How Long Should i keep my tang in copper safe?

madswife

Member
Hey there guys how long should i keep him in there because i know that copper can kill those things in their stomach causing them to die. He has been in the copper safe since last night(3/15). And btw he has velvet. Thanks!!! Mads
Edit: Btw hes in Qt
 

fedukeford

Active Member
it is never good to leave fish in copper, i would take it out right now, and try a less stressful way to cure it
 

unleashed

Active Member
good thing you used the coppersafe it also cure velvet keep in at least 30 day.velvet is a paresite that is more difficult to treat than normal ich.
fedukeford it is never good to leave fish in copper, i would take it out right now, and try a less stressful way to cure it :
there is no other way to kill velvet its like the cockroach of fish paresites. as for stressful there is no other less stressful effective treatment effective against these paresites than coppersafe its one dose and is effective for a full 30 days and is not effected by use of normal filter media(carbons) unlike any other treatment available. i have treated my agressive tank with this product 2 times and that tank not only has a puffer fish but also eels do you know how lethal a normal copper treatment is to eels? my eels any my spiney boxfish puffer(which was cured of ich) and my eels were and are still fine.
 

madswife

Member
Originally Posted by unleashed
good thing you used the coppersafe it also cure velvet keep in at least 30 day.velvet is a paresite that is more difficult to treat than normal ich.
fedukeford it is never good to leave fish in copper, i would take it out right now, and try a less stressful way to cure it :
there is no other way to kill velvet its like the cockroach of fish paresites. as for stressful there is no other less stressful effective treatment effective against these paresites than coppersafe its one dose and is effective for a full 30 days and is not effected by use of normal filter media(carbons) unlike any other treatment available.
But how long should i keep him in there? Until the symtoms are gone or will it kill it after acouple of days and then the stuff goes away? Also i thin i caught it in the early stages. Also he is breathing faily hard even with 2 airstones in th water to keep the oygen levels up. Alittle more about him and stuff... Purchased last friday, then noticed syptoms on sunday, treated on wednesday, hes about a 3-4 kole tang and also im not sure if this is normal or not but he wont eat any og the dries food i put in there so i took a peice of dead coral(the decoration stuff that is real coral) that was covered in algea and put it in there for him and he seems to be doing ok with that. Is it normal for him not to eat when they are sick? Thanks Again Mads
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
What are the symptoms?
Coppersafe is not the best copper to use, Sechem's Cupamine is. It is a lot easier on the fish, and much more stable. Standard copper treatment is 3 wks, but I believe that Mardel recommends a shorter time for Coppersafe. The downside to Coppersafe, aside from its harshness on fish tissue, is that the manufacture does not guide the hobbyist to use copper testing, which, imo, is necessary when using copper treatments.
Copper and Chloroqine diphosphate are the only medications that are effective for treating amyloodinium. Hypo will not work with this disease.
Can you post a picture of your fish...close up?
 

madswife

Member
Yeah i can see if i can get one of him.. its pretty hard to see unless you look at him at about a 45 degree angle where you can see the spots on him. Anyways its not very advanced. Also should i check th copper levels? If so what should they be around? Thanks!!!
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
What makes you think its velvet? Can you describe the symptoms? Are the fish gilling rapidly?
 

unleashed

Active Member
thats what normally kills the fish them not eating not the paresite itself yes it is a major contribor to its death but stress causes fish to stop eating and paresites do stress the fish out .like fleas on a dog .feeding off of your fish causing them to weaken more you must kep these fish in treatment for at least the 30 days this will help reduce the chance of reinfestations in the main tank.velvet is a very difficult paresite to rid from your tank much more resilant to hypo and other means of erratication. you can some garlic extreme to the water if hes not eating on his own 1 drop per every 10 gal this will help boost his imune system through absorbtion(through gills) i would add a small hang on back filter to keep better water quality for him while hes in the qt take the carbons from main tank so (do not use new carbons they must be used at least 6 days prior to dosing) keep airiated with a small power head facing to the front of the tank as to not blow him about
do not shorten this fishes qt time
 

unleashed

Active Member
Originally Posted by Madswife
Yeah i can see if i can get one of him.. its pretty hard to see unless you look at him at about a 45 degree angle where you can see the spots on him. Anyways its not very advanced. Also should i check th copper levels? If so what should they be around? Thanks!!!
if you dosed the tank as per direction on the bottle you should not need to do a level check as it will be the only dosing in the 30 days of qt.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I disagree that not eating is the primary problem when dealing with Velvet. If indeed your fish have velvet, they will likely be dead within 24-48 hrs if you do not take action. This is a virulent parasite, that will kill quickly.
 

madswife

Member
Originally Posted by Beth
I disagree that not eating is the primary problem when dealing with Velvet. If indeed your fish have velvet, they will likely be dead within 24-48 hrs if you do not take action. This is a virulent parasite, that will kill quickly.
Hmmm your maybe disuading me from the velvet thing but there is definaetly some kind of white parasite on him. I was thinking it was velvet because yes he is breathing very fast even with airstones in there hes also darting but not so much of rubbing on things. But i thought it was velvet because of the spots looked alittle more fuzzy and not as perfect of ich spots. I tried to get some pics and pretty much fail except for 2 that actually came out clear... one you can see some stuff on him but the other you cant see anything really. Hmmm its not letting have it big enough on here so i could email it to you or something...email me at madman133@gmail.com if you dont want to give yours out. He does ;ook alot better today except for(the spots are less visble) he is still darting and panting heavely. Thanks for the advice!
 

madswife

Member
Hmmm i was just looking at him closely and noticed that it looked like he had patches that were lighter then others. It didnt look like it was on the skin but something underneither. Normal??? As sadi before though everything is fairly faint. Im just trying to catch stuff in the early stages cause i know how deadly velvet and other things can be. I dunno htough its hard to decribe what im talking about and all of my attemped pictures come out with you not being able to see anything. Heres some of the pics i do have...tell me if you want the bigger version and i can email it to you. http://photobucket.com/albums/j117/M...slideshow=true
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Its hard to tell from those pictures. It sorta looks like ich. Why don't you think it is ich? Do you have a QT?
 

madswife

Member
Originally Posted by Beth
Its hard to tell from those pictures. It sorta looks like ich. Why don't you think it is ich? Do you have a QT?
Yes he is in QT wher he is being treated. Today the spots look alittle more pronouced even though yesterday they looked like they were getting better...ill see if i can get some better pics. Anyways coppersafe takes care of both of them correct?
 

unleashed

Active Member
Originally Posted by Madswife
Yes he is in QT wher he is being treated. Today the spots look alittle more pronouced even though yesterday they looked like they were getting better...ill see if i can get some better pics. Anyways coppersafe takes care of both of them correct?
yes it will cure it, coppersafe as the bottle states works on most external paresites such as ich velvet flukes ect.there is no overnite cure for ich even fw dips dont cure it 100% off the fish the first time just feed him well as you can and keep up on his water quality the best you can it will help.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
You went with the copper, and not even the best copper, against my advise. I can't help with that, mad. I can only help with what I think is best.
 

madswife

Member
Originally Posted by Beth
You went with the copper, and not even the best copper, against my advise. I can't help with that, mad. I can only help with what I think is best.
No Offense and i thank you very much for helping me beth but no where in any of your posts did you say that i should do something else. Yes you did however tell me that seacems stuff was better but my closest fish shop only carries coppersafe and the other one that i know carries seachems is an additional hour away. Ive been getting mixed posts from you and unleashed saying the opposite things. One says test the copper levels the others says its not necesary. One says use coppersafe theother dont. Anyways i hope you continue to try and help me. :help: :joy: . This is what i know and im willing to take your advice from now on(Im not going to drive 2 hours to get the seachem stuff though when others are saying that coppersafe works just as good) The tang has been in quarantine since monday and his condition to me looks like it is deteriating. There are some not lots but some small spots on the side of his body. He also has a scratch that i just noticed alittle bit ago. I have 2 airstones in there and he is continuing to breathe at a pretty good rate. Also I dont remeber if it was you,Beth, or unleashed that said something about the copper needing to be more than 6 days old for some reason. Hpw does this effect the copper because the same day that i put him in qt i also put a new carbon cartrige in. Would you recomend taking the water out and then redosing the new water from the display or would you recomend hypo or should i test the copper levels and then go from there? Anyways im sorry about things that were said/done earlier but i dont really want to loose this tang. Any advice you could give me on what to do now would be awesome!!!
Thanks Mad Edit: i may be going up to a store tomarrow that has cupramine. Do you think its worth it?
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
This fish does not have velvet, or it would be dead already. Is it ich? The pictures you provide are blury and I just can't tell. If it is ich, then go with hyposalinity. You could go with hyposalinity anyway at this point, even if it is not ich. Just to reduce stress. Do you have a refractometer?
Try to scale down those pictures, otherwise, its kinda hard to read the posts having to go back and forth.
Do you have a digital camera? To get clear pictures? Or, give some very specific details about those spots. Use a magnifying glass to look at the fish to get details.
I'd do a water change at this point, to dilute the coppersafe out. If you start hyposalinity, then that will do for the water change. How are your water readings in that tank? Get as much circulation going in the tank that you can that would still be comfortable for the fish.
Are the spots spreading? Or are they the same ones?
 
Top