Is Cupramine a Good Idea?

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Pomatomus

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2009
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Sarasota, FL
I received a female salvini overnight a couple of days ago. Once she settled down and her colors darkened I noticed that she was covered in ich. She is currently in a divided 55 gallon with a large male (on the other side).

As soon as I noticed I ran to my college's marine laboratory and grabbed some cupramine. I just added the second 40 drops to the tank (48 hours later) and she still seems lethargic, anorexic, and covered in ich.

My male is starting to get it too. He has a couple of spots now and he's been scratching against things. I also have aquarium salt and i could go grab some maracyn, but that gets expensive for a 55.

Keep going with the cupramine or do a water change and start something different?
 
i used the super ick cure from api (powder form) and it helped cure the ick on my fish when i introduced a new fish from the LFS.
 
Has anyone used heat treatment before? Fishbase says salvinis can take up to 89 degrees, and ich supposedly dies at 86 degrees.

I paid a lot to have this fish shipped to me and I doubt I could find another anytime soon. (I spent 4 months trying to find her!) I really want to make sure I treat this with minimal stress to her. I have turned off the light on her side of the tank as well.
 
I'm a fan of salt + heat to treat ich. Especially for cichlids, since they typically can tolerate salt well. Dose at 2 tsp. per gallon, and raise the temperature to 88 or so. The salt should be pre-dissolved and added gradually, over a period of a day or two. The same with the temperature, raise it gradually. Make sure you have adequate aeration and add extra if necessary.

Just remember that with any ich cure, it's going to look like it's getting worse before it gets better.
 
I almost forgot, you also have to make sure you treat them for at least 10-14 days, even if it looks like all symptoms are gone.
 
like others said, go with heat and salt, don't go with copper or other stronger chemicals
 
so...do water changes to remove the cupramine or just start doing heat and salt as well?

the cupramine is supposedly at its final concentration (which i'm supposed to leave 14 days), although I haven't tested the water.
 
Well, since you've already started one type of treatment, I would just go ahead and keep doing what you're doing as long as the fish aren't showing any ill effects from it. I've never used cupramine, so I can't speak from personal experience, but heat & salt work like a charm for ich.
 
I used cupramine on my tank from 4 dats that I bought introducing flukes in my tank. It killed one of my bass and left bloodmarks on my other 2. I did a 50% WC and added carbon to my filter to get it out.
If it's ick I'd suggest quickcure.
 
I'm not sure how comfortable I feel mixing chemicals...

I guess I'm going to try cupramine with a little salt, and a bit of heat too. I just threw in my heater and air pump and I have been adding salt steadily. I will grab a copper test from the lab today and see if my concentration is correct.

I welcome other/more opinions as well
 
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