Tangs and copper

[daddycadi]

I'm on my second attempt at "rescuing" a powder brown tang from petco. Bought it at a discount. Looked pale but lively. I've got him in a quarantine tank now with light copper as a precaution ( last one died after 1 week with what I presumed as ick or velvet). Question is.... I've heard tangs can die during copper treatment. Should I not be dosing this guy when he could be fine? Or should I continue a light dose for a week or so? Also any other advice would be much appreciated! I've nursed several sick fish back to health and still have them in my main tank. I just seem to have problems with these tangs.

P.s. for the tree huggers..... I'm not using these fish for experiments. If you've been to Petco lately, these fish are doomed to die in a filthy tank anyways

 

[xcorallusx]

How much of a discount did you get? I wouldn't support petco especially with livestock sales. Copper will definitely stress them, I would just make sure you have plenty of liverock to graze on and keep the water parameters very stable.

 

[Borgey]

Why would you be putting copper meds in the QT if you know that they don't react well to it? By the way by purchasing fish from PETCO you're doing nothing but supporting their crappy ways. I know it's tough to see a fish you care for in crappy conditions knowing you could most likely give him a lot better home. It's just a never ending cycle, I'm sure there's another fish there now that has taken that Tangs place.

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[daddycadi]

Youre def right about supporting petco and I know in a way that's what I'm doing. I don't go there for fish I just hate seeing a cool looking tang slowly dying in their. Nasty tanks. The bad thing about giving him plenty of rock to graze on is he would have to be in my main tank to be comfy and I don't want to riskmy other fish. How long is long enough in quarantine to assume he is healthy? Thanks for the help

 

[xcorallusx]

Most people's quarantine setups are stressful because the water parameters arent as good as their display tank, and there isnt live food or rock to graze on. If youre not familiar with quarantining procedures its a little late now and I wouldn't recommend medicating. The tangs best bet is to put him in your display and hope for the best.

 

[ade]

First of all I wouldn't put liverock in a QT tank. Bare bottom with PVC pipe for a place to hide and lower the salinity. As far as water quality. As good as you keep your main system, I used to keep the temp a little lower than my main tank. I used to keep my fish in QT for about a month.

 

[daddycadi]

Yes Ade my qt tank is only PVC pieces. Lowering the salinity is a good idea. Thanks for the help

 

[seafood luver]

Copper is not as deadly to Tangs as it is to angels. Keep it at 0.15 and you should be ok. Raise the temp to 84 keep the salinity at 1.017 and you will speed up the life cycle of any parasite and keep the tang comfortable. If it's pale, it could be suffering from vitamin deficiancy, or it could be stressed. Petco has a reputation for purchasing fish from importers who use unscrupulous collectors and their fish could have been exposed to Cyanide. Is the PBT eating? If not, Cyanide poisoning can be suspected. Fish caught with Cyanide or have been exPosed to it, have about three weeks to live after being collected.

 

[MattsSuperman]

I was at Petco last week they are by far the cheapest around but you get what you pay for in that perspective they have crazy red hair algae blooms etc. I asked to see their filtration they have no refugium just filters. anyway they would replace the fish if it was bought or if it died fish get snagged all the time I had to wait two weeks to get an order for clown fish lol. With your problem I would reccomend using a uv sterilizer on the hospital tank if possible if not I would wait at least two weeks to make sure that hippo doesnt carry ick to your aquarium and contaminate everything. -hope this helped

 

[daddycadi]

Yes this guy is eating great. His color has improved dramatically over the past few days, so the paleness probably was from not getting proper food. I've got the copper at .2 ppm. I'm doing a water change tonight so I may lower it a bit. Right now he seems. Content so I'm hoping for a good outcome. Thanks

 

[cayenne]

Make sure you don't lower salinity and run copper or even cupramine at the same time. That is a recipe for disaster. Either low salinity/hypo or copper.