First time using Cupramine

[Tracey2]

I have the Seachem Cupramine, the Seachem copper test kit, the tang with ich in the quartine tank with pvc pipe. The tang is fat and healthy other than the odd spec of ich and occational scratch but I want him clean to go to the dt.

The bottle says to dose 2 drops to 1 gallon on day 1, should I cut that dose in half to be safe?

 

[Gwynhidwy]

In my opinion that is not necessary. I have treated many fish with Cupramine and always followed the directions with success. The directions on the bottle already give a half dose the first day with the second half the second day already, and in my experience fish tolerate this medication well.

 

[Tracey2]

Ok thanks, I have read a couple of horror stories and the tang looks so good I would hate to harm him.

 

[LargeAngels]

Cupramine is an excellent copper treatment and the only one I will ever use. There are a couple of things one should know when using this product. DO NOT mix with any other meds, or water treatments, unless you know for sure that it is compatible. Some ammonia test kits will show a false positive with Cupramine.

 

[Tracey2]

Ok, I am a real CS here, I could only bring myself to add 30drops to 30 gallons. The tank is a 40g breeder and it looks to be about 3/4 full. I will test soon to see where I am at but even the test kit seems like it could be easily misread and when dosing drops they could be different sizes so there are so many possible mishaps that I decided to do the half dose. Is there any problem with slowly bring the copper up just to be sure?

 

[Kieth71]

As others have said adding it as the directions state is just fine.However i see no problem in dosing it in 4 days 1/3 at a time either.Just make sure you have an accurate test kit like seachem and as others have stated ammonia test kits like api will not be accurate.I use ammonia badges which work fine.

 

[Tracey2]

Thanks for your help. I tested this morning and copper is 0. I have the Seachem test kit, I know it works correctly because I did their reference test. I'm not sure though is the reagent 1 suppose to only have a small amount of powder in the bottom or should it be full?

I added 15 more drops, the tang is eating but does look a little stressed, swimming around quickly.

Also, what is the best way to maintain copper level thru water changes and is it normal to have to redose within the 14 day period or when I get the copper to 0.5mg should it stay there?

 

[Gwynhidwy]

I don't think my test kit had a full bottle of the powder either time I have bought one, so I think that is normal. The test is only so sensitive, so the smaller dose that you added might be too diluted to register on the test. As an extra check, you could take a gallon of water (whatever you have made up for water changes would work well, just throw it out after this) and add the full dosage to it, mix well, and then test a sample from that.

I have never had to redose the whole treatment tank, but I do add a full dose for the amount that I am changing to any water that I change. So if I did a 10G water change I would add 30 drops to the water I was adding back to the treatment tank.

 

[Tracey2]

Thanks Gwynhidwy, my little bottle of powder only has a very small amount in the bottom, its not even 1/8th full, so I wonder if the stir stick is getting enough on it.

The instructions on the cuupramine say 2 drops per gallon and then repreat in 48 hours, I don't understand the 30 drops per 10 g wouldn't 40 drops be the full dose?

 

[Gwynhidwy]

Perhaps I have an older bottle or it is a slightly different formulation that is available in the UK, but my instructions say: "16 drops (1mL) per 10.5 gallons (40 L) the first day, wait 48 hours, then repeat". By my math that works out to about 30 drops, but math is far from my favorite subject!

If this is different than what your bottle directs disregard it. Follow whatever your bottle recommends on dosage.

 

[Tracey2]

Yes different instructions, I will follow to a T, very scared.

 

[LargeAngels]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15709711#post15709711 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tracey2
Thanks Gwynhidwy, my little bottle of powder only has a very small amount in the bottom, its not even 1/8th full, so I wonder if the stir stick is getting enough on it.

The instructions on the cuupramine say 2 drops per gallon and then repreat in 48 hours, I don't understand the 30 drops per 10 g wouldn't 40 drops be the full dose?

Before adding ANY more copper I would take a 5 gallon bucket of fresh saltwater and add 1ml of Cupramine and test that water. It should give you 0.5. If it reads 0 then your test kit is bad. If it is a bare tank with only PVC then there is no reason why the copper level is 0.

Years back Seachem had problems with some of their test kits and the worst part was that the reference sample still worked which made you think the test kit was OK.

 

[Tracey2]

OMG, does this get any scarier. Thanks Large Angels, I will do.

While I have you here, can you recommend angels that would get along and be happy in a 180? Of course like everyone else I would love to have a Emperor and Queen and a Regal but realize this is not probable in my tank.

 

[LargeAngels]

I think emperors and queens are stunning, but they get big and can be very aggressive. For those fish I wouldn't recommend anything less than an 8' tank full grown.

Are you looking for large angles or dwarfs? Some of my favorite of the smaller large angels is goldflake, blueline and regal.

 

[Tracey2]

Thanks so much, I love the regal and I will look into the goldflake and blueline.