Everything Going Wrong

[Frank_Farmakis]

I recently had a ich problem and i had placed all my fish in a quarentine tank. All their colors began to fade to a very white color and the fish seemed to be dieing although the copper amounts were correct and water quality perfect. Now after two days of introdcing them back into the display tank i have 5 out of 7 dead fish (r.i.p. blue tang, yellow tang, 2 x domino damsels and alge blennie) Can someone tell me what i did wrong so this mistake is not repeated, and why fish turn white when they are put into copper (coppersafe).

[weez1959]

How old is your tank? What are your parameters?

[Frank_Farmakis]

my tank is 8 months old and its 50 gallons

[leebca]

Frank,

So much can go wrong that it is not possible for me to help you with this. I can better tell you the right way it should have been handled and then you compare what you did to that. Otherwise I will spend pages asking questions. Okay?

First, the diagnosis had to have been correct. Just because you see spots, doesn't always mean Marine Ich. Even if it was/is Marine Ich are you sure there wasn't other problems?

If you're convinced it was Marine Ich AND only Marine Ich you were dealing with, then you need to understand the parasite very well. Read this and remember what you read:
Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

Copper is a poison. Used improperly, it will kill and/or sicken marine fishes. Even still, some fishes do not tolerate copper well. Some of those fishes are on your treated list. You need to read this and remember it and then apply it:
Copper - Treatment, Use, Problems

The procedure is to treat with copper, then hold the fish in quarantine another 4 weeks to verify the fish have been properly cured.

Also, since Marine Ich was in the display tank/marine system, that system must go fishless for no less than 8 weeks in order that the Marine Ich therein, dies. If you didn't do this, then you put healthy, cured fish back into an infected marine system.

If you have specific questions, please just ask.