Copper Treatment

[oliver1071]

Hello, I've been reading a lot on copper being the best treatment for ich. I was wondering how do you prevent any copper from entering the main tank do you do a freshwater dip when transporting from the QT tank to the main tank or is the minimal amount of copper not an issue if you were to scoop the fish out?

Thanks

[Tempest]

A better treatment for Ich/crypto is hyposalinity. Less stress on the fish. If you use copper I'd dip the fish in a bucket of prepared salt-water that matches the parameters (SG, pH, temp, etc) of the hospital tank. If the QT/hospital tank parameters are different than the main display tank you may want to consider re-acclimating the fish instead of just putting him back after his bucket dip.

[pyrrhus]

copper works. it is the most effective treatment for ich. many experts dont reccomend the use of copper on fish because it is akin to chemotherapy. IMO however ich is a cancer on the fish that will kill it, and chemotherapy is warranted. sure a hyposalinity treatment will work, but is it fast enough? not to mention, many fish are just as intolerant to hyposalinity as to copper. i have used copper based treatments on many fish (1000's) with nearly no ill effects. also one does not need to worry about residual copper on the fish affecting the display aquarium as the levels will be almost nil.

[oliver1071]

Thanks pyrrhus that's what I was worried about. If the residual copper on the fish would have any adverse affect on my display tank.

I'm leery about hyposalinity from all my reading it still seems copper is the best treatment if you have a Qt tank available.

[Tempest]

If you've got your heart set on copper make sure you get a test kit and use cupramine. I agree that not all fish handle hypo well, it depends on the species. However, copper is a poison which is why it affects parasites like crypto. pyrrhus is probably right about residual copper, but in such a small tank (nano) why take chances. Especially when you're talking about a minimal amount of added effort. Finally, Ich can live without a host for as long as 4-6 weeks. A typical copper treatment won't leave the display tank "fishless" long enough to guarantee that all of the parasites are dead. You may be curing your fish only to have him get "reinfected" once you put him back in his home.

[oliver1071]

I do have my heart set on copper I have a test kit for the copper that I’m using. I'm just up in the air about picking up different totes, buckets and gravel vacuum for the copper treated tank. I guess I'm unsure about what will carry residual copper back in to my main tank.

[pyrrhus]

now the best bet is to leave the display tank fishless for at least 30 days. I have had success with just 2 weeks fishless in the main tank, and never had a reinfection, i do run a higher temp than most around 81 degrees which helps to run the crypto through its life cycle faster. the life cycle of crypto is between 10 and 38 days. IME 2 weeks fishless works, for others it doesnt. as far as residual copper goes i wouldnt worry about it at all, i did my copper treatment and returned my fish to my 10g nano with no ill effects to the inverts at all, however it is best to have separate tools for the quarantine tank to avoid cross contamination. play it safe QT the fish for 30 days, dont worry about residual copper, dont let any water from QT get in display, and enjoy the hobby.

[pyrrhus]

oh, my favorite treatment for crypto is Copper Power by Endich Inc., the product claims to be 60 times less toxic to fish, does not precipitate out of solution, and IME does not harm even the most delicate of fish.