Cupramine treatment

coralgazer · Dec 24, 2012

Is cupramine hard on the fish? I want to treat all my new fish prophylactically in my QT with 2 week cupramine treatment. Does this sound harsh to do to healthy appearing fish?

barrycuda · Dec 24, 2012

I have had a FO tank for many years and have experimented with many different brands of copper and I think cupramine is the best, It is not as hard on the fish. I would start out with no copper in the tank and observe the fish for 2 or 3 weeks for signs of a parasite then if you have to treat the fish add a little every day so the fish can get used to it over several days. test daily and bring the level up slowly. I recomend the salifert or the api test kit, The seachem test kit made for this copper is not very reliable, I once had one that had no color change when my level was at .25?

kv2wr1 · Dec 24, 2012

Cupramine is the easiest on the fish. I have used it on puffers and dwarf angels with no problems. The key is to gradually ramp up the dosage slowly. You don't even need to use it at full strength with sensitive fish. I did 1 drop per gallon every other day until I got it up to 0.35-0.40 ppm. It took a week to get it up there. Then I held it there for 2 weeks. Worked great. If your fish doesn't show symptoms of ich or velvet after 6 weeks in qt, the fish may not have it. Certain tangs almost always have it so its not a bad idea to treat prophylactically. It's more of a personal preference. I got burned not treating prophylactically so I'm always going to treat prophylactically. I just got done treating all my fish with cupramine and all is well. I think it is more intimidating for the aquarist than anything. Hope this helps.

Aquaph8 · Dec 24, 2012

It really depends on the fish. Most do fine with it but fish like wrasses for example won't tolerate it.

rajkovich207 · Dec 24, 2012

I actually add 2 drops to a gallon of water and ad an airstone to it and dip my fish for 30 minutes. I have done it to many fish including firefish and 2 kinds of wrasse.

wicked2na · Dec 24, 2012

Cupramine is great! I always test levels once a day until levels are stable. Make sure you test again when doing water changes. Any carbon and even fine filter floss removes it quickly so always remove any of that from your filter. I am not sure if its the same with Cupramine as it is with coppersafe, but watch out if you use any water conditioners. I know for a fact when Seachem Prime and Coppersafe are mixed together it is deadly combination. Cupramine is great for most fish, but listen to the guys that have had issues with certain types of fish and you should be good to go. I treat every fish that is going to go in the big tanks, I have had too many bad experiences with the whole "he looks okay" gig.

vamaro · Dec 31, 2012

I treat all my new fish for 14 days in Cupramine. Never had an issue. I have even had to dose my FOWLR on a few occasions when my QT was not big enough. Never had an issue and did not notice any impact on the bio system. Some fish stop eating for a few days but they eventually eat. I also treat my new fish with 5 days of Proparazi.

I am just not willing to risk introducing a disease to my display.

RandysReef · Jan 1, 2013

Aquaph8 said:
It really depends on the fish. Most do fine with it but fish like wrasses for example won't tolerate it.

+1.

fyrfytr · Jan 17, 2013

So if I am reading correctly...you guys are saying that your QT always have cupramine in it?

kv2wr1 · Jan 17, 2013

fyrfytr said:
So if I am reading correctly...you guys are saying that your QT always have cupramine in it?

Not exactly. For instance if I get a new fish, let's say a powder blue tang as an example, I will acclimate it to the QT tank and may do a freshwater dip first. The QT does not have Cupramine in it at this time. I usually get the fish eating first with no meds. Then when it is eating well, I will either do cupramine or prazipro, but not both at the same time.

Here is what i did with my Powder Blue that came down with ich.

I made sure he was eating and then I dosed cuprimine slowly until i got it up to about 0.35-0.40 ppm. Then I kept it at that level for 3 weeks (some people say 2 is enough and others say 4 so i just did 3 which is the happy medium). i did weekly water changes and had to test my copper levels and add more cupramine if needed to maintain 0.35-0.40 ppm.

After the 3 weeks were up, I added carbon and did a few massive water changes (about 60% at a time) so that the copper read 0 ppm.

I removed the carbon and threw it away.

Then I added prazipro which is a dewormer. I did 1 treatment since I did not see signs of parasites.

Then after 1 week of that, I did a few large water changes (60% at a time) and added NEW FRESH carbon to take the prazipro out.

Then I wait 8 weeks to make sure no ich or velvet comes back. If he's clean for 8 weeks, then he can go in the display assuming the display does not have ich in it.

Important note: Do not use and amquel or prime with cupramine. Get the ammonia down with water changes only.

Inigomontoya · Jan 18, 2013

Kv2's process is almost exactly like mine only I am more impatient and usually take out a couple of days after prazipro. After a lot of reading I don't follow this with my expensive wrasses. Fenner and the WWM guys don't recommend QT for wrasses. I am paranoid about it so will treat most but for your $150 plust flames, lineatus, etc I will put in the DT with an acclimation box.
Last two wrasses I QT'd did not make it and I really think it was the stress/process not any pre-existing illness.