Copper Questions...

[jamesbaur13]

From what my understanding of it is, copper only kills protomonts and hatched tomites.

A couple of things I don't get about treatments that exclusively use copper...

- If by chance you managed to dislodge a tomont (which can stay dormant and immune to copper for 72 days) while transferring the fish and it was to end up in your DT you'd have ich in your DT.

- Why isn't a complete tank transfer mandatory after copper treatment? Given my understanding regarding the life cycle of marine ich, the longer the fish resides in the same aquarium post copper treatment (in water which isn't medicated) the greater the fish's risk is of being reinfected.

 

[jamesbaur13]

I never planned on proactively treating for ich.

Isn't it a possible scenario, given the above protocol which is often used, that a fish which did not exhibit signs of ich and later developed them has a potential to not be effectively treated?

The ich may of been feeding on the fish and remained unseen. It completed it's protomont stage and encysted. The fish then later shows signs of ich, copper treatment is used. The encysted tomonts are immune and the 2 week copper treatment does not extend past the tomont phase.

If the fish remains in the tank in non-medicated water then does it or does it not have the potential to become reinfected?

 

[MrTuskfish]

Great discussion questions. Snorvich has an excellent sticky on the fallow period for ich (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2041951). I guess the bottom line is that you may never get to to 100% kill with copper; possibly with anything that will kill the ich, but not the fish. Most of the time, 4 weeks of Cu is going to get all the emerging theronts....but not all the time. So, IMO & IME, observing for at least two weeks after Cu exposure is vital. Possibly repeating the whole treatment regimen isn't often necessary, but isn't impossible either. When it comes to killing critters we can't see; I think we just have to do the best we can and (IMO & IME) 100% kill 100% of the time just can't be done. By any method. Of course, keeping it out if the DT, at all costs, is always the way to go and I think this can be accomplished 99.5% (my guess, obviously) of the time.

 

[jamesbaur13]

Another question...

Does anyone know the contact time to kill protomonts and hatched tomites with copper? and at what dose?

I'm using the transfer method of curing.

I'm thinking of using copper as a means of sanitizing the water that is used when transferring the fish to another tank. Example, the fish is in the untreated hospital tank. By using a bowl, the fish is scooped up along with some of his water and placed in a bucket after every 3rd day. While the fish is in the bucket, copper is added to sanitize the water and fish that was scooped up with the bowl. The fish is then drip acclimated to the new tank, so a large majority of copper is displaced and thrown away during acclimation. The fish is then placed into the non-medicated and sanitized hospital tank.