Review my treatment plan for flame angel with ich

[Ross33]

I am hoping for someone with a lot of cupramine experience go over this plan to make sure everything sounds ok. I am A little nervous to treat my flame
Angel having heard lots of mixed reviews. I will be treating the following fish

2 true percs
1 royal gramma
1 Midas blenny
1 flame angel

I have a 20 long set up with filter media that has been in my sump for a few weeks. The qt tank has a hob, heater, powerhead, plastic plant, and some PVC pieces with an ammonia alert. Nothing else

The ich is very very minimal, in fact you would probably never know it's there. The flame has just a couple spots, and I saw the gramma and Midas blenny scratch several weeks ago. I am confident in the diagnosis of ich.

I plan to let the fish settle in the qt tank for a week or so, then raise the cupramine level to .35-.4 over 7 days. I plan to dose .1 every other day. Hopefully keeping the level stable for 2 or 3 weeks? Not sure how long I should stay at this level assuming everyone is doin well. I have a salifert test kit and cuprisorb on hand as well.

If anyone with experience could chime in and let me know how this sounds I would appreciate it. I am trying to do this the right way and have done lots of reading.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Good plan; but I keep the Cupramine at the therapeutic level for 4 weeks+. You have the time, so be sure fish are eating before adding much Cu. loss of appetite is usually the first sign of Cu intolerance. here's some vital info, ,The FAQ are great. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Cupramine.html.

I'd also add some bio-Spira, finally a bacteria-in-a-bottle product that works, to help with ammonia. The filter media may, or may not, have picked up enough bacteria during that few weeks. FWIW, royal grammas are very difficult to cure once they have met protozoan parasites; so don't be shocked if you lose him when all seems well. I would also get an ammonia alert stick-on badge. Normal ammonia tests don't work with Cu in the tank.

 

[Ross33]

Thanks for the info Steve. I had no idea the royal gramma would be difficult to cure. Is it the copper they don't like or something else? Like I said, he appears perfectly healthy. No spots and only scratched for one day several weeks ago.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Thanks for the info Steve. I had no idea the royal gramma would be difficult to cure. Is it the copper they don't like or something else? Like I said, he appears perfectly healthy. No spots and only scratched for one day several weeks ago.

They just seem especially sensitive to the parasites. I don't think the Cu bothers them.

 

[ca1ore]

Well, I'll probably get flamed for this (yuk, yuk) but I'd be inclined to wait a bit until I was completely sure ich was my problem. I have had a fish with a spot or two that looked like ich but then went away and never returned - and subsequent ich magnet additions never got spots. A fish flashing a few weeks ago could be anything.

I have a hippo tang in my tank that occasionally shows a spot or two, yet no other fish ever shows symptoms. On some level I suspect ich may reside in my tank, yet ...... I recently added a Sailfin Tang, figured if there was latent ich, the fish would show symptoms, but nothing. I currently have an asymptomatic Achilles in QT, so I figure that fish will expose the parasite, if it truly is there.

I guess my point is that a little patience and observation goes a long way!

 

[Ross33]

Thanks for all the advice. I keep going back and forth on what to do. I have read so many horror stories of flame angels not doing well with cupramine, so I am going to try TTM. I have a couple of 50 quart coolers (12-13) gallons that should work perfect. I'll update with pics as I go.

 

[kouma]

Why not go hypo? fish can tolerate it better than Cu and is as effective against ich.

 

[Ross33]

Because I don't have an ATO on my QT tank and I don't want the headache of topping off and measuring a few times a day. The TTM seems to have really good reviews. If snorvich uses it, it must work well!

 

[Ross33]

Well today was the big day. Got up early and caught all the fish in the dark.

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Here is the tank set up. 18 g Rubbermaid with about 10 gallons.

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