Started copper and my Firefish is acting weird

[reefiniteasy]

Fish have been in QT for one week being observed. They are all eating great. Started copper today. First dose went in at 8:45am and took the tank to .55ppm. Send dose went in at 7:00pm and took the tank to 1.22ppm. I think I miscalculated the total water volume in my QT. Anyway. The goby and wrasse are doing great. The Firefish has gone into slow motion. It’s not zipping around the tank as it has been. He kind of swims and then drifts like a boat that shut its motor. I watched him almost get sucked into the powerhead twice. So I decided to unplug the powerhead, I still have the sponge and HOB filter going so the tank is oxygenated. Any thoughts on the Firefish? Should I discontinue copper and use another method?

 

[dedragon]

I would drop the copper down to .75 or lower for now via water changes to let the firefish adjust to it. Assuming it is having copper issues right now given the info

 

[reefiniteasy]

I would drop the copper down to .75 or lower for now via water changes to let the firefish adjust to it. Assuming it is having copper issues right now given the info

Just swapped out a gallon real quick as we are putting the littles to bed. I will retest copper once they are asleep and change another gallon if needed. Thank you for the suggestion. Not sure why I didn’t think of it. He is doing ok, but not as energetic as usual.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Are your other parameters ok? My yellow tang was very lethargic one day. It turned out to have nothing to do with copper. For whatever reason the pH in the tank had dropped to 7.4. I slowly corrected it by doing water changes over several hours and the next day he was back to his normal self, in the setting of full copper.

 

[reefiniteasy]

Are your other parameters ok? My yellow tang was very lethargic one day. It turned out to have nothing to do with copper. For whatever reason the pH in the tank had dropped to 7.4. I slowly corrected it by doing water changes over several hours and the next day he was back to his normal self, in the setting of full copper.

Haven’t checked pH but the other fish are great. I’ll check it later just in case. Thank you!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Fish have been in QT for one week being observed. They are all eating great. Started copper today. First dose went in at 8:45am and took the tank to .55ppm. Send dose went in at 7:00pm and took the tank to 1.22ppm. I think I miscalculated the total water volume in my QT. Anyway. The goby and wrasse are doing great. The Firefish has gone into slow motion. It’s not zipping around the tank as it has been. He kind of swims and then drifts like a boat that shut its motor. I watched him almost get sucked into the powerhead twice. So I decided to unplug the powerhead, I still have the sponge and HOB filter going so the tank is oxygenated. Any thoughts on the Firefish? Should I discontinue copper and use another method?

what copper product are you using? By the two decimal reading you gave, I presume you are using the Hanna HR?
Fire fish are not sensitive to copper. Is it breathing hard or fast?
Jay

 

[reefiniteasy]

what copper product are you using? By the two decimal reading you gave, I presume you are using the Hanna HR?
Fire fish are not sensitive to copper. Is it breathing hard or fast?
Jay

I am using Copper Power and I have the Hanna HR. I don’t know that it’s breathing any different, maybe fast. He just swims and then goes into sort of a suspended animation like he is coasting. It’s weird. Definitely not the swimming I’ve seen the last week