Cupramine?

[arsenalkt]

So like it or not I have added Cupramine to my main tank. I know everyone has not reccommended this but at this point i have nothing to lose. i only have a ten gallon Q tank and to many aggressive fish to Q in that one tank, so i have taken out my inverts and some live rock and treated the tank. The puffer looks like he's on the verge of death..not quite sure how he's made it this long..and my other 3 fish are infected as well. I believe the culprit is actually marine velvet and not ich..as the puffer is just completely coated. My questions is this, has anyone else used cupramine in their main tank and been able to successfully add back inverts?
If this doesn't work im gonna sanitize my tank and start from scratch. suck and super expensive..but what else can you do i guess..ive heard of this happening to professionals and this is what they did. so im hoping things go well with the cupramine and preparing myself for the worst but hoping for some success.

 

[Minkota]

Marine Velvet has a very high mortality rate most fish do not survive. Your tank will will either need to be left fallow for a minimum of 90 days (longer if possible) or needs to be completely torn down and every piece an part needs to be sterilized with bleach. If you choose to take the route of tear down, you will need to replace all your rock and sand or let it sit in a tub for the 90 days some people have let the rock dry out for a few weeks and just replaced the sand. When I had it in my 150g I chose to go 120 days fallow because the expense for rock and sand made it more sensible to just let the disease run its course. It depends on the size of the tank as to what would be the best route to take.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

I've used cupramine. My hermits made it. At that time I had Skelton corals, but I've since replaced all old with new live rock. I currently have a few mushrooms and polys that are striving. I also have snails, hermits and conches. If you have any urchins they'll die. How do the puffers eyes look. My puffer had ich then got an eye infection. I lost him a few weeks after I qt him.

 

[TheTodd]

I think if it was MV, your fish would be dead already. Fish are usually near death by the time you notice it and it seems like you've had symptoms for a while, right?

My one recent/current experience with MV was two fish dead within 12 hours of showing symptoms and two others that never really showed signs that are still alive. They are going in QT this weekend and I'm breaking down my DT and starting over.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

What's MV? Sorry to hear that.

 

[arsenalkt]

"I think if it was MV, your fish would be dead already. Fish are usually near death by the time you notice it and it seems like you've had symptoms for a while, right?"

That's the weird thing is that my fish are all acting fine..except my puffer, most of the time he's laying down with a huge coating all over his body of whitish sand like slime breathing really heavy, but then he'll get up and swim around real fast and try to whip it all off, all the fish now have the whitish coat on their body now too...looks just like ich or marine velvet and are flashing. They are all eating just fine, even the puffer, even after two freshwater dips...I'll tell you this guy has nine lives or something and he's a fat little fellow. I'm just so confused cause it looks justtt like marine velvet or SEVERE ich...yet nobodies died.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

I bet the freshwater dips are stressing him out. I was always afraid of that. My puffer died from his eyes being infected. Does your puffer puff during these exchanges?

 

[arsenalkt]

Oh I forgot to add that this has been going on for about a month, if not longer, been treating with herbtana with little success so that's why I've taken this drastic route...also cause I feel bad for my poor little puffer and trigger who look just miserable
Thanks for the replies guys...I appreciate it..I'm in panic mode cause I work so hard on my aquariums and love my fishes <3

 

[arsenalkt]

"Does your puffer puff during these exchanges?"
It's the only time I've ever seen him puff, yes and he didn't get very big...and I will not be doing anymore of these..I've done two, on yesterday and one today for 5 minutes, and he actually came out of it looking more lively then before. I was recommended to do it and i had my doubts, but I think it may be doing more harm then good.

 

[arsenalkt]

"It depends on the size of the tank as to what would be the best route to take."

It's a 75 gallon tank so i think if this does go belly up id like to just let it fallow, cause cleaning, replacing and recycling does not sound like a fun idea...but I sure hope NONE of the disease..whatever it is... survives....haha..and I will take all future precautions. I guess sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way.

But so far my fish are all acting hardy...I'm trying to stay somewhat optimistic...soo I guess I'm just gonna ride this one out, keep my fingers crossed and see what happens...

 

[TheTodd]

What's MV? Sorry to hear that.

MV=Marine Velvet...might be the same thing, it just usually kills quick. The copper should help if the fish live long enough. Hypo does not touch MV, so this is basically the only option. Just too bad its going on in a DT. Make sure you watch the levels and try to keep your parameters pristine.

In my case, its a good example of why fish should be QT'd prior to going into a DT. I gave up my usual QT for my son's science fair project (hermit crabs). I get a good deal on a fish and decide i will just put it into my DT and get another QT later. My QT fish never come down with anything. Of course, that fish has MV. About $100 later in dead fish, plus starting a tank over (new sand, rock, etc)...all over a $10 tank. Doing a permanent QT from now on.