Treating Ich with Copper No Improvement?

[njphin]

I have a Clownfish in a QT. Its been in there going on week five. It has white salt grain like marks on his bottom fin also 1 spot on his body and 1 little bigger grain on his top fin. I tried to take pictures but they didn't show up on the pics. Today is day 10 treating with Cupramine daily test have shown that I had the copper at 0.5mg the entire time as per the directions. With 4 more days to go in treatment there is no sign of improvement and all of the spots are still there. The fish is active and eating well. Anyone have any suggestions on what could be going on? Thanks

 

[ccCapt]

Which brand test kit are use using? There are 2 different types of copper test kits. 1 for chelated copper (Copper Safe) and 1 for non chelated, which is what you need for Cupramine. Seachem and Salifert work for Cupramine.

 

[njphin]

I'm using API test kit.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I would suspect you didn't have the correct concentration of copper. API test kits are good for chelated copper... which is *not* what Cupramine is. A Seachem copper kit would be a better choice. The other possibility is that it's not ich, or it just needs a longer dose than normal. You aren't running carbon or anything like that in the QT, are you?

 

[njphin]

I have a hob filter running just for the water movement with no carbon. Also have pvc pipes for hiding, a heater and thats it. I'll try the Seachem test kit instead. How do others properly diagnose a disease or a parasite. Is there a good website with pictures for it?

 

[ccCapt]

As Kurt mentioned, you are using the wrong test kit. You can try the Seachem copper test kit, but I've heard they are very hard to read. I would suggest getting a Salifert copper test kit.

These articles have a few pics and explain how to treat ich.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2003/mini1.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2003/mini2.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/mini3.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2004/mini4.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2004/mini5.htm