Medicine in a QT

[jscarlata]

I am working on quarantining a potters angel I got on Thursday. When I got him he was doing well Thursday and Friday, but Friday night and today not so much. It looks like something is eating its tail, and there is some alone hanging from it. It's breathing heavy and just hiding. I have about 10-15 pounds good rock in there with him. The rock has some algae and sponge on it.
I read that treating with cupramine and/prazipro is good for this species. But I have no exp with fish meds, sonim not sure I the directions are accurate or if there are other processes to use.

 

[redneckgearhead]

DO NOT put meds in a tank with LR. One you will ruin the LR but also, the rock can cause reactions with the meds (esp copper). Have you tested for ammonia? Sounds like he may have fin rot. What is your salinity level in the tank?

 

[jscarlata]

Ammonia is zero
Salinity is 35ppt

I don't really care if I lose the rock, it's
Just extra pieces from my sump. It sounds tho that you are saying the meds can cause a reaction an possibly foul The water? Sorry for the dumb questions, I've been pretty lucky the last year and none of my fish had any issues going thru QT, so I havent medicated anything yet, I don't want to lose this guy so I'm trying to get it right. I AM up for the challenge...just want some guidance...
Qt is a 30g With a hang on power filter. The filter pad was in my sump for a month.
Thanks

 

[redneckgearhead]

When copper ions get into our aquarium water, they will complex with several other salt water ingredients and some of the things we put in our aquariums. Copper ions, as noted above, are very fond of forming complexes with carbonates. When they do, this complex is not very soluble at the pH of our aquariums and it will precipitate, or come out of solution.

Copper ions will do the same with rocks and substrates that contain any form of carbonate materials. This is one reason why it is best to use copper medications in a bare-bottom hospital tank without live rock, dead rock, and carbonate based decorations.

The precipitated copper-carbonate will redissolve if the pH of the aquarium water goes down. This has the effect of suddenly increasing the amount of copper in the tank water. So, the aquarist thinks they are in control of the copper concentration only to find that there is a surge of copper when the pH drops. In addition to maintaining the effective copper concentration, attention has to be given to the holding the pH of the water steady. By the way, this surge in copper, no matter how short of time it is, is enough to permanently injure, poison, or kill the fish being treated.

 

[A sea K]

Very informative quote redneck, thanks for posting that.
I am in the process of doing the tank transfer method to a temp QT to rid all my fish of ich. After all is done I feel there may be a reason to medicate with copper and my QT has both LR and sand in it. Ive read quite a bit on causes and cures but missed any information on interactions between copper and substrate.
I believe you have saved me a great deal of heart ache not to mention saved a few of my fishy friends.

 

[jscarlata]

Thanks for the info..big help for sure. Sadly the potters didn't make It thru the night. Whatever it had before coming to me must have accelerated during the stress of going from the lfs to my qt, I got the fish Thursday afternoon. On sat morning it started acting odd, by sat night 11:30 it had let go.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Sorry about the fish. Copper should NOT be used on Angels of this genus. Why would you want to treat with copper? Copper is used for treating some parasites and your fish didn't sound like this was the problem.