Hello all, recently my tank came down with velvet. I am going to leave it fallow for 9 weeks. I am an idiot and didn't quarantine my fish. I will now qt my fish but I have a question. Some sites say to use a foam or sponge from the tank to use in qt tank. If I have velvet is that a good idea? I'm afraid I will transfer it to new tank. If I use copper isn't it going to destroy any beneficial bacteria anyway? Please help. Thanks
noob question
- Thread starter dontreach
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Spar
New member
in your case, i wouldnt advice using a sponge from the DT for bacteria transfer. you can use Bio-Spira or similar if need to get a boost. otherwise, just monitor ammonia, do water changes, and while not adding copper you can dose Prime or AmQuel. fish will do just fine.
i assume by your copper comment that you plan to treat/QT via copper? what procedure are you planning to follow? e.g. ppm copper and length of time?
since you are doing fallow anyway, why not just do 10-12 weeks fallow for your DT and you will get rid of Ich as well. since you will be QT'ing new fish anyway, may as well knock out two birds.
i assume by your copper comment that you plan to treat/QT via copper? what procedure are you planning to follow? e.g. ppm copper and length of time?
since you are doing fallow anyway, why not just do 10-12 weeks fallow for your DT and you will get rid of Ich as well. since you will be QT'ing new fish anyway, may as well knock out two birds.
0.35 mg/L (or ppm) is the minimum therapeutic dose for a specific brand of copper; Cupramine (click here for more info).
You'll also need a copper test kit (preferably Seachem's) to measure it. It is best to treat in a bare bottom QT, as rocks/sand will absorb some of the copper making it difficult to maintain a stable concentration.
Perhaps reading my blog for a suggested quarantine protocol would be useful. I believe in using tank transfer (which eliminates ich) followed by 4 weeks of observation to eliminate the possibilities of velvet and related parasites.
That would be the maximum; 0.35-0.5 is considered the "effective range" for Cupramine.
