CopperSafe and Hospital Tank questions (another ICH)

Discussion in 'Diseases' started by Aslan14, May 4, 2012.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Aslan14

    Aslan14 Plankton

    Joined:
    May 4, 2012
    Messages:
    1
    Location:
    San Antonio
    Hey all! I have read thru as many threads as I can but my eyes are crossed now so I will just post my questions.

    I recently bought a coral beauty, had her in QT for almost 1 month and then into my DT she went.
    Then came the ich... Sigh, maybe 6 weeks would've been better? So it showed up on my powder brown tang (which from what I have read Tangs are very susceptible to ich) and my pink skunk clown. Lucky for me I have a blue and white LED light which allowed me to spot the ich on the clown when just the blues were on. Otherwise I don't know that I would have seen it No one else in the tank, including the coral beauty, is showing any signs of ich.

    Both fish are currently in a HT which I am treating with CopperSafe. I read that this type of treatment can be hard on the Tangs so I started off with 1/2 the recommended dosage. This has left me with a .25ppm copper level in tank. Other parameters are;
    pH 8.2
    Nitrate 10ppm
    Nitrate 0
    Alkalinity 300
    Temp 80degF
    Specific gravity is about 1.023.

    Tang is currently happily munching on some sushi paper and earlier gobbled up some mysis shrimp I smashed into some fresh garlic (which does not leave a particularly good smell in my kitchen! ). Pink skunk is looking rather depressed, but not trying to rub on anything and she is not breathing particularly hard, but she isn't making much of a move to eat either.

    So my questions are;

    1. Should I increase the amount of copper in the water?

    2. How long should I treat them both?

    3. Should I increase the temperature?

    4. Should I feed garlic with the frozen mysis shrimp at every feeding? (both in my DT and HT?)

    5. Should I still do weekly water changes in the HT?

    6. After the treatment, do I need to slowly reduce the amount of copper in the HT to acclimate them, or can I put them back into my DT?

    Thanks in advance for all of your advice :)
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Nvizn

    Nvizn Montipora Digitata

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Messages:
    1,079
    Location:
    Newport News, VA.
    1. Use the appropriate amount suggested on the bottle.
    2. Reference the suggested time frame as well.
    3. No.
    4. The purpose of garlic is to enhance the desire to feed. If this isn't a problem, it isn't necessary.
    5. Whatever water changes are necessary to maintain minimal-no traces of ammonia and nitrites.
    6. The use of carbon should remove traces of copper.
     
    1 person likes this.
  4. Vinnyboombatz

    Vinnyboombatz Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2010
    Messages:
    6,344
    Location:
    Dunnellon, Florida
    Unless you remove all the fish from your system it will do no good to treat the others. Just because you don't see signs of Ich on the other fish doesn't mean they are not infected. The white dots you can actually see on the fish is actually the skin irritation not the parasite. The visble signs of Ich only occur when its in its second to last stage. Ich also lives in and on the substrate for portions of its life so if the fish are infected your tank is infected. The only way to truly rid the tank is to remove ALL the fish and leave it fallow for 6-8 weeks.:cry:
    I have never been a big fan of removing the fish for treatment unless they have stopped eating as this just causes more stress. As long as the fish is eating it will usually be able to fight the parasite off on its own.