Hey all I’m new to the forum and the hobby! I’m frustrated which I expected could happen, to be quick I went out purchased a 55gal corner tank filters, live sand , live rock all in all including livestock about $3500 in so far. Things were going great I met a lfs guy that seems very knowledgeable and purchased 3 beautiful fish from him. A few days later at another lfs I purchased a powder blue tang took him home and put him in the display tank. Fast forward 3/4 days and I see the white spots on him , I call the first lfs guy and he tells me I need to treat the tank with coppersafe for a month. I went out purchased a qt set up caught my 6 fish (with the exception of 2 damsels and a spotted gobby that are just 2 fast to net) and dosed my main tank as well treated my quarantine tank. 2 days later I lost 3 fish in qt to include the tang that “started” the problem. I have been reading up on coppersafe and see a bunch of mixed reviews. My question is should I replace all of my live rock in my display tank and over the next month do a 100% water change and just start over I feel super defeated but don’t wanna give up
New to the hobby and frustrated
- Thread starter Pawley
- Start date
That depends on whether you plan to keep corals and other invertebrates. Copper is toxic to invertebrates and binds to rock and other substrate making it difficult to remove.
These fish often develop ick
Wiping out the rocks and sand is one solution. And as JohnL stated if you want to keep inverts and corals it's more than likely necessary. If, however, you are going to stay with fish only then there's no need. Next: SLOW DOWN. You don't have to, nor should you, be in a rush to add fish. Find those you really like. Make sure they can coexist. Add them in the order of meekest to most aggressive. Test the water often at the start (couldn't hurt to do this before and after fish adds) And if you are unsure of the health of your purchase, ask the seller to keep it for a week to make sure it is healthy; although there is still no grntee. Finally, to be extra cautious/safe, use a quarantine tank.. And Good Luck!
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Are you 100% sure the tank was fully cycled prior to adding the fish?
While that won't prevent fish with parasites from infecting your tank, having to also deal with ammonia will exacerbate things.
While that won't prevent fish with parasites from infecting your tank, having to also deal with ammonia will exacerbate things.
Thanks for the responses! I am sure my tank has fully cycled and I did forget to mention that all of my invertebrates are still alive in the tank (1 cleaner shrimp, 2 feather dusters, snails and hermits) I would like to eventually have corals which is why I strongly feel the need to replace the live rock. I guess I’m just going to wait it out a few weeks I did dose the tank with coppersafe and I test daily the api copper test reads very low just sucks everything was going great until the ich. In the future does anyone have better suggestion for treating ich in a display I don’t think I’ll get it as I plan to utilize my quarantine setup
Yes I’m 100% sure tank has cycled
A common method is a fallow period for, I think, 72 days? @HumbleFish am I wrong here?
If it's allowed here's a link to another blog.. Pretty good info on ich.
aquaticsunlimited.com
Treating Saltwater "Ich" - Aquatics Unlimited
Saltwater ich is a disease caused by tiny parasites of either Cryptocaryon or Oodinium. These parasites imbed themselves in the fish's skin and gills, causing great irritation.
aquaticsunlimited.com
Would I still need to wait 72 days even if I replace the sand , rock, and 100% water change? I know this hobby requires patience and I also know I’m an incredibly inpatient person lol but I feel like replacing all that is starting over. AAAND if I do start over will my tank need to cycle Agin? If my filter and bio material stays the same? This may be a dumb question take it easy on me lol. Thanks for the response
The only dumb question is the one not asked
I’m honestly not too familiar with the fallow period, I would believe if you replaced everything and let everything dry out, you may be successful. I would check these to threads from @HumbleFish website to be certain. In a rush so didn’t have time to read them
Fallow periods: Going Fishless
Going Fallow The reason to go fallow (fishless) is to eliminate a fish disease from your DT (display tank). Going fallow works because you are denying the disease a fish host to feed upon, essentially starving it to death. In order to go fallow you must remove ALL fish from your DT. If just...
humble.fish
How To - Sterilize + reseed any tank
The following can be used to sterilize a QT or even a DT: Dose 100ppm chlorine as per this guide: https://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/dwgwp/DW/chlorinedosageemergencydisinfection.pdf OR Use this Chlorine Dilution Calculator provided by @Dierks...
humble.fish
Hopefully the links are allowed.
Starting over you will likely have to re-cycle (or at least a partial cycle) the tank even if you keep your bio media wet just cause it’s going to take a minute for the bacteria to build up
Just spoke to the first LFS guy and he told me that the product “coppersafe” won’t kill my live rock and that it is the only copper product considers safe for reef
uct
The fact your invertebrates are still kicking would mean your copper is pretty low. I'd use cuprasorb or a polyfilter or both for a couple weeks then do an ICP test to see if I got the copper to zero before I would start ripping everything out.
Coppersafe is not “copper” and while the manufacturer suggests it can control ick in 30 days, there remains, only 3 proven ways to rid ick.
Copper, Hypo and TTM together with 76 days fallow DT. 60 days if your a bit of a risk taker.
Time tested and works on Ick.
Copper, Hypo and TTM together with 76 days fallow DT. 60 days if your a bit of a risk taker.
Time tested and works on Ick.
cheapest way to check for copper is to do a hanna checker copper test or run a poly filter in the syste. poly will turn blue/purple indicating presence of copper. Use carbon and cuprisorb to get rid of copper out of the system. once poly filter quits registering copper, refresh the carbon and curpisorb and poly filter. some rocks and release copper they absorbed in future but i doubt it be much.
6 weeks @ 80.6F is my latest recommendation. This explains why: New Ich Fallow Period
Also be sure to eliminate any hypoxic/anaerobic regions in your tank whilst going fallow. If a protomont crawls into a hypoxic environment before encysting, it may go dormant and all bets are off! This is probably the "real reason" behind most fallow failures.
Rd62rdstr
New member
Please quarantine all future fish before placing in display tank to avoid a reoccurrence. Find someone knowledgeable and research before making moves. Sometimes these LFS guys give questionable or conflicting advice. But most importantly learn to be patient. This hobby can’t be rushed and won’t bend to our whims. A quick fix in a bottle will always be temporary. The tank relies on stability which takes time. Things we tend to do cause swings. So just be patient and move slowly.
