copper to treat a powder brown tang?

[sacalaitman]

is it safe to use copper to treat a powder brown tang? I've got him with a small picasso trigger and a dwarf fuzzy lion in my 55gal tank. I was going to move him to a spare 20 gallon and treat him with copper because he now has ick everything was going great in the tank and then i became under the weather for the past week and wasnt able to keep up on the water changes and feeding schedule and now everything is a mess. guess its time to teach the ole lady how to do scheduled maintence and mix saltwater

 

[Fluff]

The problem is, if he's with your other fish, all the fish will need treated and your main tank left fallow for 6wks to kill of any ick in the tank. I'm not sure why your concerned about using copper on the tang but if not copper than a hypo treatment would work as well. I'd rather someone with more experience help you with that though.

Moved to the sick fish forum. That should get you more specific help. Good luck.

 

[steve-s]

Tangs are quite sensitive to most copper treatments. As noted above, hyposalinity would be a better option if you have access to a refractometer. If hypo is not do able, choose Cupramine as your copper treatment. It is much less stressful and probabley the most tolerated by copper sensitive species. Be sure to feed foods high in B12 or add it to the water directly to help maintain a good appetite as copper has a tendancey to supress that. Use the appropriate test kit as well.

Aslo as Fluff pointed out, if one has it, all must be treated but cannot be done in the main display.

Cheers
Steve

 

[melosu58]

Good luck in treating. Also for future reference a powder brown should be in a minimum 100 gallon tank. This could be a contributor in stress on the fish.