[Otters]

I bought a flame angelfish two weeks ago and is now in a qt- tank, and yesterday I noticed ich on it's tailfin. So I went to go buy materials for the copper treatment, however I read that flame angelfish should never be exposed to or near to levels of copper higher than .15 mg. Should I still do the copper treatment or try another treatment to cure the ich? If I can do the copper treatment which product is better, the Red Sea Copper treatment kit or the Cupramine Copper Treatment liquid?

QT-Tank Stats: 10 gallon tank
pH-8.2
Nitrate-10
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Salinity-1.023

[leebca]

Use Cupramine and test copper levels with either the Seachem Copper Test Kit or the Salifert Copper Test Kit.

It is true that dwarf Angels are very sensitive to copper. It is also true that even chelated copper was not safe to treat them with. However, Cupramine is different and safe for dwarf Angelfishes.

Please read this: Copper - Treatment, Use, Problems

For dwarf Angelfishes, keep the copper at about 0.3 to 0.4 ppm readings on the test.

[Otters]

Thank you very much

[rjs5134]

Just curious, but why not treat with hyposalinity instead? It would only help both fish.

Rob

[Otters]

The Red Sea Copper Test Kit measures up to .4 ppm, do you think I can use that to measure the Cupramine concentration? I am asking because my local fish materials does not have the test kit so I was wondering if I can use this instead.

[leebca]

Sorry. I don't know. I'm only sure that Seachem and Salifert test kits measure the same.

If you have the test kit already, add the first dose of Cupramine. The reading should be 0.3 ppm. If the reading of the test kit you have reads anything else, you've got a test kit that won't do the best job for you.

[Otters]

One more question, how often should I change the water, 2 gallons per day?

[leebca]

Change water to control water quality. If the water is showing zero ammonia and less than 0.5 ppm nitrites, then change 50% of the water every 4 days to keep organics and nitrates under control. If the water tests positive for ammonia or high nitrites, make 50% water changes as needed to control those poisons.

Generally, if the biological filter is working and you are being careful about not overfeeding, doing a water change twice a week is good enough to control the build up of organics and nitrates.

When you perform a water change, please make sure you are doing it the best possible way. This link takes you to a short list of instructions on how to do this. Just look it over to be sure you're doing it the best way you can for the sake of the fish:
how do I do a water change?

[Otters]

Ok got you, thanks alot