Cupramine

[Artur 1972]

After 8 years in the hobby Im changing my regimen. From now on all new fishes will go thru Prazipro and Cupramine treatment even when they look healthy. I know it is controversial topic and I have a lot of people against but also many are agree. My questions are: WHAT LEVEL of Cupramine is effective and I should keep my fishes in? 0.5? Lot of reefers say 0.3 is still effective and easier on fishes. Is this true? And second question is for HOW LONG should I keep them in? 4 weeks? I know those questions are so common but I really trust you guys. You helped me a lot before. Thanks.

 

[HumbleFish]

0.35-0.5 is the acceptable range.

I try to keep mine closer to 0.5 for 4 weeks, if the fish will tolerate it.

 

[noy]

After 8 years in the hobby Im changing my regimen. From now on all new fishes will go thru Prazipro and Cupramine treatment even when they look healthy. I know it is controversial topic and I have a lot of people against but also many are agree. My questions are: WHAT LEVEL of Cupramine is effective and I should keep my fishes in? 0.5? Lot of reefers say 0.3 is still effective and easier on fishes. Is this true? And second question is for HOW LONG should I keep them in? 4 weeks? I know those questions are so common but I really trust you guys. You helped me a lot before. Thanks.

My program exactly.
I find Cupramine not to be that harsh on fish so I keep it at the prescribed .5. If they are not symptomatic to begin with I only keep in Cupramine for 2 weeks and continue to quarantine them for 2-4 weeks in just a regular qt tank (w/o chemicals). If they become symptomatic then I repeat the cupramine for 2 weeks.

4 weeks is very hard to keep the Ammonia/Nitrite levels down because most of the time you are working with an uncycled tank. If you have to change out your water, I find its difficult to maintain the right Cu level.

 

[Artur 1972]

Thanks. See I have 125 mixed reef tank for over 8 years. I know I have ich in in it. But I keep my water pristine, not overcrowd my tank. I feed my fishes variety frozen food soaked in Garlic, Selcon and Zoe. My fishes seem pretty happy and healthy. The only time I ever saw ich is when I add new one. Then that ich is visible on new fish for couple days and thats it.They act normal but being me it bothers me that I know it is not perfect environment for them. I can see that specially on my Hippo when somedays he hides from me then comes out then hides again...staff like that.. I found really cheap on Craigslist another 125 with stand and i will set it also as mixed reef. But this time I want to make sure I won't introduce ich to that tank. In my QT I have 2 Clownfishes, Solar Wrasse and Bicolor Blenny. All really small. It just brakes my hart that I have to treat then with Copper even that they don't show any signs of being infected... But healthy fish can not show any signs of ich but still can be infected. So I guess its the only way.... Thread doesn't close with New Year:clown: so let me know what you think. Thanks. Happy New Year to everybody!!!!!

 

[noy]

Thanks. See I have 125 mixed reef tank for over 8 years. I know I have ich in in it. But I keep my water pristine, not overcrowd my tank. I feed my fishes variety frozen food soaked in Garlic, Selcon and Zoe. My fishes seem pretty happy and healthy. The only time I ever saw ich is when I add new one. Then that ich is visible on new fish for couple days and thats it.They act normal but being me it bothers me that I know it is not perfect environment for them. I can see that specially on my Hippo when somedays he hides from me then comes out then hides again...staff like that.. I found really cheap on Craigslist another 125 with stand and i will set it also as mixed reef. But this time I want to make sure I won't introduce ich to that tank. In my QT I have 2 Clownfishes, Solar Wrasse and Bicolor Blenny. All really small. It just brakes my hart that I have to treat then with Copper even that they don't show any signs of being infected... But healthy fish can not show any signs of ich but still can be infected. So I guess its the only way.... Thread doesn't close with New Year:clown: so let me know what you think. Thanks. Happy New Year to everybody!!!!!

This is a pretty good article on the biology of marine ich

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/

If you tank/fish don't show signs of ich for over 12 weeks then your tank is likely ich free. Chances are the theronts (hatched cysts) didn't find a suitable host and died off. Healthy fish have a slime coat and are resistant to ich (but not completely). If your fish are constantly symptomatic (scratching all the time, flashing in water, visible ich) then you probably still have it and its regularly going through cycles.

I lost a nice big powder blue tang because I didn't quarantine a new addition so from that point on I use copper for everything. I have a OS tang, Hippo tang, sailfin tang, yellow tang, clown, bangaii cardinal, mandarin and all (except the mandarin) went through the copper treatment and all are healthy and been with me for over 2 years. I will not add a fish into the tank unless I am 100% sure its disease free.