moving from copper treatment to DT

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scottayy

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I've had 3 of my fish in copper quarantine for 6 weeks now and tomorrow I'm going to move them back into the display tank.

How can I do this without getting traces of copper in the DT?

Also, I'm going to get some more fish for quarantine, what are your guys views of treating them with copper as a preventitive measure? (eg: take fish out of copper treatment, acclimate new ones in)
 
Why copper? It seems to be bit extreme for a prophylactic treatment especially using it for 6wks. It can cause permanent damage if not used properly. Purchase healthy fish from a reputable & trusted dealer, properly qt them & only treat them if necessary- overuse of meds can lead to drug resistance.
 
The copper for 6 weeks was used to treat marine white spot. It did successfully. So, you'd suggest not putting new arrivals in copper as a preventitive measure? Thanks for your input, I'd like to hear others input as well.

Also, still looking for how to get the fish bank in the dt without traces of copper getting in.

I'm thinking maybe acclimate them in a bucket, emptying out half of the water every so often, so that all of the new water in the bucket is tank water. Will this be good enough to keep copper out?
 
The copper for 6 weeks was used to treat marine white spot. It did successfully. So, you'd suggest not putting new arrivals in copper as a preventitive measure? Thanks for your input, I'd like to hear others input as well.

Also, still looking for how to get the fish bank in the dt without traces of copper getting in.

I'm thinking maybe acclimate them in a bucket, emptying out half of the water every so often, so that all of the new water in the bucket is tank water. Will this be good enough to keep copper out?

Ah-ha!! Hopefully, the mods will move this to the sw forum- I honestly dont have advice for dealing with marine ich because sw is an entirely different playing field than fw. Good luck!!
 
I had bought a fish from a new lfs as I was walking out of the store the owner says to me "oh we have used copper in our tanks make sure you raise the fish" yeah thanks jerk lol.... Anyway I got home dripped the fish for a couple hours while draining the bucket about once an hour for a couple hours then I started switching the water buy cup fulls I then gave it a fresh salt water bath for about 2 minutes and then in the dt and I think it worked well fish ok and I didn't lose any corals
 
I've decided I'm not going to use copper on the new arrivals. I don't want to destroy my cycled tank though. So I'm thinking just emptying and refilling with fresh saltwater. This will surely leave traces of copper though.. will this hurt the fish? I have read it can harm them in low amounts, but this will be traces so the amount would be extremely low.
 
I dont know if this will work in sw, but in fw you can use EDTA to chelate & inactivate heavy metals such as copper because it is almost impossible to truly remove from a tank. ???
 
Oh yeah, good point. I have some Prime which says it detoxifies heavy metals.
 
I would treat the new additions in a hypo qt for 6 weeks instead of copper. It will kill ick just as good as copper and you won't have to worry about getting copper in your dt.
 
Why don't you just wait and see if any of the new fish have any problems before you worry about them . Just keep any eye on the newbies and don't worry about it. As for the cooper just drip the fish before you put them back in the dt I would think the little amount of cooper that you would get in the dt would be negligible in a large amount of water.
 
Back to your original question tho - how to NOT transfer some of that copper to your DT. I've been thinking about this as well, just to come up with a bullet-proof protocol for any new introductions. How to prevent untrusted water getting in?

My thinking, happy to be corrected:
- Drip acclimate like mentioned earlier, double the volume, throw away half, double, toss, etc.
- When fully acclimated, transfer to another container full of JUST DT water by net or hand - minimizing water transfer.
- Give it some time there, then again transfer by net or hand to DT.

Sound reasonable?

- D
 
you guys are way over thinking this copper thing.If your netting after acclimation your talking about a couple of drops of water in gallons and gallons.
 
I would rather be safe than sorry :D

Anyways, I have done this. Drip acclimated, doubled the water, emptied half, double it back up. Hand caught the fish and put them in a bowl of tank water for about 10 minutes. Then hand caught them and put them in the DT.
 
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