# Copper Treatment



## bugoy

i have a question, i bought 9 new fish and the other day saw 2 of them died. when i turned on the lights at night i saw some has a powdery white like dots on the fish's body. the local pet shop told me to treat them with copper but asked me first if i had shrimps, corals or anemones in the tank and i said none w/ is true. 

the questions are

1. how long do i have to treat my tank w/ copper?

2. i remember there were small crabs hiding on the live rocks w/c hitched when i bought the rocks. will they die during the copper treatment ? i remember them because it's been two days since i have started treating the tank w/ copper, seen them again still alive awhile ago

3. saw some of the new fish i bought, (blue damsels) have damaged scales and tails when i bought them, will copper treatment be enough to cure that ?

4. another question is, in the instruction it says i have to put 1 drop of copper treatment per 1 gallon of water, how many times do i have to implement it a day ?

5. after the overall treatment, who much water change should i do ? 

Advance Thanks amigos!


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## jumpman23

*It's call Ich*

When the fish start to have that,










Ich is a common disease that every aquarist has to deal with eventually. There are cases whereby your fish has both ich and fungus.

check out these site for Ich treatment product (normally it won't be harmful to corals as are developed by professional).

www.hikariusa.com
www.kordon.com


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## bugoy

yes that's it! that's what's on my fish what should i do ?


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## bugoy

and by the way, how much copper treatment a day should i do ? on the instrcution i got all it says is 1 drop per gallon, i have a 75 gallon tank so that means i have to put 75 drops a day ?


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## jumpman23

What product you have pls take a picture, just follow the instruction. If there is sign of improvement, stop using it.


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## bugoy

ok one question answered, 2 of my crabs died already as of today as i got home from work. i'll post pictures of my copper treatment it's just a generic one from my local pet store not specific name


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## bugoy

another question, can too much dosage for example if the instruction on my copper treatment requires 1 drop per gallon and i did 3 drops per gallon instead, can that kill my fish ?


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## bugoy

Temperature on my tank is at 85F and salinity is at 1.026 PH is at 8.0

please somebody help me. my fish are dying one at a day they have those white dots like on the picture posted above


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## jumpman23

Well, if u believe me listen up here

This is my tank and i've proven my water param works and the fish like and enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DI7kzR0DM

Here's my salinity









This is my tank









This is my mini lab on water quality monitoring









The PH will you be able to raise to 8.2


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## bugoy

how do i raise my PH by the way from 8.0 to 8.2 ? buffer ? i have started copper treatment already by the way


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## Age of Aquariums

bugoy said:


> ok one question answered, 2 of my crabs died already as of today as i got home from work. i'll post pictures of my copper treatment it's just a generic one from my local pet store not specific name


Invertebrates normally can't handle copper. If you have a quarantine tank, you either need to remove the infected fish and treat them there, or remove the inverts and put them into a quarantine tank until the treatment is over.


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## DJOstrichHead

do you have live rock or substrate in the tank? if so that live rock will never again be able to support invertebrate life because copper will leech out of it forever. Even a good bleaching will sometimes not get out all the copper out of the silicone seals in the corners. 

also not a good idea to triple the copper treatment the bottle suggests.


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## Age of Aquariums

DJOstrichHead said:


> do you have live rock or substrate in the tank? if so that live rock will never again be able to support invertebrate life because copper will leech out of it forever. Even a good bleaching will sometimes not get out all the copper out of the silicone seals in the corners.
> 
> also not a good idea to triple the copper treatment the bottle suggests.


Another good point.

When a disease in a SW tank breaks out, it can be harder to treat than a FW tank.

Some info we may need is:

Tank size
Filter type
Pictures if possible


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## bugoy

75 gallon tank
Temp 85 degree F 
salinity 1.026 
PH 8.0 

i have a filter with 4 levels of filtration i forgot the sequence though i'm here at work, one level is carbon, the other is that white like hard rough stones that breaks if you squeeze them ? and the last one is that black plastic spiked balls, the last is the foam/cotton like layer.

also i have an under gravel filter that is run by an oxygen pump




> When a disease in a SW tank breaks out, it can be harder to treat than a FW tank.


wait so another question. for example, i have 8 fish in the tank and only two is infected, if i move the two to the quarantine tank ain't there more ich left swimming in the main tank that could infect the other 6 fish? would it be better if i cure the whole tank like i'm doing right now? just my observation, one gets each day after one fish dies. the ydon't get infected all at the same time and die at the same time


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## Age of Aquariums

bugoy said:


> wait so another question. for example, i have 8 fish in the tank and only two is infected, if i move the two to the quarantine tank ain't there more ich left swimming in the main tank that could infect the other 6 fish? would it be better if i cure the whole tank like i'm doing right now? just my observation, one gets each day after one fish dies. the ydon't get infected all at the same time and die at the same time


Not normally. I had a problem with ich before, and nothing else caught it after I moved the infected fish out. If you ever get the copper out of your tank I'd get a Cleaner Shrimp because (if I remember right) they'll clean all of that off your fish.


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## jumpman23

> the clown fish i was trying to focus on the video is the one that i saw with the ich, the video is 3 minutes after *i dipped him in fresh water when the other of his kind just died and he started acting like that? what's wrong with him*


 :twisted: 

Just imagine i dip you into a hot water, what will happen to you? shock, some of your internal organ might be burn.

You should get urself a quarantine compartment, where u treat the fish separate from others.


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## Age of Aquariums

jumpman23 said:


> the clown fish i was trying to focus on the video is the one that i saw with the ich, the video is 3 minutes after *i dipped him in fresh water when the other of his kind just died and he started acting like that? what's wrong with him*
> 
> 
> 
> :twisted:
> 
> Just imagine i dip you into a hot water, what will happen to you? shock, some of your internal organ might be burn.
> 
> You should get urself a quarantine compartment, where u treat the fish separate from others.
Click to expand...

Correct. You'll probably want a 10-20g tank with filtration (either hang-on or sponge as a sump isn't needed.)


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## bugoy

> Not normally. I had a problem with ich before, and nothing else caught it after I moved the infected fish out. If you ever get the copper out of your tank I'd get a Cleaner Shrimp because (if I remember right) they'll clean all of that off your fish.


i remember having 2 cleaner shrimps before, whenever they attemp to clean or get near any of my clownfish, the fish attacks them and the shrimps stay away .

my shrimps were like this http://frontpage.simnet.is/dna/Cleaner-shrimp.jpg they just dissapeared 4 months ago and never saw them again never saw their dead bodies too


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## Age of Aquariums

bugoy said:


> Not normally. I had a problem with ich before, and nothing else caught it after I moved the infected fish out. If you ever get the copper out of your tank I'd get a Cleaner Shrimp because (if I remember right) they'll clean all of that off your fish.
> 
> 
> 
> i remember having 2 cleaner shrimps before, whenever they attemp to clean or get near any of my clownfish, the fish attacks them and the shrimps stay away .
> 
> my shrimps were like this http://frontpage.simnet.is/dna/Cleaner-shrimp.jpg they just dissapeared 4 months ago and never saw them again never saw their dead bodies too
Click to expand...

They may of been eaten.


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## bugoy

> They may of been eaten.


 hmmm interesting, the biggest fish i got on the tank is a black striped white clownfish that is an inch anda half long. is it possible that he is the one who ate 2 of my shrimps ?

also another qustion, one of my blue damsel has a wound on it's body, should i stop the copper treatment for a while ? or is it ok ?


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## Age of Aquariums

bugoy said:


> They may of been eaten.
> 
> 
> 
> hmmm interesting, the biggest fish i got on the tank is a black striped white clownfish that is an inch anda half long. is it possible that he is the one who ate 2 of my shrimps ?
> 
> also another qustion, one of my blue damsel has a wound on it's body, should i stop the copper treatment for a while ? or is it ok ?
Click to expand...

It was just a theory, I'm not sure they got eaten. Shrimp can be hard to find if they die.

If the instructions say to stop the copper treatment if there is a wound on a fish, then you should stop.


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## jumpman23

The shrimp can be eaten when it change size, this is the most vulnerable time when their shelf become soft.

Don't rely on those to clean the water condition, get a good skimmer, water treatment canister or hang on filter.


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## bugoy

ok it's been five days since i've started treating my tank w/ copper and nothing has died yet since, one question i know copper kills inverts and crabs, i just noticed right now that i still have 2 crabs alive. does that mean that the copper is not working ? i do not wnat the crabs dead but just curious


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## bugoy

i have another query, it has been a week since i last applied copper on my tank. and i noticed that no algae is growing anymore and they started melting ang disappeared ? is it because of the copper ?


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