LouisianaReefer
New member
Greatings everyone,
I thought I would share my 1st experience with using copper treatments. Fist of all, I have a 75 gallon display with lots of corals and inverts and formerly 4 fish. Two died after receiving a frag gift which may have carried a hitchhiker parasite (ich likely). I read about the lifecycle of the ich parasite which lives for a time in the substrate. I learned my lesson the hard way! I will never, ever put another frag or even small piece of liverock in my tank without doing a coral dip treatment with Coral Rx or a similar product!
I tried the use of herbal immune system builders to help the fish fight of whatever they were dealing with. It helped for a time yet the problem resurfaced. IF YOU ARE WONDERING ABOUT USING A "REEF-SAFE" HERBAL TREATMENT, PLEASE SKIP THIS BECAUSE IT NEVER REALLY RIDS THE FISH OF THE PROBLEM; INSTEAD IT PROLONGS A LIFE OF SUFFERING FOR YOUR FISH. For me this hoax even cause the life of 1 fish unecessarily.
Months after I completed the herbal non-remedie, I noted my flame-fin tang darting about, breathing heavy, and having some faint discoloration on his body, I decided to spend half a day getting my 2 remaining fish out. Using 2 15 gallon tubs and lots of my tank water, I removed 90% of my rock work and 75% of my corals to get to the 2 remaining fish and started them with a copper treatment. This was a good tank cleaning opportunity by the way.
Using a quarantine tank, I slowly started using Coppersafe by Sentry/Mardel because that is what the LFS had. Even though I was testing for proper copper levels, it almost killed my 1 remaining banggai cardinal fish. Coppersafe says on the bottle that it can be used for both freshwater and SW tanks. Come to find out, copper is extremely stressful to some breeds of fish... especially Coppersafe from my experience. The tang was barely affected at all, yet the banggai did not eat for almost a week! After more research, I discoved that copper meds are a very strong appetite suppressant. Sentry/Mardel does not warn customers of all this with the included literature that comes with the medicine. Perhaps these companies want everyone to re-invent the wheel. Side effects are listed for human medicines; why not list them for pet medicines? I had to back down on the copper to keep from killing the banggai who is still only eating sparsely today yet improving day-by-day.
I ordered Seachem's copper medicine because I heard it is a safer, less toxic medicine. After it is delivered within a few days, I plan to do a 75% water change and run carbon for about a day to eliminate the remaining Coppersafe product before starting to dose the Seachem copper medicine slowly over 3 days and keep up the therapeutic level for 2 or 3 weeks. I plan on keeping my display tank fallow for a total of 9 weeks before returning the fish.
I appreciate any advice on the plan. I do have a couple of questions:
(1) Is there any harm in running a very small skimmer in the quarantine tank to perhaps give me a little bit extra time between my frequent water changes? I have an old air-driven skimmer which should also help with giving more oxygen to the water. After such, would soak the smimmer in vinegar for at least an hour and rinse well before ever using it in another system.
(2) I have an RO unit in my home for filtered water. I noticed that there may be some ammonia in the water even though my water comes out having only 3 or 4 ppm disolved solids. Prior to all this, I used low amounts of Prime to help remove any chloramines and ammonia for all my water changes. Seachem tech support says that they do not recommend the use of Prime with copper treatments because both chemicals together reduce oxygen in the water. My brother says that I should go to BRS and get a special carbon upgrade kit for my RO unit that removes chloramines/ammonia; however, I am already over budget for my reef tank spending right now. Any resolutions? Could I mix the two chemicals if I run an airline in the quarantine tank to help compensate for the low oxygen levels?
I appreciate any advice you all have to offer.
I thought I would share my 1st experience with using copper treatments. Fist of all, I have a 75 gallon display with lots of corals and inverts and formerly 4 fish. Two died after receiving a frag gift which may have carried a hitchhiker parasite (ich likely). I read about the lifecycle of the ich parasite which lives for a time in the substrate. I learned my lesson the hard way! I will never, ever put another frag or even small piece of liverock in my tank without doing a coral dip treatment with Coral Rx or a similar product!
I tried the use of herbal immune system builders to help the fish fight of whatever they were dealing with. It helped for a time yet the problem resurfaced. IF YOU ARE WONDERING ABOUT USING A "REEF-SAFE" HERBAL TREATMENT, PLEASE SKIP THIS BECAUSE IT NEVER REALLY RIDS THE FISH OF THE PROBLEM; INSTEAD IT PROLONGS A LIFE OF SUFFERING FOR YOUR FISH. For me this hoax even cause the life of 1 fish unecessarily.
Months after I completed the herbal non-remedie, I noted my flame-fin tang darting about, breathing heavy, and having some faint discoloration on his body, I decided to spend half a day getting my 2 remaining fish out. Using 2 15 gallon tubs and lots of my tank water, I removed 90% of my rock work and 75% of my corals to get to the 2 remaining fish and started them with a copper treatment. This was a good tank cleaning opportunity by the way.
Using a quarantine tank, I slowly started using Coppersafe by Sentry/Mardel because that is what the LFS had. Even though I was testing for proper copper levels, it almost killed my 1 remaining banggai cardinal fish. Coppersafe says on the bottle that it can be used for both freshwater and SW tanks. Come to find out, copper is extremely stressful to some breeds of fish... especially Coppersafe from my experience. The tang was barely affected at all, yet the banggai did not eat for almost a week! After more research, I discoved that copper meds are a very strong appetite suppressant. Sentry/Mardel does not warn customers of all this with the included literature that comes with the medicine. Perhaps these companies want everyone to re-invent the wheel. Side effects are listed for human medicines; why not list them for pet medicines? I had to back down on the copper to keep from killing the banggai who is still only eating sparsely today yet improving day-by-day.
I ordered Seachem's copper medicine because I heard it is a safer, less toxic medicine. After it is delivered within a few days, I plan to do a 75% water change and run carbon for about a day to eliminate the remaining Coppersafe product before starting to dose the Seachem copper medicine slowly over 3 days and keep up the therapeutic level for 2 or 3 weeks. I plan on keeping my display tank fallow for a total of 9 weeks before returning the fish.
I appreciate any advice on the plan. I do have a couple of questions:
(1) Is there any harm in running a very small skimmer in the quarantine tank to perhaps give me a little bit extra time between my frequent water changes? I have an old air-driven skimmer which should also help with giving more oxygen to the water. After such, would soak the smimmer in vinegar for at least an hour and rinse well before ever using it in another system.
(2) I have an RO unit in my home for filtered water. I noticed that there may be some ammonia in the water even though my water comes out having only 3 or 4 ppm disolved solids. Prior to all this, I used low amounts of Prime to help remove any chloramines and ammonia for all my water changes. Seachem tech support says that they do not recommend the use of Prime with copper treatments because both chemicals together reduce oxygen in the water. My brother says that I should go to BRS and get a special carbon upgrade kit for my RO unit that removes chloramines/ammonia; however, I am already over budget for my reef tank spending right now. Any resolutions? Could I mix the two chemicals if I run an airline in the quarantine tank to help compensate for the low oxygen levels?
I appreciate any advice you all have to offer.
