Failed Copper Treatment? Now what?!

[kkgaskin90]

I have been treating with Cupramine for Marine Ich for 4 weeks. I treated for a longer period at a lower concentration because I have an eel. My level has maintained between 0.3-0.5 for the duration of the treatment. 3 days ago, I noticed my small blue tang flashing. It appears to have small, white spots on him. I am unsure if they are Ich...
The reasons I chose copper over Hypo are: (a) I posted a ton on another forum and hypo was not suggested as preferred treatment, (b) I am very new to saltwater and am very nervous about trying to maintain conditions (especially ph) during hypo, (c) I did not have a Refractometer (but I do now), and (d) I saw that 35% water changes were necessary every other day... I get my water from the LFS and have a 29 gal hospital tank I am treating in. Dragging 2 kids under 2 to the LFS to get 285 gallons of water over 4 weeks does not sound fun OR cost efficient at $1/gal.
Pics below...what should I do?

 

[kkgaskin90]

 

[beth]

Is the quarantine you are using fully cycled? Or did you just set that up? When you used Cupramine did you also use a compatible copper test kit, such as Seachem's kit?

The fish has ich. Have other fish been exposed to the fish?

I understanding being new to hobby, but it is best that you begin to take on the basics which would include prepping your own water. Relying on the local store is expensive and risky.

 

[kkgaskin90]

I set it up 4 weeks ago using water from the DT originally. I also added a sponge that has been in my DT for several months. All water changes i have used new water. I am using Seachem's copper test kit.
Yes, there are 4 fish and an eel in the hospital tank. I removed all from the DT. This tang, a flame hawk, 2 clownfish, and the snowflake eel. All fish were looking great until three days ago.
We have been looking into RO/DI systems, just have not decided which was best and were trying to make it through Christmas and the slew of birthdays in Jan/early Feb before taking that expense hit.

 

[beth]

You might want to look at airwaterice for RO. They have some nice systems very reasonable. I had one that I hooked up for fish water containment and also hooked the same unit up to my fridge's ice and water dispenser.

Are you prepared to do hypo? You can get RO/DI water from the grocery store, use a kitchen size dedicated garbage can and a small pump to mix up salt and water. In any case, to perform hypo you will need to dilute out the salt water over the next few days and keep salinity at hypo conditions, so you don't need to immediately deal with setting up your own water containment.

Here are the instructions for hypo:

https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/a/hyposalinity