Here's an update.
My last thread was asking for treatment recommendations for Ich or Velvet Marine. Thanks to all of you great hobbyists here at RC, I was told that a copper treatment was the best remedy to help cure these diseases....rather than the FWD. We are new to the hobby, our tank has only been established for 6 months so the help we received was whole-heartedly appreciated.
After painfully researching these two common diseases and taking to heart the advice we were given by the RC hobbyists, we decided to go with the copper treatment. We used a product called Cupramine. I'll say this...we are fortunate enough to live close to the worlds largest distributor of marine supplies, That Pet/Fish Place (www.thatpetplace.com). This place is amazing! They have it all! They also have numerous marine biologists on staff every day of the week! We took our research to the MB's at TPP and they too recommended the Cupramine.
Our sick fish:
1 Blue Hippo Tang - baby (less than 3 inches long). His name is Archimedes.
1 Bi-Color Pygmy Angel. His name is Orion.
It all started with Archimedes. We noticed one day that he had small white spots on his belly and he was always bashing himself against rocks to take care of the itch. A rapid growth consumed him. Within 24 hours he was covered from eyes to tail in white spots. Right away, we established a small 10 gallon hospital tank. No Rocks. Just a filter, air bubbles and tube to hide in. Of course there is a heater as well as lighting. The set up was recommended by the MB's at TPP. Of course this tank had to cycle before we could introduce the sick Archimedes for treatment. The next morning Orion had a large, flesh looking sore attached to his gill. We called the MB's. They said it sounded like either a sign of Velvet Marine or a larva mass of ICH! (He is a bit of a reef picker at times-nothing serious-but they said he could have also been stung by a coral.) They said the copper treatment would also help Orion whichever illness it turned out to be. They did say that a 10 gallon tank was probably not an ideal (but would work) source for hospital tank. They say 20 is the way to go depending on the size and number of sick fish. We will change this after treatment. Now just to clear something up. Orion had no bad behavior. He was eating, swimming and enjoying the reef as usual but Archimedes, he wasn't eating, swimming or anything. He lost color, weight and pretty much just laid on the bottom of the tank and had a very hard time breathing.
The treatment:
We used distilled water and Red Sea Salt mix which I love and will always use. As I said. No rocks, no nothing. Just the essential equipment. The only decoration is a small tube for the fish to hide. We followed the directions on the Cupramine bottle. 15 drops per 10 gallons of water. Test water for copper presence. 48 hours later, added the additional 15 drops and test water. Perfect 5ppm as described on treatment bottle.
The first day we did not notice any difference in the appearance of the fish. The second day Archimedes started clearing up! It was very exciting! He even ate which he had not done in 2 days. He started swimming again too! We are only on the 5th day of treatment but it gets better every single day! They have to remain in the hospital tank for another 10 days. 9 of treatment and 1 day to run carbon through the filter to get rid of any remaining copper on the fish and in the tank water period. If copper is introduced to a reef tank it will indeed kill all of your inverts and most of your corals. After the final step I will repost with final results but I had to get this off my chest. Our fish are our hobby and we enjoy them very much. We would be heart broken if something happened to them.
Hope you enjoyed and more importantly, I hope it helps someone else!
Whats in our tank:
44 Gallon Pentagon ( We will be moving to a 120-180 in 12-24 mo.)
Rena II Canister Filter
Coralife Super Protein Skimmer
150 Watt Heater
10k 150w Metal Halide ( run from 11am-5pm)
4 T5 Blue (run from 9am-7pm)
2 Blue Led Moon lights (run from 7pm-7am)
Surface skimmer
2 Hydor-Koralia power heads ( 1-600gph and 1-400gph)
Livestock:
1 Blue Hippo Tang
1 Bi-Color Pygmy Angel
2 True Percula Clownfish
2 Crommis
1 Red ring snail
15 cleaner snails ( our spartans)
1 Sand Star Fish
1 Orange Cup Coral ( beautiful)
1 Cabbage Coral
1 Giant Red Gorgonian
Slew of rock based polyps
Approx. 100 lbs. of live rock & Tonga
Soon to come:
Our own RO/DI system!! -Within in a week!
Chiller ( probably not for quite awhile yet...$) - if anyone knows where I can get a good one at a good price or perhaps used from an RC hobbyist, we are open to all suggestions.
My last thread was asking for treatment recommendations for Ich or Velvet Marine. Thanks to all of you great hobbyists here at RC, I was told that a copper treatment was the best remedy to help cure these diseases....rather than the FWD. We are new to the hobby, our tank has only been established for 6 months so the help we received was whole-heartedly appreciated.
After painfully researching these two common diseases and taking to heart the advice we were given by the RC hobbyists, we decided to go with the copper treatment. We used a product called Cupramine. I'll say this...we are fortunate enough to live close to the worlds largest distributor of marine supplies, That Pet/Fish Place (www.thatpetplace.com). This place is amazing! They have it all! They also have numerous marine biologists on staff every day of the week! We took our research to the MB's at TPP and they too recommended the Cupramine.
Our sick fish:
1 Blue Hippo Tang - baby (less than 3 inches long). His name is Archimedes.
1 Bi-Color Pygmy Angel. His name is Orion.
It all started with Archimedes. We noticed one day that he had small white spots on his belly and he was always bashing himself against rocks to take care of the itch. A rapid growth consumed him. Within 24 hours he was covered from eyes to tail in white spots. Right away, we established a small 10 gallon hospital tank. No Rocks. Just a filter, air bubbles and tube to hide in. Of course there is a heater as well as lighting. The set up was recommended by the MB's at TPP. Of course this tank had to cycle before we could introduce the sick Archimedes for treatment. The next morning Orion had a large, flesh looking sore attached to his gill. We called the MB's. They said it sounded like either a sign of Velvet Marine or a larva mass of ICH! (He is a bit of a reef picker at times-nothing serious-but they said he could have also been stung by a coral.) They said the copper treatment would also help Orion whichever illness it turned out to be. They did say that a 10 gallon tank was probably not an ideal (but would work) source for hospital tank. They say 20 is the way to go depending on the size and number of sick fish. We will change this after treatment. Now just to clear something up. Orion had no bad behavior. He was eating, swimming and enjoying the reef as usual but Archimedes, he wasn't eating, swimming or anything. He lost color, weight and pretty much just laid on the bottom of the tank and had a very hard time breathing.
The treatment:
We used distilled water and Red Sea Salt mix which I love and will always use. As I said. No rocks, no nothing. Just the essential equipment. The only decoration is a small tube for the fish to hide. We followed the directions on the Cupramine bottle. 15 drops per 10 gallons of water. Test water for copper presence. 48 hours later, added the additional 15 drops and test water. Perfect 5ppm as described on treatment bottle.
The first day we did not notice any difference in the appearance of the fish. The second day Archimedes started clearing up! It was very exciting! He even ate which he had not done in 2 days. He started swimming again too! We are only on the 5th day of treatment but it gets better every single day! They have to remain in the hospital tank for another 10 days. 9 of treatment and 1 day to run carbon through the filter to get rid of any remaining copper on the fish and in the tank water period. If copper is introduced to a reef tank it will indeed kill all of your inverts and most of your corals. After the final step I will repost with final results but I had to get this off my chest. Our fish are our hobby and we enjoy them very much. We would be heart broken if something happened to them.
Hope you enjoyed and more importantly, I hope it helps someone else!
Whats in our tank:
44 Gallon Pentagon ( We will be moving to a 120-180 in 12-24 mo.)
Rena II Canister Filter
Coralife Super Protein Skimmer
150 Watt Heater
10k 150w Metal Halide ( run from 11am-5pm)
4 T5 Blue (run from 9am-7pm)
2 Blue Led Moon lights (run from 7pm-7am)
Surface skimmer
2 Hydor-Koralia power heads ( 1-600gph and 1-400gph)
Livestock:
1 Blue Hippo Tang
1 Bi-Color Pygmy Angel
2 True Percula Clownfish
2 Crommis
1 Red ring snail
15 cleaner snails ( our spartans)
1 Sand Star Fish
1 Orange Cup Coral ( beautiful)
1 Cabbage Coral
1 Giant Red Gorgonian
Slew of rock based polyps
Approx. 100 lbs. of live rock & Tonga
Soon to come:
Our own RO/DI system!! -Within in a week!
Chiller ( probably not for quite awhile yet...$) - if anyone knows where I can get a good one at a good price or perhaps used from an RC hobbyist, we are open to all suggestions.
