Mardel's Coppersafe

[drag]

well as ive posted before i have a sick clown fish who after being treated w/ melafix is still breathing extreamly fast... its got nothing viseble on its body. it had a small pink bumb but has vanished. but i fear if something is not done soon its will die. the breathing is extreamly fast. my LFS's say is probably parasites. they suggested coppersafe in a quarentine tank. sounds good to me but my Question is, if i treat it in a quarentine tank then introduce it back into the main tank will that small amount of copper harm the inverts? it would be just the copper still on the fish witch wouldent be much. and if so could a water change in the main tank help?

inverts in tank anemones , hermits , snails, corals.

levels now
sg 1.023

ammonia 0

nitrates 0

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Just looking at your stats, you should prolly bump that salinity up to 1.025.

As for the question, the tiny bit of copper that a fish would introduce to a system wouldn't be enough to harm it. Most likely not even enough for the inverts to notice.

But before the clown goes back into any healthy tank, you should do a freshwater dip first. Just dechlorinate some tap water or use some RO and put the fish in and let it swim around for about 2 minutes. This will kill any parasite that may still be lingering, due to the make-up of the organism, they can only survive in SW. It will happen pretty quickly too, so if the fish starts showing major signs of stress, you can take him out if you're worried. By doing this, it will rinse off any of the copper that the fish may still have on it as well. I did this once with a yellow tang who had ich, and the parasites fell right off the fish within seconds and were all laying dead on the bottom of the container. Relieving

 

[drag]

well ive just over the last 2 day gradually bumped the sg level from 1.021 to 1.023.... but i fear since the clown is having breathing problems, the oxygen levels are lower on higher sg's.

thanx for the quick response.
and i will freshwater dip again before placing it back in the mani tank.
(thats acually the first thing i did before the melafix.

oh, also will these copper treatments help the fish after is back in the main tank. or will the parasites get back on him in this manner again?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

O, well then it wouldn't be smart to keep raising it right now

FW dipping is great isn't it?

Are the parasites internal? Or free swimming like ich?

Copper treats for the time being. But it's not like the fish is especially prone to parasitic infections, so if there is none in the new tank, then it should be fine. Just as long as you let the fish regain strength and confidence before putting him back in the main tank after such an experience, to make him less prone to any disease, and help him to not be so easily bullied by the others.