Copper Power treatment. Flukes and black ich.

[FlexTape]

I have 2 purple tangs, 1 yellow tang, 2 sailfin tangs, 1 gem tang, 1 yellow eye kole tang, 1 blue hippo, 1 scopas, 1 bicolor fox face, 1 one spot fox face, 1 koi tang, 1 six line wrasse, 1 baby azure damsel and 5 green chromis. all relatively large except the damsel. I was gonna disperse them all into 3 40 gallon breeders and do a copper power treatment. my main question is do I mix fresh salt heat it up add fish and then add the copper power treatment or do I mix the water heat it up treat it with copper and then do a drip acclimation for the fish? I plan to do 100% water changes daily with same temp, salinity, ph and copper level to keep ammonia down and to make sure no eggs are being laid. im aware how long treatment could last but I just wanted to ask around and see what other people have done. ive also heard 2.00 is the best level for copper because there is one strain of velvet that can survive 1.75?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have 2 purple tangs, 1 yellow tang, 2 sailfin tangs, 1 gem tang, 1 yellow eye kole tang, 1 blue hippo, 1 scopas, 1 bicolor fox face, 1 one spot fox face, 1 koi tang, 1 six line wrasse, 1 baby azure damsel and 5 green chromis. all relatively large except the damsel. I was gonna disperse them all into 3 40 gallon breeders and do a copper power treatment. my main question is do I mix fresh salt heat it up add fish and then add the copper power treatment or do I mix the water heat it up treat it with copper and then do a drip acclimation for the fish? I plan to do 100% water changes daily with same temp, salinity, ph and copper level to keep ammonia down and to make sure no eggs are being laid. im aware how long treatment could last but I just wanted to ask around and see what other people have done. ive also heard 2.00 is the best level for copper because there is one strain of velvet that can survive 1.75?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Copper Power and Coppersafe are both amine-chelated copper medications. They should be dosed at 2.25 ppm for 30 days. You can use a Hanna high range copper checker to test for that.

If the pH, salinity and temperature of the treatment tanks is the same as the tank the fish are currently in, you can just move them over to the copper tanks, no need to acclimate them. The idea of raising the copper level slowly is only an issue if you were using ionic copper.

I think that you will find that without a proper biological filtration on those tanks, the amount of water changes you will need to do will be too high. The way you worded your question, it sounds like you already have these fish in a tank? Can you use bio media from that tank to establish a bio filter in the treatment tanks? What disease are you treating? There might be better/easier options than setting up three new tanks....

Jay

 

[FlexTape]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Copper Power and Coppersafe are both amine-chelated copper medications. They should be dosed at 2.25 ppm for 30 days. You can use a Hanna high range copper checker to test for that.

If the pH, salinity and temperature of the treatment tanks is the same as the tank the fish are currently in, you can just move them over to the copper tanks, no need to acclimate them. The idea of raising the copper level slowly is only an issue if you were using ionic copper.

I think that you will find that without a proper biological filtration on those tanks, the amount of water changes you will need to do will be too high. The way you worded your question, it sounds like you already have these fish in a tank? Can you use bio media from that tank to establish a bio filter in the treatment tanks? What disease are you treating? There might be better/easier options than setting up three new tanks....

Jay

I was under the impression that when dosing copper any beneficial bacteria will just die off. I am dosing for black ich and flukes. I want to get into quarantining everything for the safety of the livestock. I can use media from the tank they are in but it wont kill the bacteria and just cause ammonia spikes?

 

[Jekyl]

I was under the impression that when dosing copper any beneficial bacteria will just die off. I am dosing for black ich and flukes. I want to get into quarantining everything for the safety of the livestock. I can use media from the tank they are in but it wont kill the bacteria and just cause ammonia spikes?

Use of HoB filters is the easiest method. Keep the sponges in your display tank until ready to move to quarantine tank. The seeded bacteria in them will help manage ammonia. You'll still need to pay close attention to your levels and change water accordingly. Here's a link covering the topic.

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I was under the impression that when dosing copper any beneficial bacteria will just die off. I am dosing for black ich and flukes. I want to get into quarantining everything for the safety of the livestock. I can use media from the tank they are in but it wont kill the bacteria and just cause ammonia spikes?

That’s not true at all. In new tanks, with weak bacteria colonies, you sometimes see minor issues, but in general, copper only impacts the bacteria very slightly.

What people don’t understand is that these amine based copper meds have ammonia in them. They dose it, get a 0.5 ammonia reading and just assume the copper killed the bacteria, but it didn’t.

That said - copper isn’t effective against turbellarians (black ich) or flukes.