Copper Sensitive Fish

I

Iowa Clown

New Member
Hello. I have a question for the seasoned pros out there, though this is more of a question for the future than one of immediate necessity. Do you know what types of fish do not handle copper well? I heard Cupramine is supposed to be the gentlest of copper treatments, but even then certain fish, such as angelfish and wrasses, have difficulty with it. Are there any others? As a fairly new fish keeper, I'm trying to avoid genuses that do not handle copper well since fish diseases are so prevalent and I do not yet feel confident or knowledgeable enough to try hyposalinity. Thanks for your expertise!
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, scaleless fish, such as tangs, angles. Cupramine is the best tolerated copper. However, for treating ich, I would highly recommend hyposaliny. No meds involved. Healthier for fish. And equally effect as copper.
 
Bryce E

Bryce E

Active Member
Iowa Clown said:
Hello. I have a question for the seasoned pros out there, though this is more of a question for the future than one of immediate necessity. Do you know what types of fish do not handle copper well? I heard Cupramine is supposed to be the gentlest of copper treatments, but even then certain fish, such as angelfish and wrasses, have difficulty with it. Are there any others? As a fairly new fish keeper, I'm trying to avoid genuses that do not handle copper well since fish diseases are so prevalent and I do not yet feel confident or knowledgeable enough to try hyposalinity. Thanks for your expertise!
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If there's ever a reason you want/need to do hypo don't let it intimidate you, it's super easy... it's only the reduction in salinity and all's you wanna do to acclimate the fish is to make a gradual change over time. so if you have a small hospital tank. start out by having it match the salinity of your display tank, (leave the water a little bit low so that you have room to add fresh water to it) Put your fish in there and then slowly add fresh water to the system over time. like a cup an hour until you reach the desired level you're after then just maintain it after that. easy peasy. :)

Just watch your ph as this is usually effected by diluting the water. You can reduce the the salinity pretty quickly if your temp and ph is the same as your main tank. It's raising the salinity back up that you want to be a slower process. As I'm sure @jay0705 would agree...lol
 
Bryce E

Bryce E

Active Member
thanks..lol. I was having to throw the salinity acclimation being slower when you go back up cause of our banter on the other thread.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
jay0705 said:
What if its not ich? Hypo only wrks for ich. So like velvet ect what do u reccomend?
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Hypo won't treat Oodinium, correct. Frankly, by the time most hobbyists recognize Oodinium, the fish is as good as dead. Very fast infection and highly contagious. If you see it, I would do a FW bath and place the fish in copper treatment. Continue the FW baths daily until the spots are gone (3 or so days). Copper will not be effective while the fish has parasites attached. Oodinium, like ich, has a 3 stage process. Copper is effective only when the parasite leaves the fish host. So, you can see how it won't be effective to address the immediate needs of a fish with visible signs of oodinium. Raising temp (slowly to 85-6 range helps as well but to do this the system must be well aerated throughout). And, I would not recommend this on a fish that is highly stressed (laying on its side, gasping, etc.)
 
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jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
The
beth said:
Hypo won't treat ich, correct. Frankly, by the time most hobbyists recognize Oodinium, the fish is as good as dead. Very fast infection and highly contagious. If you see it, I would do a FW bath and place the fish in copper treatment. Continue the FW baths daily until the spots are gone (3 or so days). Copper will not be effective while the fish has parasites attached. Oodinium, like ich, has a 3 stage process. Copper is effective only when the parasite leaves the fish host. So, you can see how it won't be effective to address the immediate needs of a fish with visible signs of oodinium. Raising temp (slowly to 85-6 range helps as well but to do this the system must be well aerated throughout). And, I would not recommend this on a fish that is highly stressed (laying on its side, gasping, etc.)
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first part of your sentence wont treat ich lol do u mean velvet?
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
I had an outbreak of velvet in my display tank about a year ago, and treated the entire tank (without quarantine) by using a reef safe product from "no sick fish" (one word, no spaces). The velvet almost killed my coral beauty, and it still bears some scars on it's head, but he's happy and healthy to this day. It's a terrible disease...
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
How would you describe this disease you experienced? NSF manufacture do not state their active ingredients--that alone gives me pause. Here is a page from their website titled "HOW IT WORKS". I couldn't find an explanation for "how it works" anywhere on the page.
https://nosickfish.com/how-it-works/
 
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