Copper levels and test kit questions

Junkzoo · 08-31-2004, 07:15 PM

Hey all, as some of you might know , i am treating my 180 FO with copper for a cloudy eye situation,,, things are looking better, the Volitan Lion is starting to do his normal "feed me" pose , along with the other fish,and the eyes are starting to look a lot better,,go figger , after 5-7 days of copper treatment,(dosing instructions provided by my ex-partner at the LFS) i remembered i had a copper test kit somewhere,and fairly new,,,I tested the tank water and came up with readings of .05 mg/l,more like a hair higher,,,The test kit is a Aquarium Systems fasTest,,,when i needed one b4, there were out of Salifert,,,
The box says levels need to be at 0.15 to 0.2mg/l for 10-14 days to be considered effective. do i need to bump up the copper a bit?
I know "scaleless" fish are more sensitive to copper, and was wondering if i need to keep the copper level lower due to this,,
tank inhabs:all pretty large-
Clown Trigger
Porc puffer
Voltian Lion
3ft. snowflake eel
Just wondering what everyone else out here thinks of my current situation, and if i need to alter it at all,,,
Thanks

Kevin1000 · 08-31-2004, 07:32 PM

I would suggest you switch to cupramine copper made by Seachem- this seems to be the best copper to use with copper sensitive fish.

Heres a link which discusses cupramine

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...cupramine.html

When using cupramine you need to be using a copper test kit which accurately reads cupramine - I know that both Seachem and Red Sea will do so - if your using other test kit contact Seachem to verify (good customer service)

Remove the other copper with carbon prior to switching.

Hope this helsp.

JennM · 08-31-2004, 08:59 PM

I concur with Kevin on everything he said- but if you are already treating with something I would stay with it, and consider his advice for future reference...

Seatest kits are good... I forget who "actually" manufactures them but it's one of the higher-end manufacturers.

If the treatment appears to be working I'd hold the level where it's at so as not to irritate the lion.

HTH

Jenn