Do you have to use Seachem Cupramine on new fish while Quarantine

[oneilwiz]

Happy Holidays everyone,

I purchased two tangs (hippo and Salfin) and have been quarantining for one week now. I have been using Prazipo. Both fish shows no sign of sickness except they are not eating as well as my hippo swims now and then with his nose down and fin up in the air. Any thoughts on the following :
1. Do you have to use Cupramine in the QT if no sickness visible ?

2. What would cause a Blue Hippo to Deon nose down and gin up in the air ?


I have been using garlic with green seaweed as well as brine shrimp but no luck in having them eat!!

 

[Bluefish9]

I dont use cupramine unless I see a problem. I just observe my fish while in QT. The only flaw in my approach I can see is that if an illness should occur, then its longer until they graduate into the DT.... but thats totally fine with me. On the flip side, I feel they can go into the DT quicker (assuming no illness shows).

As far as feeding is concerned, Did you see them eat in the store? In my experience, Prazi curbs the appetite a little.

 

[oneilwiz]

Thank you for your feedback !, I did seen them eat in the fish store. Frozen algae, today is day 7 of running the tank with Prazipo, I will do a 50% water change and add carbon and Monitor them for the up coming week. I must admit my QT is small (10G)

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I would preemptively treat for ich regardless of whether or not I see signs of it. That could be some form of copper treatment, hyposalinity, or tank transfer method of QT.

On the eating, I'd bet @4FordFamily could help.

 

[Brew12]

In my experience, Prazi curbs the appetite a little.

Agreed!

Normally it is recommended to get the fish eating before adding Prazi since it can impact their feeding. Hopefully they will start eating when you get the Prazi out of the water.

As for needing Cupramine, no, it is not necessary. You just need to understand that if you don't use copper on every fish you add to your DT it is highly likely that you will end up with ich in it at some point. It is very possible to run an ich managed system if you feed high quality foods and don't overstock your tank. Just understand that some tangs, and a few other species, can be extremely sensitive to ich. IMO, this is where visual QT falls short. Just like it is possible to run a very healthy tank even if it has ich in it, it is also possible to get a healthy looking fish that is a carrier of ich but has a natural immunity.

Here are 2 posts I would recommend reading as part of your decision making process.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/ - specifically the 2nd section of the first post.
and
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...ears-of-experience-and-ich-management.206347/

 

[oneilwiz]

Wow thank you guys, I have the articles, learned alot, I came home and tested my water parameters in my QT and confirmed it is ok, I just added Carbon to the filter since I did already did a 50% water change to get rid if the Prazipo, I tried feeding both fish with some PE Mysis but they still didn't even look at it. They just continue doing their thing just swimming around. I am more concern with the Blue Hippo Tang as he most of the times swims with his nose down and tail up. I looked at them both I couldn't see any imperfections with their skin. I guess I will try to feed them again tomorrow. I have the lights on a timer to turn on from 5:30 PM to 10:30pm running only Actinic blue. Temp 77.2, with salinity 1.025. Thank you again guys, am so bumped out about these two tangs, its the first I am buying fish in the past three years

 

[oneilwiz]

Happy Thursday everyone,

Well today took a turn for me and these two tangs, came home to seeing them with white spots. , Only thing I did yesterday apart from trying to feed them was to add carbon to the filter. Any recommended brand of copper to treat them for ick. Thankfully am off work tomorrow so I can go to the fish store.

 

[Brew12]

Happy Thursday everyone,

Well today took a turn for me and these two tangs, came home to seeing them with white spots. , Only thing I did yesterday apart from trying to feed them was to add carbon to the filter. Any recommended brand of copper to treat them for ick. Thankfully am off work tomorrow so I can go to the fish store.

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, almost every fish seems to come with ich or velvet these days.

I prefer coppersafe myself. Easy to find at Petco and more gentle on fish than some other copper products. The API copper test works well with it.

 

[Humblefish]

I prefer coppersafe myself. Easy to find at Petco and more gentle on fish than some other copper products. The API copper test works well with it.

+1

 

[4FordFamily]

First of all I would say yes treating with copper and praziquantel is a necessary step to successfully keeping fish, especially tangs, especially long term with the least stress and problems.

Second of all, both of those tang species tend to be easy to feed so I suspect something may be awry with your water. Do you have a seachem ammonia badge? How long has this tank been running? What are the water parameters? Specific gravity?

Once you get that under control (if it is not), red nori rubber handed to a rock, live brine, and live blackworms are irresistible to these guys. If you try all three and the water quality is decent and they're even a little healthy they'll begin feeding within a couple days.

Don't leave excess (uneaten) nori in the tank overnight.

@mdbannister for some reason I didn't get a notification of this tag yesterday or this morning (or at all)

 

[oneilwiz]

Thank you guys much appreciated, below are some of the questions you guys asked as well as my Plan of Action tomorrow;

Tank 10 Gallon with Aqueon Power Filter
Tank filter was running in my main display sump for one week. QT up and running one day before I got the new tangs
Ammonia
Badge Alert 0.05ppm

Salinity1.025ppm

Temperature : 77.7F

Daily top off of RoDi water to keep salinity consistent

Salt Mix: Red Sea Coral Pro 1.025ppm

Tank Started with 50% water from main tank and 50% freshly made salt mix

POA tomorrow

• Buy ick treatment either seachem or Fritz Aquatics Mardel Coppersafe
• Buy a 20 gallon long tank since Petco has $1 for Gallon Sale ( hopefully give the fish bigger room
  
• Buy some blood worm
• Change all or most of the water to reduce the Ammonia to 0 ? ( please correct me if I am wrong with this approach)
• Dose both ick treatment and Prazipro
• try to feed them once again

Please let me know if I am missing anything .......

 

[maroun.c]

Adding some bacteria to the new tank or seeding a filter sponge in your DT sump and moving to your QT might help.
Syphoning umeaten fois and a daily 25-50 % Water change will help with ammonia level till your bacteria is able to handle it.

 

[melypr1985]

POA tomorrow

• Buy ick treatment either seachem or Fritz Aquatics Mardel Coppersafe
• Buy a 20 gallon long tank since Petco has $1 for Gallon Sale ( hopefully give the fish bigger room
  
• Buy some blood worm
• Change all or most of the water to reduce the Ammonia to 0 ? ( please correct me if I am wrong with this approach)
• Dose both ick treatment and Prazipro
• try to feed them once again

Hi there! Looks good but with a few tweaks we'll get it to great.

• If you pick cupramine be sure you have the salifert or redsea test kit for copper. If you choose Coppersafe then get the API test kit for that one. The kits are not interchangeable so be sure to match the right kit with the right product.
• You can change all the water, or just fill the 20 gallon with all new water and transfer the fish over. Just be sure salinity and temp match so you can just move them and not have to acclimate.
• Don't add copper and Prazipro to the tank at the same time, or even on the same day. This makes a bacterial bloom much more likely to happen. I suggest taking a few days to raise the copper levels up to therapeutic, then a day or so later add the first round of prazipro. You'll still need to increase oxygen levels and be ready to do a water change or increase O2 even more if needed.
• Oh and I wouldn't get blood worms. Black worms if you can get them are great.

 

[oneilwiz]

Good morning everyone,

I thank you all once again for your great contribution, @ melypr1985 and others thanks guys. Well I got some bad news, sort of my fault. . I woke up this morning and went to check on the QT tank only to find my Salfin on the ground. ( my fault, I never put the mesh back on the tank.) The blue tang is swimming around perfectly find as if he knows something about the suicidal death. .
Well guys as stated before I carried out my POA using the following products after paying twice the price for them ( had no choice, local pet store expensive). I bought the Seachem Cupramine and Stability, added both to the tank three hours apart. I also gave a second round of Prazipo. They did manage to eat a little, I bought some live brine shrimp.

I got a question for you gals and guys, today in the evening around 4PM according to Seachem instruction for Cupramine, I should give the tank a second dosage but Half the original dose. Whats your thought on that?

NB: I ordered the Seachem copper test kit but it wont arrive until in the evening today. Well am disappointed and sad because I lost my Sailfin Tang, Desjardini for which my wife been laughing at me how they both look dead already.

 

[miyags]

You can add the cupramine slow over days if you want. I would wait until your test kit arrives before adding more copper. It's more important to keep ammonia out of qt. Keep plenty of saltwater on hand for quick water changes. Feed your tangs nori,brown or red.

 

[oneilwiz]

I indeed use fresh SW I have in my 20 G storage bin.

 

[Brew12]

Just make sure you add copper to your water change water before putting it in your QT.

 

[Mike_J]

I also use Cupramine versus the more popular and less harsh Copper Safe. I've just had more success with Cupramine. However, I do find that extending the time to achieve therapeutic levels seems to be much better overall. So for me in general, therapeutic levels are achieved over 5 days, 7 days for wrasses and other hyper sensitive fish. Just my personal experiences that might be of help (or not, lol) Good luck!

 

[oneilwiz]

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update on the Quarantine process;

Hippo Tang looks better but still does not eat no matter what I give him. Hopefully I will try again this weekend.

 

[melypr1985]

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update on the Quarantine process;

Hippo Tang looks better but still does not eat no matter what I give him. Hopefully I will try again this weekend.

He's not eating Nori either?