Copper Treatment for Ich

[Kdocimo90]

I was wondering what you guys think is the best type of copper treatment and what are the best copper test kits?

Thanks

[MikeTR]

cupramine if you're going the copper route.. but you best have a QT.. copper is deadly to corals. I assume you know that . what type of fishies... hyposalinity treatment might very well be your answer.

[Kdocimo90]

Ha yeah I know that. I'm planning on getting a 75-100g QT set up. I have 2 clowns, 2 chromis, and a diamond goby that I've gotta get out of my 210g (which isnt going to be fun whatsoever...

I plan on getting 2 or 3 tangs so I'm just gonna use copper treatment on them all (as it wouldnt hurt to treat the new tangs, regardless of whether they have be infected with ich or not).

I havent thought much about hyposalinity, how does it compare to copper treatment (in relevance to effectiveness, treatment time, etc.)?

[MikeTR]

Well if you do dose the QT tank with copper I don't think you can ever use it for coral ever again.. even well cleaned. I can't really say much about copper as I've never used it and since I wanted to use my quarantine tank for stuff other than fish I went with hypo. Ich has a 6 week life cycle but it's best to be on the safe side and leave your DT fallow for 8 weeks. The parasite cannot osmoregulate itself at 1.010 and explodes.. so basically you're trying to kill it in the free swimming stage and it's 100% effective. So you'll have to run you QT at 1.010 SG for 6 weeks.

[Kdocimo90]

That seems like a great and much easier treatment. Does this require frequent water changes?

[hurleybob]

Originally Posted by MikeTR

Well if you do dose the QT tank with copper I don't think you can ever use it for coral ever again.. even well cleaned. I can't really say much about copper as I've never used it and since I wanted to use my quarantine tank for stuff other than fish I went with hypo. Ich has a 6 week life cycle but it's best to be on the safe side and leave your DT fallow for 8 weeks. The parasite cannot osmoregulate itself at 1.010 and explodes.. so basically you're trying to kill it in the free swimming stage and it's 100% effective. So you'll have to run you QT at 1.010 SG for 6 weeks.

will corals make it that low?

[MCCOOL]

No corals/inverts cannot handle hypo

[hurleybob]

Cant catch fish that has it what other options are there?

[MCCOOL]

Feed well, and hope the fish gets over it. Although the ick will stay in your system until you remove all fish and leave DT fallow for 8 weeks.

[Kdocimo90]

I've fed with garlic for over a year now and my fish are noticeable healthy... I havent seen ich on my fish for a while now, but whenever I add a new fish, ich appears right away, which is why I know it is still in my system, and which is also why I want to treat my fish.

I too have trouble getting my fish out, but the battle has yet to begin. I figure my clownfish will my anemone, so I can set a trap up somehow. My diamond goby I'll have to try and fish out at night under his rock, and my 2 chromis, IDK.

[usefulidiot213]

I am pretty sure that most tanks have ick. It's just too common of a parasite. If you feed well and do what you can to keep stress levels down, you normally don't have a problem. When you add a new fish it stresses the other fish out, which lowers their immune systems allowing the ick to take hold.
The only way to guarantee that you will complete remove the ick from your tank is to either remove all fish to 8 - 10 weeks or Hypo treatment for 8 weeks.

[Kdocimo90]

That's what I plan on doing. But either with hypo treatment or copper treatment.

[Kdocimo90]

^^^