This is way above my paygrade, so I'll defer to you on copper sulfate just ask a few questions: 1.) If carbon doesn't remove CS, how do you remove it? 2.) I haven't heard anything about copper sulfate in quite a while, isn't it used a lot by pondkeepers? What is the major brand for SW fish hobbiests? 3.) Do you think CS demands more precise attention to dosing & monitoring than Cupramine? I could never read most copper test kits, which is how I switched to Cupramine. Thanks! I try, at my age, to still learn something every day and I'm just curious, I will never switch; I like the 'forgiveness' factor of Cupramine and treat all new fish with it in QT--as a prophylactic treatment. With Cupramine I can just run carbon (I prefer Cuprisorb) and don't have to empty my QT between fish.
To remove copper sulfate, one would either need to do a 100% water change or use a binding agent like cuprisorb or filter material like polyfilter.
Red Sea's Paracure is the easiest brand to get, it comes with their copper kit, which by chance happens to be the easiest kit to use. The color change between the 0.05 increments is very easy to differentiate. The API and Salifert kit can be a royal PITA to read, I've used both and hate them for the lack of color change and poor resolution (API).
Copper Sulfate does require a little more attention to detail, maintaining the therapeutic level sometimes requires daily testing and dosing. In a tank devoid of calcareous material, the copper stays in the solution, and dosing isn't required that often. Most times it's fine, but if you need to QT a fish that needs sand like a wrasse or goby, daily dosing is essential.
I too choose a prophylactic approach, it's the best way IMO, a healthy fish will show no signs of infection, only to unknowingly drop a bomb in the tank later....not something I want to deal with.
FWIW, cupramine does work, just not quite as well as copper sulfate, I've had crypt make it through Cupramine treatments as well as chelated treatments, but never ionic copper.
