Copper treatment HELP

[EmDy]

Hello all experts,
I have been reading this forum for a week now and would like to get some help. I set up a 150 fish only tank and put in a buch of Angels. Fishes starting to have itch and I dose cupramine and copper level is .5ish with salinity down to 1.016. Itch seem to be gone for 1wks now. I do auto water change about 1gl per day. I plan to continue treatment for about 2-3 months. After that, prazipro time.
What should I do next?

 

[krzyphsygy]

Hello all experts,
I have been reading this forum for a week now and would like to get some help. I set up a 150 fish only tank and put in a buch of Angels. Fishes starting to have itch and I dose cupramine and copper level is .5ish with salinity down to 1.016. Itch seem to be gone for 1wks now. I do auto water change about 1gl per day. I plan to continue treatment for about 2-3 months. After that, prazipro time.
What should I do next?

 

[krzyphsygy]

Some one else needs to chime in,sounds like you might have a couple dfferent treatment problems from what I read. I dont think you can do Hypo and copper at the same time. read the stickies on medication interactions in this forum for better information. Snorvich and Mr. Turkfish should chime in soon....

 

[MrTuskfish]

Gradually get your SG back to the normal range. No reason to do WCs, it changes Cu level and that can ruin your treatment protocol. (unless you suspect an ammonia problem). Get a stick-on ammonia badge; they work with most Cu brands and most test kits don't. I assume this is a FOWLR tank; monitoring Cu isn't easy because LR & substrate absorb and release Cu. Also, die-off from LR can produce ammonia. Watch fish closely and reduce Cu (to.35-.40, if Cupramine) if they stop eating, especially the Angels. What brand of Cu test kit are you using? Do not expose fish to copper for more than 4 weeks. When you're done, get and use a QT or you'll go through this again. Keep in touch and ask questions as needed. Read all the ich stickies at the top of the forum.....good luck.

 

[EmDy]

Hello all,
This is brand new FO tank. rock and sand are not live. Fishes are eating like a pigs and they get to eat at least 5 times a day. I used Seachem CU test kit. all of my fishes are currently not having any itch for over a week now. is that mean I can stop the CU after 4 wks after the last time I see itch. after 4 wks, what do I do? starting CU absorber and water change until no more CU? sorry for all the newbie questions. Im always a reef guys and this FO tank is a first for me. below is link to my reef and fish tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9DWgKLnKG8

 

[MrTuskfish]

Live or not; rock & sand make monitoring Cu level difficult. But if you're always in the .35-.50 range; (IMO & IME) you're OK with most fish. Its common for ich to disappear, then reappear; but with copper in the tank, I doubt you'll see any more. There are many different opinions on the length of Cu treatment. the bottle says 2 weeks (I think); I treat for 4 weeks. I just don't like to expose fish to the copper longer than that. Yes, remove copper after 4 weeks with Cuprisorb and/or a good carbon. Its possible, because of the unpredictable ich life-cycle time, that you may have to re-dose copper---but I doubt it. You're using SeaChem products and they have great tech-support. I'd call and discuss what you're doing with them too. They give honest info, not just sales pitches, IME. 1-888-seachem.
BTW; You sure don't have to be sorry for the newbie questions; everyone was a newbie once; and at the rate our hobby is changing, everyone still is. Remember; almost everything you hear on our forum is opinion and experience, not gospel. Do all the asking, reading, and research you can and make a good decision. If you only follow one of my suggestions; please get a QT tank!

EDIT: I saw your 'Go Angels'' signature. With what they're paying Pujols, I'll bet a beer at the stadium will go for at least the price of your new QT!