cupramine question

[Shellyfish]

I know the bottle advises to keep the levels at .5 for the length of the treatment. I recall reading on here a lower level that was also good fro treatment, can anyone tell me what the safe numbers are? That will be easy on the fish, but still kill the ich? I thought it was .35 or .4 or something like that.

Thanks!

[l8_apex_it]

I have been told .35 minimum and that you do not want to drop below that level at any time. So I chose to aim for .4 allowing some wiggle room or error on my part.

I've also read that if your fish are not in urgent need take a few days to get to the .4. Otherwise they may react and stop feeding.

Also - I'm sure you are aware of this but do not use any amquel or other water treatments for ammonia as it makes a deadly combination!

Good luck!

[Shellyfish]

Yes I've heard of that with the ammonia as well. I plan on raising the amount of copper slowly as I don't feel it is urgent. I'm just hoping my test kit will be good enough to keep me accurate!

[Shellyfish]

One more question, again the bottle says to treat for 14 days, Is that good or do people treat for longer than that? I want to kill the parasite, but I'd like to stress the fish out as little as possible!

[enjetek]

it says 2 weeks but a couple of us (including myself) run it longer just to be safe. minimum 4 - 6 weeks to be safe since catching fish in a big tank is not fun.

[Shellyfish]

Sounds good. I just had to tear apart my 150gal so I hear you there! I have no plans of doing this again!

[Shellyfish]

Ok, sorry, one more question. I want to get my dosing correct. If 2mls will get 10gallons to a level of .5 (over a few days). Am I correct that 1.6mls will get m a level of .4? I'm paranoid about my math, although I'm pretty sure I'm correct. And how many days should I take to get to .4?

Thanks!

[snorvich]

it says 2 weeks but a couple of us (including myself) run it longer just to be safe. minimum 4 - 6 weeks to be safe since catching fish in a big tank is not fun.

4 weeks minimum plus 4 weeks of observation.

[enjetek]

Exactly snorvich. :). Patience is the key. I usually leave them with cupramine for 6 and then observe them. As for your last questions shellyfish I didn't do the math but around 1.6 is about correct - but I usually use their test kit to measure the concentration of cupramine. As for your second question I usually get it to .5 in 2 days but other get to their desired level over several days. It just depends on how the fish react

[Shellyfish]

Sounds good. The DT will be fallow for 12 weeks so that's plenty of time to observe them!