QT questions! :D

Charley Diesing

Charley Diesing

New member
Alright so I recently lost some fish due to Ich or Velvet, possibly both?... Now I want to be super cautious.

I have a Flasher Wrasse in my 20 Gallon long as a QT, all it has is a HOB filter with nothing in it just using it for circulation. And a heater of course. Been trying to get a ammonia indicator but my LFS is out of them.The flasher Wrasse has been in the tank for 4 weeks. So 4 weeks without no fish in the DT, I was planning on waiting another 5 weeks(and that should rid all diseases in the DT?)

Today I'm going to pick up a royal gramma. And start QTing, with meds.

I have Prazi-Pro and Cupramine. I can start with Prazi-Pro then do Cupramine, correct? After using Cupramine I have to take out all the water? Because its polluted?

Anyone, please tell me if I'm doing this right/wrong?

Thanks a lot!

Charley
 
In addition to the HOB filter and heater, I would put in a small powerhead pointed at the water surface for oxygenation purposes. Many people fail to do this and the oxygen in the QT depletes quickly, causing fish to stress or even die.

You can start with prazipro. Do two treatments with 5 days each. This will get rid of possible flukes or some species of internal worms. With cupramine, make sure the fish eat well first. Dose 0.1ppm per day and take four days to get to 0.4ppm (you may do 0.5ppm if you don't have copper-sensitive fish). Monitor the dosage every night before lights out and make sure the dosage is maintained for the entire 28 days of treatment. At the end of the treatment, do a large water change and add carbon or cuprisorb to remove the rest of the cupramine. Keep the fish in the QT for an additional two weeks for observation.

I would leave the DT fallow for 10 full weeks instead of 9.
 
sandwi54 said:
In addition to the HOB filter and heater, I would put in a small powerhead pointed at the water surface for oxygenation purposes. Many people fail to do this and the oxygen in the QT depletes quickly, causing fish to stress or even die.

You can start with prazipro. Do two treatments with 5 days each. This will get rid of possible flukes or some species of internal worms. With cupramine, make sure the fish eat well first. Dose 0.1ppm per day and take four days to get to 0.4ppm (you may do 0.5ppm if you don't have copper-sensitive fish). Monitor the dosage every night before lights out and make sure the dosage is maintained for the entire 28 days of treatment. At the end of the treatment, do a large water change and add carbon or cuprisorb to remove the rest of the cupramine. Keep the fish in the QT for an additional two weeks for observation.

I would leave the DT fallow for 10 full weeks instead of 9.
Click to expand...

My Tank is actually only 3/4ths full so water is falling about 5 inches, is this enough? Or would you still recommend another power-head?
So I need a copper test kit? Which kit do you suggest? Is API any good?

What do you mean by Monitor the dosage?

How large is large?

Thanks a ton!

Charley
 
Charley Diesing said:
My Tank is actually only 3/4ths full so water is falling about 5 inches, is this enough? Or would you still recommend another power-head?
So I need a copper test kit? Which kit do you suggest? Is API any good?

What do you mean by Monitor the dosage?

How large is large?

Thanks a ton!

Charley
Click to expand...

My Tank is actually only 3/4ths full so water is falling about 5 inches, is this enough? Or would you still recommend another power-head?

This will be up to you to decide. If the water is splashing down hard and creating lots of bubbles, then it should be ok. Nevertheless, I still always use a powerhead, not only to provide additional oxygenation, but also to create flow inside the tank so detritus (fish poop, uneaten food, etc) can be kept suspended in the water column and sucked away by the filter.

So I need a copper test kit? Which kit do you suggest? Is API any good?

API is not good with cupramine since it's not a chelated copper. I would recommend the salifert copper test kit. The seachem one can also be used but it's very hard to read the different shades of blue.


What do you mean by Monitor the dosage?

This means to use a copper test kit to make sure the copper concentration is always at the correct level. For example, if you dose 0.5ppm, you want to test it every day to make sure it always stays at 0.5ppm.

How large is large?

By large, I mean 50% or more. Of course, whenever you do large water changes, you have to be careful in matching the parameters (temperature, salinity, pH) between the old water and new water. Whenever I do large water changes, I always take at least 30 minutes (if the temperature and salinity match) to add all of the new water to prevent shocks. Treat this as if you need to "acclimate" your fish.
 
sandwi54 said:
My Tank is actually only 3/4ths full so water is falling about 5 inches, is this enough? Or would you still recommend another power-head?

This will be up to you to decide. If the water is splashing down hard and creating lots of bubbles, then it should be ok. Nevertheless, I still always use a powerhead, not only to provide additional oxygenation, but also to create flow inside the tank so detritus (fish poop, uneaten food, etc) can be kept suspended in the water column and sucked away by the filter.

So I need a copper test kit? Which kit do you suggest? Is API any good?

API is not good with cupramine since it's not a chelated copper. I would recommend the salifert copper test kit. The seachem one can also be used but it's very hard to read the different shades of blue.


What do you mean by Monitor the dosage?

This means to use a copper test kit to make sure the copper concentration is always at the correct level. For example, if you dose 0.5ppm, you want to test it every day to make sure it always stays at 0.5ppm.

How large is large?

By large, I mean 50% or more. Of course, whenever you do large water changes, you have to be careful in matching the parameters (temperature, salinity, pH) between the old water and new water. Whenever I do large water changes, I always take at least 30 minutes (if the temperature and salinity match) to add all of the new water to prevent shocks. Treat this as if you need to "acclimate" your fish.
Click to expand...

Alright thank you so much, just one quick question. Shouldn't copper stay in the water? Unless physically removed, via water change? My question is if I don't do a water change, what would make the dosage change?
 
Cupramine is very stable in the water, unless the tank contains calcerous materials (live rocks, sand, etc.) or commercial aquarium decorations. If you don't have any of those, the concentration should not change throughout the entire treatment period. However, to be safe, I always recommend testing it frequently.
 
sandwi54 said:
Cupramine is very stable in the water, unless the tank contains calcerous materials (live rocks, sand, etc.) or commercial aquarium decorations. If you don't have any of those, the concentration should not change throughout the entire treatment period. However, to be safe, I always recommend testing it frequently.
Click to expand...

Yes I have Live Rocks in the QT tank. Should I remove them? I don't have a sponge thats already cycled...

Thanks again for all the replies! :D
 
You should not use live rocks or live sand in a QT, since they make cupramine treatment difficult. The QT should be bare-bottomed. It does not necessarily need to be completely cycled, but it'd help a lot as you won't have to do constant water changes.

You can seed the sponge by placing it in the DT sump for a few weeks.
 
sandwi54 said:
You should not use live rocks or live sand in a QT, since they make cupramine treatment difficult. The QT should be bare-bottomed. It does not necessarily need to be completely cycled, but it'd help a lot as you won't have to do constant water changes.

You can seed the sponge by placing it in the DT sump for a few weeks.
Click to expand...


I actually have a sponge that's attached to my return pump on my Mag 3.5 could I just use that? I rinsed it out with Saltwater from my DT. So its not clogged. I just clean the sponge once a week.

Looks like this...

http://www.grabcart.com/product/Hom...r-Eugene-Pond-P-Foam-Pre-filter-12-Mag-Black-

Also to be honest I've having a Nitrate problem, so I might just toss it anyways. So it'd be nice to serve a purpose. :)
 
yeah that sponge is fine. since you're only keeping small fish, the sponge should have enough area to grow bacteria.
 
Does anyone else have a problem with the rainbow letters? I can't read them without squinting (yeah, I'm an old fart) and even if I could easily read them----its hard to take that stuff seriously.
 
MrTuskfish said:
Does anyone else have a problem with the rainbow letters? I can't read them without squinting (yeah, I'm an old fart) and even if I could easily read them----its hard to take that stuff seriously.
Click to expand...

I'm probably half your age and I have trouble reading :spin1:
 
MrTuskfish said:
Does anyone else have a problem with the rainbow letters? I can't read them without squinting (yeah, I'm an old fart) and even if I could easily read them----its hard to take that stuff seriously.
Click to expand...

Well, at least you can see them WITH squinting. Just got my eyes done but that did not fix color blindness. By the way, I do use magenta in one thread that I answer (which is now over a few thousand posts) to differentiate the original question from my answer.
 
snorvich said:
Well, at least you can see them WITH squinting. Just got my eyes done but that did not fix color blindness. By the way, I do use magenta in one thread that I answer (which is now over a few thousand posts) to differentiate the original question from my answer.
Click to expand...

I can see the magenta; the light blues & greens drive me nuts. But, every once in a while, I just need something to whine about.
 
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