Copper treatment with Cupramine, How do I re-dose with water changes? :O

mandyplo · #1 02-11-2013, 02:59 PM

Just wondering about when the time comes that I need to do a water change... how do I go about re-dosing this stuff?
These are the instructions on the bottle:

If I'm not mistaken, the initial dose over 48 hours is to acclimate your fish to the poison... please correct me if I'm wrong but I recall reading that somewhere.

I'm assuming you have to re-dose for the amount of water you are replacing when you do a water change. So lets say I changed out 10.5 gallons of water in a 30 gallon quarantine tank.
So once you have done the initial treatment and you have the concentration at 0.5mg/L, then when you do a water change do you have to re-dose over the 48 hours per the amount of water you are replacing (10.5 gallons = 16 drops over 48 hours hypothetically speaking) ?

Or, because your fish are already acclimated to the copper, can you dose the full 48 hour dosage (so 2 x 16 drops right into your new water) ?

Thanks hope I can get some clarification on this.

If I have it COMPLETELY wrong and there's a different method to water changing with copper treatment, please please correct me !!!

Edit: made photo much smaller, woops

howdy20012002 · #2 02-11-2013, 03:04 PM

I think you will be fine at putting in the full dose.
the fish are already at the full dose now, so it won't be changing anything really in the parameters.
just make sure that you are accurate with how much you are adding to ensure that you don't put too much in.

paddyob · #3 02-11-2013, 03:10 PM

Is that product reef safe? Might harm your corals and inverts more than the fish.

Copper treatment is common in fish only systems or in QT but rarely should it be added to your display.

My understanding is this. Once you add copper it is going to leach into things and removal may not be possible.

Just my thought.

Madmak · #4 02-11-2013, 03:10 PM

Not sure on the number at the moment bit it's all about maintaining a concentration of copper at all times. I've always added to my change bucket, tested, and dumped it in. Mark the bucket with "copper" so you don't use it for the DT.

howdy20012002 · #5 02-11-2013, 03:18 PM

I would definitely recommend more than a 2 week treatment as well btw.
ick and marine velvet both have a longer cycle than that potentially.
I would personally go for a month just to be safe.

Madmak · #6 02-11-2013, 03:43 PM

Yes, only in QT tanks only. Didn't mention that but copper will kill inverts and corals almost immediately. Even using a contaminated bucket later can be an issue.

I always treat for 4-6 weeks.

Coralgurl · #7 02-11-2013, 03:49 PM

I've used copper and dosed the new salt water, and retested after adding to the tank. Once you are at full dose, you can/should keep it there.

Curious why you are using copper treatment? Its very hard on the fish and a slight overdose can kill them. You also need to closely watch your PH with copper.

George · #8 02-11-2013, 04:28 PM

I think you need to get a copper test kit instead of using drops as a measurement. Get a seachem copper test kit to go with that cupramine.
Slowly rampping up your copper level to 0.3 and 0.4 over the course of 4 days (longer than the seachem recommendation). Watch your fish carefully for any signs of distress, (not eating, etc.). Not all fish can handle copper treatment. If the fish can't handle copper, there are other methods to treat whatever you wanted to treat. If there is any distress, drop the level to 0.15. Always make sure the fish eating before increasing the dosage. Maintain the copper level over 4+ weeks.
Whatever you do, don't dose any ammonia binding things (like prime) when you have copper in your tank. It will be deadly.
Good luck.

mandyplo · #9 02-11-2013, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

I've used copper and dosed the new salt water, and retested after adding to the tank. Once you are at full dose, you can/should keep it there.

Curious why you are using copper treatment? Its very hard on the fish and a slight overdose can kill them. You also need to closely watch your PH with copper.

Hi guys yes sorry, my fish had marine ich - I lost about 5 fish and I am treating the 3 remaining fish in QT, I thought everyone would assume I knew not to use this in my display but I Guess there are some people who don't do their homework lol (I did).

Yes I also have test kits dont worry :P I bought the Salifert copper test kit and have my concentration at 0.5 mg/L in my QT now. I am going to be needing a water change soon and was just wondering how to go about doing that, but thank you all for providing clarification. It is precisely as I thought it would be

Coralgurl · #10 02-11-2013, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mandyplo

Hi guys yes sorry, my fish had marine ich - I lost about 5 fish and I am treating the 3 remaining fish in QT, I thought everyone would assume I knew not to use this in my display but I Guess there are some people who don't do their homework lol (I did).

Yes I also have test kits dont worry :P I bought the Salifert copper test kit and have my concentration at 0.5 mg/L in my QT now. I am going to be needing a water change soon and was just wondering how to go about doing that, but thank you all for providing clarification. It is precisely as I thought it would be

Sorry for your losses!!! I hope all goes well with your qting and treatment.