need some advice on copper treatment

[ogre]

Just got a hippo tang and suprise,suprise the ich is starting to show(24 hrs later). I have a fish only with some hermits. The hippo is eating and seem fine otherwise. Should I turn off the protein skimmer and what about the uv sterilizer?

 

[beth]

You can not use copper in a display tank, especially with inverts. Remove the hermits and any other inverts and do hyposalinity in the tank. The procedure is detailed in the FAQ Thread, at the top of the Disease Forum.

 

[ogre]

To late for that. I'ts a 120 gal so I added the first dose which was 24ml of Regent grade copper. LFS siad to use it if i get ich. Looks like the very small hermits might not be doing so well, still trying to locate lg hermit. LFS said hermits would not be harmed by copper like other inverts. Now I'm spazing, just added a bag of carbon to try and get rid of the copper.

 

[beth]

LFS doesn't know what they are talking about. Nothing new about that. I suggest you give them the hermits. They will die under copper. And adding copper to your tank will also kill off a good deal of your biofilter.

 

[ogre]

The LFS is a specialty Marine store. Just got off the phone with them and they say it wouldn't hurt to add the copper, other than the death of the hermits and the live rock. I never cycled with LR but rather add a piece to the sump well after cycle as an attempt to solve a water test spike issue after adding first two fish. Now my base rock is starting to seed, guess it's a loss. Will adding carbon to sump soon after add anything?

 

[ogre]

What about this? The signs of ich juct started to show on the hippo this morning. If I move him to the QT and treat him there is it to late to prevent the other fish from getting ich and will this add to much stress to an already obviously stressed fish?

 

[sepulatian]

Is there a reason why you cannot move the inverts into the QT, use carbon and a copper sponge to get the copper out of the DT, and then perform hyposalinity? All of your fish have been exposed to ich. If you add copper to the display, not only will your inverts and a good deal of biological filtration die, but the sand and rock is going to absorb the copper. Your readings will be off and the tank will be unfit for future inverts. The copper will leach back out of the sand and rock over time. That is rather sad that a "specialty" marine store would tell you that it is fine to add copper into the display.

 

[ogre]

Thanks for the response. I did move the hermits to the qt and even tried to move the Hippo but it seemed I was causing much to much stress to everyone in the tank so I stopped. At this point All the fish have been exposed as you stated so I have decided to move forward with the copper treatment since I already made the irreversible mistake. Lesson learned! It was originally going to be a FOWNLR. so now I guess it is, Dam! I will monitor the levels and add vitamins to the water and food if they will eat. I also plan on raising the temp to 82*. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[sepulatian]

I strongly urge you not to use copper in the display, but if you are moving ahead with it then that is up to you. Keep an eye on your water readings. There will likely be an ammonia spike as the life on the rock dies. Have water mixed for changes to dilute the ammonia. You will have to match the copper level in the change water with the display. Do you have a copper test kit? You will need one that is compatible with the copper that you are using. Be sure that there is extra flow in the tank. Don't mess with the water temperature. It will not effect the parasites but will stress the fish.