Seachem cupramine dosage too high?

[Sophisticated Reefer]

Hello,

I recently got some fish in my quarantine tank wich I wanna treat for ich with cupramine

Seachem recommends:

If the bottle has a dropper cap, use 20 drops (1 mL) per 40 L (10.5 US gallons) the first day, wait 48 hours, then repeat. On non-dropper caps, each inner ring is 1 mL. In freshwater use half dose. Final copper concentration is 0.5 mg/L (0.25 mg/L in freshwater). Leave at this concentration for 14 days. Do not redose without testing (MultiTest™ Copper). If tank has ever been treated with an ionic copper (e.g. copper chloride, sulfate or citrate), test copper level after initial dosing. Although most fish tolerate Cupramine™ to 0.8 mg/L, it is not advisable to exceed 0.6 mg/L copper.

Now I have 30L of water in my QT so I dosed 0.75ml I tested with salifert copper test and my water already contains 0.5ppm/mg/L of copper wich actually should be 0.25mgl if the bottle was right

Is my test off or did I do something wrong??

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I assume the 30 l volume was calculated by you to be the “net”, not the gross rated volume of the tank?

Did you dose by drops? Ive had issues dispensing drops and getting accurate volumes 15 to 22 drops per ml. I prefer even a cheap plastic pipette.

finally, you’re right, it could be the test, or how the test is being read. Run another test and have a second person read the results, and compare to what you see.
Jay

 

[Sophisticated Reefer]

I just did an volume calculation, it could be a little bit off but not much.

I dosed the copper with an accurate syringe so I am sure the dosage was perfect

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Good, I didn’t even think about using a syringe! It sounds like a test kit / reading issue then.
Jay

 

[Sophisticated Reefer]

Good, I didn’t even think about using a syringe! It sounds like a test kit / reading issue then.
Jay

Hmm that sucks... If I dint see any ich on my foxface for 14 days is it safe to say that the ich is dead?

Or should I make new saltwater and just use the recommended dosage even when it's way too high on my test kit?

 

[Sophisticated Reefer]

Foxface before and after formalin and copper:

After Before

 

[Sophisticated Reefer]

Ich came of today when his skin was shedding

 

[Redfoxtang]

From what we know ich will stay on a fish for 3-7 days. It then will drop off the fish and encrust for reproduction. Once reproduction has completed and they become “free swimming” It’s not until then they “die” as the copper disrupts the cycle.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hmm that sucks... If I dint see any ich on my foxface for 14 days is it safe to say that the ich is dead?

Or should I make new saltwater and just use the recommended dosage even when it's way too high on my test kit?

The normal treatment I use is 30 days in copper, then two weeks with no copper, just to see if anything pops back up. I think 14 days is too short, I would only do that if the QT was marginal for the fish, and you would risk losing them by keeping them in their longer.

If it wasn't for the cost of the saltwater, I'd say make up 10 gallons of new seawater, then dose it with copper as accurately as you can, then test it after mixing well. You can then be sure that the copper level is accurate, and you might even be able to determine a correction factor for your kit. You could also call Seachem to see what they say.

Jay