Copper treatment

[fishcounter]

Hey everyone!

I wanted to learn about copper treatments and how it works. How does it help with Ich and marine velvet? Are there any other benefits? Are there any bad effects other than its harm to inverts and such?

Thanks!

[AdamJ]

Originally Posted by fishcounter

bad effects other than its harm to inverts and such?
Thanks!

well thats enough to keep me away.... i would never chance loosing a clean up crew


(that and i like inverts more than the fish,)

[fishcounter]

Originally Posted by AdamJ

well thats enough to keep me away.... i would never chance loosing a clean up crew


(that and i like inverts more than the fish,)

Me too. However, if people do a copper treatment, they do it during the quarantine process when the fish is alone. After the quarantine process, the fish is added to the main display.

Yep, we don't want copper in our main tanks with our coral. That would be a disaster.

So, to refine my question, I was wondering how copper treatments work during the quarantine process.

[Amphibious]

First, if you buy a fish at the LFS that it obviously needs a copper treatment you're foolishly throwing your money away. Now, I know you wouldn't do that! Second, if you set up a proper quarantine tank there should be no need for copper. Let's look at a properly set up quarantine tank. The size should be at least 20 gallons, a 29 better, a 35 or bigger better. No substrate, the copper, if you must use it, leaches out to the substrate. A simple biological filter already cycled will suffice because you are only going to have one fish in there at a time, right? Of course you are! Additional filtration would include a skimmer, a UV sterilizer and possibly ozone. Lighting should be subdued, simple fluorescent aquarium lights will suffice. Give the fish hiding places in the form of PVC pipe or fittings of sufficient size that it can get itself concealed if nervous. Food, feed it the best foods available. Most fish can heal themselves if given half a chance with proper care and the best food stuff. Take care of your charges as though they were YOU!!! If you do that they'll be fine.

Hope this helped clear up your question.

Dick

[Scott]

Dick, I think I remember reading somewhere that copper can leach into the silicon seals of a tank. Did I read/remember correctly? ...if so I'm guessing a conclusion would be that the tank would be a QT only for fish in the future...and not coral/inverts if copper was ever used in it?

[Amphibious]

Yes, Scott, I've heard that, too. Don't know if it's accurate but, would have my doubts until some study showed differently. But, thanks for pointing that out.

[fishcounter]

Thanks for the info! One of my LFS does copper treatments on a lot of fish they bring in. So, I wanted to try and figure out why.

[Rob]

i remember reading in my clownfishes book, that the use of copper can have negative effects on the gills and liver of the fish.

now i cant remember if this was on "any" copper usage, or if it was with "too much" copper usages

i will have to go back to my book and look

[Amphibious]

There are several reasons people and LFS owners still use copper.

1. It works.
2. They will not spend the money on setting their store up properly with a quarantine system utilizing strong UV sterilizers on quarantine and in their display tanks.
3. They don't know any better.

The use of copper is Also hard on the fish you are treating. Copper is a poison and in order to kill parasites a certain dosage must be held for a few days so you must test every day because the copper is leached out as mentioned above.

Fish are also sensitive to over doses and damage to gills and internal organs can result. If I new my LFS was using copper, I'd find a different source for my purchases.

That's my take on it. Hope it helps.

Dick

[ZeroKoolNYC]

Hello everyone, I have only used a copper treatment in an extreme circumstance where I tried all the natural approaches to assisting the fish in healing and nothing would work.

However, my process was a combination of copper treatment as well as hyposalinity. I quarentined the fish in a 29 gallon tank where I would administer the appropriate dose of Mardel Copper-Safe for the 29 gallons of water within the tank in the morning then at night I would conduct a 5% water change introducing only fresh water into the tank to lower the salinity followed by another dosing of copper for the 29 gallons of water within the tank. I repeated this process for 7 days and managed to kill the parasites (mainly Ich) infecting the fish. I have gotten alot of negative feedback about this method. However, every person that I have introduced this method to has experienced nothing but success and a healthy fish after the treatment with no short/long term side effects.

[Amphibious]

That's a good regimen and the one I've used from time to time in the early days and would follow again if I absolutely had to. However since I use UV on each system, quarantine and display, I haven't used copper in over 20 years.

Most hobbyists and LFS owners won't take the precautions you did. Great job ZeroKoolNYC. Thanks for chiming in.

[ZeroKoolNYC]

Originally Posted by Amphibious

Most hobbyists and LFS owners won't take the precautions you did. Great job ZeroKoolNYC. Thanks for chiming in.

Amphibious, thank you very much for the compliment. I just recently installed an Ultravoilet Sterilizer on my 180 gallon All-Glass Aggressive Aquarium. I'm hoping on the same success that you have had. It make me feel good that I actually learned something and shared a technique that I know works to save our aquatic friends lives.