Treating ich in a FOWLR

[degibson84]

My brother has a FOWLR. I have never had ich in any of my tanks so I am unfamiliar with it. can he dose the copper right into his tank since there are no inverts?

 

[peasofme]

no. it will poison the tank forever.

 

[SDguy]

Yes, he can. Would he be able to put live acropora coral in there eventually with the same rock? Doubt it... but maybe. Snails, shrimp, etc. Sure, no problem, after you remove the copper.

 

[HumbleFish]

You can do it, but it will take awhile for the copper level to stabilize. Once the rock absorbs all the copper it can, your levels will stop dropping. But then you have the opposite problem as the rock starts leaching the copper back out and you have to monitor closely so it doesn't go over the maximum treatment level. Needless to say, having a good copper test kit is imperative if you're going to go this route.

 

[degibson84]

Yes, he can. Would he be able to put live acropora coral in there eventually with the same rock? Doubt it... but maybe. Snails, shrimp, etc. Sure, no problem, after you remove the copper.

Snails crab and shrimp are for sure out if the question or him if all fish survive. He has two yellow tangs two chromis a harlequin tusk and a porcupine puffer

 

[SDguy]

I'm not sure you can treat porcupine puffers with copper. Might want to ask in the aggressive fish forum.

 

[slowwrx137]

I've treated a porcupine puffer in a quarintine tank with copper and everything worked out. However I wouldnt treat my main display tank with it.

I dont forsee the issue coming up but if I had to treat my display tank I would use hyposalinity vs copper.

 

[MrTuskfish]

no. it will poison the tank forever.

Are you referring to that old myth that copper is absorbed by the silicone or the glass? That's nonsense and has been de-bunked a thousand times.

To the OP:
I've treated PPs with Cu a few times. I kept CU at the low end, Cupramine at .35ppm, with no problems. Treating fish in any DT is very iffy at best. LR & substrate constantly absorb & release Cu (and probably CP) into the water column and this makes proper dosing almost impossible. Just a minute of Cu below the therapeutic minimum can ruin your efforts. Get a QT/HT, try Craigslist. IMO & IME; this hobby would be a nightmare, long-term, if I didn't have one. A QT/HT is a necessity, not just something nice to have.

 

[E Rosewater]

are you referring to that old myth that copper is absorbed by the silicone or the glass? That's nonsense and has been de-bunked a thousand times.

To the op:
I've treated pps with cu a few times. I kept cu at the low end, cupramine at .35ppm, with no problems. Treating fish in any dt is very iffy at best. Lr & substrate constantly absorb & release cu (and probably cp) into the water column and this makes proper dosing almost impossible. Just a minute of cu below the therapeutic minimum can ruin your efforts. Get a qt/ht, try craigslist. Imo & ime; this hobby would be a nightmare, long-term, if i didn't have one. A qt/ht is a necessity, not just something nice to have.

+1(000000)

 

[ironwill723]

Chloroquine Phosphate would be your better option.

 

[Dsotto]

It's worth spending the money and setting up a qt. I'm going through it right now. I had my tank full and thought I wouldn't need it. I decided to add one more fish and it had ich. Now I have to take all of my fish out and treat them while my tank sits empty in my living room for 8 weeks.