# Copper is not trating my tank for ich... Please help



## smota (Jun 2, 2008)

I was instructed to treat my tank with copper in order to rid ich. I started the treatment yesterday by removing the charcoal pad and adding 65 drops of copper to a 75 gallon tank. (the 10 gallon difference I took in consideration the sand and rocks in the aquarium). 
Then today I repeated the same dosage in the morning after checking my level of coper, which was 0.5
It seemed earlier that one of my 3 fish was doing better. His skin was clear from the white granules and I could only see a few ones on his fins. Now I just got home and saw that another fish that had not presented any white spots before has his body covered with them. Is this normal? Am I doing anything wrong?


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## Flashygrrl (Jan 18, 2008)

What kind of fish do you have in there? If they can handle having the temps raised to 84 (gradually over a few hours), then you should have been instructed to do so. Higher temps shorten the life cycle of th parasite. Other than that, copper wouldn't have been my first choice. You don't have any plans to have inverts, do you?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Who instructed you to use copper sulfate? Copper sulfate is just one of the heavy metals that can harm and kill fish, plants and invertebrates. Get rid of it immediately and use salt and heat combination instead. What fish do you have? If you plan to put invertebrates there, you cannot do it anymore. Even small traces of copper can kill them and copper is not very easy to remove as it becomes absorb by most decorations and even silicon sealant.


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## Flashygrrl (Jan 18, 2008)

Skimming the past posts of the OP it's looking to me like they REALLY need to tell their LFS to shove off.

Also it looks like the tank is actually a saltwater tank, which is a BIG uh-oh


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## Flashygrrl (Jan 18, 2008)

(Just for clarification, this was originally posted in the freshie section...I could visualize people going "huh?" as they read this.)


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Yes, there are so many problems with the pet shops advice that I have almost recommended he start over completely, but have been hanging onto hopes of getting thru this.

The additional white spots are the normal progress of the parasite. Copper kills free swimming parasites, but will not kill the parasites that are attached to the fish. In a couple of days the parasites will fall off of the fish, as part of their normal life cycle.

You need to do a bit of reading on your own occassionally to stay up on the topics. Do a google on Cryptocarion, which is marine ich.


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