help!! with hospital tank

[matty_g]

okay, so a few things first. Im ignorant, it seems very much so. I suspect big als (lfs in kanata of ottawa if anyone lives close) is a pile of crappy stupid idiots and as a result so am i. i had a few extra questions i couldnt find answers to on the stickys.

I have two fish infected with ich and im trying to treat with cupramine. I was told for my hospital tank to filter with a white foam pad and piece live rock. I have been doing a 1/3 water change every two days. I added 16 drops first day to a 10g tank, then 48hrs later another 16 drops, then 8 drops a day of the medicine. copper levels remain at 0ppm after 7 days, ammonia at .5ppm, nitrite at about 3ppm, and nitrate at about 20ppm (levels tested after a water change). Obviously my filtration is not working.

my poor clown is getting worse and worse, and the rabbitfish often changes his colours, but isnt showing signs of ich.

here are my questions:
1. What effect does live rock have on cupramine?
2. Should I continue to add drops daily (after the initial dose) until i get the .5ppm copper?
3. What filtration should i use on a hospital tank?
4. copper colour cards seem difficult to read, it always seems clear, is it possible im reading id wrong?
5. since my nitrite and nitrate levels are dangerously high, how much water can i remove safely and how often?


Im sorry if im asking questions that i can find on the stickys. And thanks to the forum, this place seems to be hands down the best source of info i have.

 

[h2so4hurts]

1) Live rock will suck cupramine out of soultion.
2) Yes
3) An air driven sponge filter works great
4) Which test kit are you using? Sailfert and seachem are the best for cupramine
5) What's dangerously high? Nitrate and Nitrite are less of a worry than ammonia. Nitrate around 80 isn't uncommon in FOWLR tanks where people rarely change the water

You might want to think about doing a dip in rid-ich plus (5mL rid-ich plus, 1 gallon of tank water for an hour with heavy aeration). It's a formalin solution that should kill most of the parasites on your fish and give them instant relief. The tank transfer method is a little more work, but just as effective as cupramine and doesn't require constant testing. If you do think about doing the tank transfer method, be sure to dry out your current QT and wash it down with a mild bleach solution to kill any crypto that's in the tank. Then rinse it with DI and then fill it back up and get it cycling with a sponge filter. If you don't have a filter pad in your main tank to seed the tank, you can get a bottle of microbactr7 or Seachem stability to get your tank cycled in a week or so(tank transfer takes 12 days, so this is long enough to get your QT cycled). You can do tank transfer in 5 gallon buckets in a pinch (heater and air stone though!). Good luck!

 

[matty_g]

3. not sure what an air driven sponge is, but i think i have it.
4. im using the api copper test, is this the right one?
5. nitrite = 3.0 nitrate = 20 ppm (I thought those levels were very high, my display usually sits about 0ppm nitrite and 3-5ppm nitrate) what are dangerous levels?

I think ill stick with the cupramine just because the qt is set up already. i think now that i have taken out the live rock the copper levels should finally rise.

Is there anyway i can re introduce the piece of live rock into my dt? i thought of drying it out over a couple months then adding it again afterwords.

thanks for the info!

 

[MrTuskfish]

API tests don't work with Cupramine. Here's all you need on Cupramine. Read the FAQ. Seachem has great tech support too, don't hesitate to call them. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Cupramine.html
NITRATES DO NOT HURT FISH!!! I know many folks don't believe this; that's the reef influence. Before LR made reefkeeping popular; nobody even knew (or cared) what nitrates were. Nitrates are harmful to corals and other inverts. Do some research you won't find anything (other than possibly some anecdotal reports concerning some species) showing nitrate, at any level, hurts fish. Probably the most read book in our hobby, "The Conscience Marine Aquarist", mentions fish kept for years in water with nitrate in the 100s, even 1000s ppm. I'm not encouraging sky-high nitrate, its a sign of poor housekeeping; just saying that nitrate at say ,<80ppm, is nothing to sweat about. Especially in a QT/HT.
If the LR completely dries for months, its safe.

 

[matty_g]

ok my answers have been answered! thank you very much! i really hate the lfs the amount of mis information they have given me is stunning! i think if it werent for this forum i would have wasted the thousands of dollars on my set up only to have a tank crash.

btw tuskfish, i love your signature, made me laugh. i dont eat meat you see but i love the jokes i hear, that one my friend is in the top 5.