Been treating sailfin tang with cupramine for 4 weeks

[wrasse326]

I've had my sailfin tang and kole tang in a 37 gallon quarantine tank and I've been treating them for ich with cupramine for 4 weeks. My sailfin tang still looks like he has ich on his tail. I've kept the level at .50 the whole time and even brought it up to .60 this last week. How is it possible he still has ich?? Could it just be permanent damage on his tail from having ich for a long time or something? It's only on his tail. And the kole tang has been clear for 2 weeks now. Should I keep treating? There's no live rock and only a few specs of sand left from when I scraped the sand out and couldn't get it all. Any suggestions? Thanks for help in advance

[wrasse326]

Well I guess I'll treat for another week and see if it goes away



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[TheTodd]

I have never used Cupramine, but think it says to treat for two weeks? I've seen some people suggest three weeks. Even recall reading that if you call them, they will suggest three weeks. Odds are if you have done everything properly, they are both okay. For the one that still has a few spots on the tail, I would probably get it back in normal water and observe a little longer. No harm in taking a little longer just to be sure. Copper can cause damage to fish if exposed too long, so I'd go normal salinity, or even hypo. If the other is clear, it's probably good to go.

[wrasse326]

Ok idk why it kept saying you do not have permission to access this post anytime I tried to reply. I'm the one who started the thread wat the Heck lol
Ok so I guess I could do a water change and get the copper out and see if ich shows back up. And don't I have to wait for both fish to be clear before putting either into the main tank? And I forgot the first week was spent getting the copper up to .5 because I do half doses for 4-5 days to get it up slowly to keep from stressing the fish too much. So technically they've only been treated for 3 weeks.

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[TheTodd]

I don't see any harm in getting water back to normal and watching both a bit just to be sure. Probably better than putting them back in and having issues.

How long has the display tank been fallow? I assume there are no fish in there?

You want 6-8 weeks for that part of the equation too. If these had Ich, that can still be lurking in the DT, so you want anything in the DT to die off due to no host before adding these two back in.

[wrasse326]

Yea I've already been through that. I actually let my 120 sit empty for 12 weeks just to be extra sure. My two clowns and scopas were the first ones I treated and they've been back in the tank for 4 weeks. I treated them for 4 weeks even though they didn't show any ich to begin with. I've been checking them everyday and still haven't seen ich on them so I must of done right with them. My sailfin and kole were in a 55 waiting to be treated. So since I've already been through all that I just want to make sure I get it all gone from the sailfin

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[cnaugh]

I just went through this with my Sailfin. I would suggest you treat the little fellow a full 28 days before returning him to the display. Research the life cycle of ich and you can see why. After 14 days of treatment they "should" be eradicated but it will take another 14 days to be absolutely sure.

[wrasse326]

Well I started treatment on the 20th of last month. And lets say it took 5 days to get copper level up to .50.. so then actual treatment started on the 25th. Tomorrow would be the 4th week and the 28th day. What if he still has ich?

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[cnaugh]

Go for another 14 days.

[wrasse326]

Dang I just don't wanna stress the poor fish out but as of tonight he still has ich. Now it's back on his fins too. It was just his tail. Hope it gets better soon. And I hope I treated the scopas and clowns long enough. I never saw any ich on them in the first place so I just did 4 weeks. But they've been in the 120 for 4 weeks and I haven't seen any still so hope it's all good. Ich is so complicated in saltwater.

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[melosu58]

Read these. They will answer your questions and provide you with some treatment options.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro

[tonedogz]

Are you running carbon or a uv on this tank. Something doesn't seem right cupramine is great stuff and should have killed the ich by now. Are you using a copper test kit that can read for cupramine.

[wrasse326]

No carbon at all. I have a sponge filter and then a hang on back filter on the back just for extra flow but it doesn't have anything in it. I've got the seachem test kit. But maybe I'm not testing right... Because when it comes to that powder crap it says dip the stir stick in it and shake off excess. So I don't know how far to dip the stupid stick or how much exactly is supposed to go on it so maybe I'm doing too much of that or too little

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[wrasse326]

Ok I tested my tank water twice and then there's a bottle reference water in the test kit that I also tested. Going to upload a picture. The left spot and middle are my tank water and the right spot is the reference water. It looks pretty close to the reference water color and I used a different amount of the powder crap each time so I guess the amount of that stuff doesn't matter. And of course the pic makes all this blue look a little darker. I also put the comparison thing in the pic that your supposed to match to the tested water. So if anybody sees any differences or whatever let me know. I used more of the powder in the left spot than I did in the middle or reference spot.

[wrasse326]

I guess it's gona be hard to go off these pics. In the pics all three of them look dark like it's at .7 but in my view they look like between .5 and .6

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[wrasse326]

My sailfins ich doesn't look as bad today. It's not covering his whole body anymore it's just on his fins. I did a water change and put more cupramine in it. Hope I don't have to treat for too much longer.

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[wrasse326]

Ok about the best pic I can get of that fish.. but in the first pic you can see the dots all over his tail and in the second you can see them all over his head. Is it not ich? What is the problem? Why can't I get rid of it with cupramine?

[Hondatek]

Can not see from the pictures but did you test you copper levels? I am thinking they are not staying consistent.

[wrasse326]

No got off work late last night and then had to be at work earlier than I was supposed to this morning. But I'm getting off work a little early so I will most definitely do it tonight. And did you click the pictures to enlarge them?

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[Hondatek]

I was on the app earlier but now that I am at home on the laptop I can see it. Definitely looks like ich to me .