Cupramine & ICH

[Kenmx10]

I moved 3 fish to a QT tank 4 weeks ago because they came down with ICH. Heniochus and a Coral Beauty. I've been dosing with Cupramine and testing with a Salifert test kit.

Test kit shows copper is at or above recommended level which is .6ppm, However , One Heniochus dies and the ICH had got worst. I just looked at the other Heniochus and his is getting worse too. Could the test kit be wrong and Im under dosing? Im afraid to kill the fish by overdosing with the kit reading around .8ppm

Any Recommendations?

 

[lesleybird]

Hi, I have always read that you should use the same brand of test kit as the medication. If they still have ich then there may not be enough copper in the tank but I would not put more in without using the proper test kit or you may overdose and kill your fish. If you want to keep them from being re-infected before you get the proper test kit then take them out and place them in a large rubbermaid with a clean powerhead, heater and new saltwater. About a week or two I posted (in this disease section) about the transfer method to cure ich and gave a link. The transfer method has worked for me several times but it is very labor intensive and not for everyone. I am not saying that you should use the transfer method the whole way through since you have the set up for copper, only that you should read it and the concepts about the ich life cycle so you can get yourself out of this jam. I would get them out of the tank with the copper where they are continuing to be reinfected for two or three days until you get the same brand of test kit and then put them back when the copper level is correct. Good luck, Lesley