Cuparmine Fertility Question:

[clittrell]

My main tank has come down with ich and I am about to put all my fish including a pair of Banggai Cardinals in a hospital tank. I was planning on treating the tank with Cuparmine. I was reading online that Copper can have a negative impact on fertility. My Banggai Cardinals bred twice last year, I was unable to capture the fry, and I would hope that they would again so I can have another attempt at capturing the fry and raising the fish. Has anyone seen the negative fertility affect on Banggai Cardinals? If so would you recommend Hypo instead?

Thanks,

Chris

[landlord]

Chris - I cannot speak for the cardinal fish but I have cupramine'd my Tomato Clowns and they still had babies, tons of them. They have also been hypo'ed, Formalin'ed, Maracyn'ed with no ill effect on the offspring.

My feeling is I'd do what you can to save the fish, if you think you can do it with hypo - go for it. But get rid of the ick! at all costs.

:) Kurt

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Ive used cup in many FW systems with africans in them and it never seemed to slow them down lol. I think the affects of copper on fish reproductive systems is a bit of a wivestale (IME/IMO).

Now im not saying life long exposure is good, but a few weeks exposure is no big deal.

[r.d.m]

ive also used it with ocellaris with no loss of fertility

[billsreef]

Copper has been shown to temporarily stop spawning activity. However, in those cases spawning resumes quickly after the copper is removed.