Ways to safely treat a tank with Copper to rid ICH!

[AquaWave523]

Ok, so...I realized since I got the blue hippo tang, he caught ich and now it's in my main display tank.

Right now I only have 1 Seabae Anemone, 2 small frags of mushrooms and 1 big hairy mushroom. Which isn't a whole lot verses all the little fish I have to struggle to capture without tearing down the entire tank (rocks structure).

So I plan on treating the main display tank with copper since this is the only method I know of. Before doing so, I will move all the corals and the anemone to the 20 gallon QT tank until the main display tank is fully treated.

Can someone tell me how long would this take to treat the tank?

And, before doing so, I thought of other several options...

1.) Increase temperature to 84 F, feed food soaked in garlic and then get a cleaner shrimp to help. Hoping this would increase the immune system of the fish and keep them strong enough to overpower the ich from taking over its body.

2.) Move alllllllll the fishes out the tank and isolate in a quaratine tank and dose the main display tank with copper. However, as explained above, the reason why I decided not to take this route. Plus, I have more than enough fish that will overload the bioload in a 20 gallon which then I'd have to purchase a 55 gallon tank or put them in a brute trashcan with a powerhead...that might even stress them out more.

3.) Hypo-salanity method...this seems too much of a headache to do. So I skipped this overall...i think this is just decreasing the amount of salanity over a time period of 4-6 weeks. Thats closely monitoring all the parameters...

Oh yeah, is it safe to use copper with Live Rocks? This includes liverocks that have feather duster attached to it?

And the sump tank/refugium...it has liverocks, sand and algae in there. Do I shut off the water that feeds into the refugium area? Do i remove all the filter pad, carbon and shut off the protein skimmer?

What kind of copper medication has people used successfully? I'll go pick it up today to start treating.

I know this is a lot to read, sorry for me blabbing on. I just want to make sure I do it the right way with no regrets.

-------------------SETUP INFO --------------------
Info: 90 Gallon with 40 gallon sump/refugium
Protein skimmer (MSX200) with 110lbs of Live rocks and 4" of Live Sand.
Water movement: two return valve (Mag -9, 660 gph), Two Korilla 4 (2500+ gph) and one Maxijet (600gph).

Fishes:

One -1" blue hippo tang
One - 4" yellow tang
Three - 3" false percula clown
One - 2-3" chromis
One - 2" royal gramma
One - 3" sailfin blenny
One - 3" jawfish
----------------
Any thoughts or suggestions anyone?

Thanks!!!

AW523

 

[Gwynhidwy]

The copper will not only kill off most of the life on and in the live rock, there is a very good chance the rock (aragonite based sand too) will absorb some of the copper making it very difficult to maintain therapeutic levels of the medicine and meaning you won't be able to use that rock in a tank with invertebrates again. Copper will kill your feather dusters. It is probably a very bad idea to treat your DT with copper.

That being said you would need to treat the tank for two to four weeks.

Increasing the temperature will not help your fish fight off the ich, only speed up the life cycle of the parasite that causes ich. With a steady supply of hosts, your fish, the parasite will likely continue to thrive. Temperatures that would adversely affect the parasite would kill your fish as well.

You mention a refugium, copper will kill algae, snails, worms, copepods, etc in a refugium.

In my opinion, your best option is to remove ALL fish from your DT and place them in hospital tanks. Treat them with Cupramine. Leave them in quarantine for 8 weeks with no fish in your DT and your DT will be ich free because the parasite that causes ich cannot live without a fish host. You won't need to treat your DT with anything.

 

[AquaWave523]

What do I do about the blennies? I cannot use copper on them.

 

[Gwynhidwy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15638290#post15638290 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquaWave523
What do I do about the blennies? I cannot use copper on them.

Why not?

 

[AquaWave523]

i thought blenny arent copper safe

 

[Gwynhidwy]

Don't tell any of the blennies I've treated that.

Seriously though, for what it is worth, I have treated several blennies with Cupramine over the years and never lost one. So at least in my experience, they do fine. I do think that Cupramine is tolerated better, by more fish, than other copper medications.

 

[AquaWave523]

Ok, my blue hippo tang is moving little by little and just laying on the ground. She doesn't eat either...

I placed her in a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a hang on filter...and Copper safe. DO i do water change or what else is next? i hope she eats soon.

What else can I do at this point?

I didn't want to waste my 55 gallon tank by adding copper in case i want to use it as another DT tank in the future for things that was copper sensitive (blenny, invertabrates, corals etc.,)

The yellow tang is swimming around freely in the 55 gallon tank with the hyposalanity method treatment. But you can see bumps on her skin waiting to errupt.

I should get my refractometer today so I should have a better chance of diagnosing her.

Any thoughts?

 

[redfishsc]

The cupramine in the bucket isn't going to help your hippo tang.

The ich cysts on the fish are, if I recall correctly, not going to be effected by the medication.

The only time the medication kills the parasite is when it's in its free-swimming stage. That's partly why it takes so long for it to work, and why raising the temps helps out, b/c it speeds up the life cycle of the parasite so that they become free-swimming much faster.


I hate to say this, but it sounds like your hippo may not make it. There is a good chance his gills are loaded with the parasites... hence him laying on his side.