sensitive to it. The rock will absorb the copper and leach it back out over time. This also makes it very hard to maintain therapeutic levels while the actual treatment is occurring. This will severely limit what you can do with that tank, rock, and sand in the future.

 

[ScottR]

As stated above, putting copper in the display will severely limit what you can do with the tank. You may need to break it down and start over if you want to keep inverts.

 

[Shellback82]

Thanks. UGH!

 

[hds4216]

Thanks. UGH!

I know it's frustrating, but don't give up! We all make mistakes

 

[Tamberav]

Run lots and lots of CupriSorb. Some people have been able to use rock again eventually but it takes time to get that copper out.

You can not just do water changes to get rid of the velvet. You need to run the tank FALLOW, without any fish for at least 6 weeks for velvet and longer for ich.

 

[av8soulfly]

Poly Filters will take the copper out too. They will turn blue as they absorb the copper. When these filter pads stop turning blue, the copper should be gone, but definitely test the water for copper before adding livestock of any kind, especially inverts.

 

[Shellback82]

Run lots and lots of CupriSorb. Some people have been able to use rock again eventually but it takes time to get that copper out.

You can not just do water changes to get rid of the velvet. You need to run the tank FALLOW, without any fish for at least 6 weeks for velvet and longer for ich.

Thanks. I've got Cuprisorb coming tomorrow. What I'm planning on doing now is a total breakdown of the tank. I'm going to use a siphon and stir up all the sand to try and get as much of the copper out of the sand as possible. Then I'm going to continue to pull out the rest of the water. Once that happens, I'm going to take out all of the rock and rinse it off with fresh salt water and put it back in the tank (hopefully in the same position). Once I have the rock back in place, I'm going to try and get the sand back to where it's supposed to be. after that, I'm going to rinse out the tank with fresh saltwater, empty that out then fill the tank with fresh saltwater. Once at that point, I'm going to continue running the Cuprisorb to get out any remaining copper and once I get a reading of zero, start building it back up with corals. My two remaining chromis' are staying put in the QT for another 6 weeks. Does that plan sound legit? Thanks, in advance!

 

[Shellback82]

Thanks. I've got Cuprisorb coming tomorrow. What I'm planning on doing now is a total breakdown of the tank. I'm going to use a siphon and stir up all the sand to try and get as much of the copper out of the sand as possible. Then I'm going to continue to pull out the rest of the water. Once that happens, I'm going to take out all of the rock and rinse it off with fresh salt water and put it back in the tank (hopefully in the same position). Once I have the rock back in place, I'm going to try and get the sand back to where it's supposed to be. after that, I'm going to rinse out the tank with fresh saltwater, empty that out then fill the tank with fresh saltwater. Once at that point, I'm going to continue running the Cuprisorb to get out any remaining copper and once I get a reading of zero, start building it back up with corals. My two remaining chromis' are staying put in the QT for another 6 weeks. Does that plan sound legit? Thanks, in advance! Are there any better solutions?