copper and disease

[one24fan]

i got marine velvet or ich in my tank. i used copper to treat it but all the fish died. now i have broke down the whole system to redo. what should i do with the sand. is it ok to still use it. i dont want the disease to come back. plus i wanna get rid of the copper.what should i do

 

[Andrew]

[welcome]

My guess is you added too much copper and didn't use a copper test kit right? Well if you want to start all over, get new sand and ect. Mix up new water and replace it all.

 

[Russian123]

Well sorry about your loss and [welcome] but sand is usually very inexpsnsive so I wouldnt risk it at that price. As far as the Live Rock ( if you have any) just cook it.

 

[one24fan]

thanks for the replies. actually the copper reading was 1.0. i thought it was supposed to be 1.5 to 2.0. what about the filter? its a emperor 400 should i put new filters in it? and a new bio wheel?

 

[bertoni]

I would definitely ditch the filter media and the bio-wheel.

 

[Paintbug]

copper=bad news for reef tanks. you need to venture into the chemistry forum here. look for some threads about or ask about copper removal. other wise its going to be near impossible to keep inverts in your tank. thats why most people that have been doing this for awhile have hospital tanks. i dont mean to sound like a butthead, im just trying to inform you

 

[Pandora]

Copper is toxic to inverts at MUCH lower conc's than 1ppm (try only several parts per billion). I would ditch the media/biowheel for sure. The substrate is if-y as well, depends on how long you were treating for copper.