Copper Treatment - Almost two full weeks.

It has been almost two full weeks at the cupramine concentration of around 3.0 to 3.5.  I have yet to see any cysts for two weeks now.  I am continuing the copper for at least another 2 to 3 weeks and then I will pull it out and observe the fish for another 4 weeks for signs of infection.

I am hoping this will do it.  As I have been through hell on this.

Stopped Paraguard started Cupramine

I after a little over a week maybe I was not patient.  I kept seeing more and more parasites on the blue tang after the therapeutic level of paraguard was in the tank.  So now I am using the Cupramine copper at a lower level.  Before the fish got really ill at about .5 to .6 copper level.  Apparently the crypto is eradicated at 0.25 to 0.35 mg/L but recommended you keep it at .5.  I am going to stick to .3 mg/L for 28 days if at all possible.  It states 14 days on the bottle but I have heard from tech support at seachem you should aim for at least 21 days.  If doing a full 28 though that should span the length of the life cycle of the parasite.  Wish me luck as last time I did this 2 fish stopped eating but that again was at .5 to .6 so keeping it lower should help.

Seachem Plan of Attack

I just spoke with a marine expert at Seachem.  They suggested Paraguard since the copper was harsh.  Going to give that a shot along with metronidazole and focus and see if this will end up working.  One thing I will thank them for at Seachem they are extremely knowledgeable and honest.  Their products have been always a great experience when I have used them.  Here are the products I am going to use.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Seachem_Laboratories_Metronidazole_5_Grams_Internal_Parasite_Medications-Seachem-SC08010-FIMEPSIN-vi.html

http://www.marinedepot.com/Seachem_Laboratories_Focus_5_Grams_Saltwater_Fish_Bacterial_Fungal_Medications-Seachem-SC4751-FIMEBF-vi.html

http://www.marinedepot.com/Seachem_Laboratories_ParaGuard_Saltwater_Fish_Parasite_Medications-Seachem-SC4731-FIMEPS-vi.html

I will keep this updated with progress.  Currently the Blue Hippo Tang is wrecked with Crypto however the others look fine.

Cryptocaryon Back

All the fish are still in the hospital tank and this afternoon my wife calls with bad news.  Aside the fact that everything we did for tank transfer was followed to the letter and nothing cross contaminated.  Tanks completely dry in between.  The Blue Tang has more parasites than ever before.  I will have to just do a very low level copper treatment no higher than .3 mg/L and see if I can keep them all alive.  This is a major set back and very frustrating.

Cyanobacteria Control

Since I started the new 180 gallon reef I ended up like anyone else having issues with Cyano "Red Slime Algae" starting to accumulate in the tank.

Things you must remember is that even with pristine water conditions the Cyano bacteria can still bloom at times.  Definately it is a good idea to keep the Phosphate and Nitrates down to help but it also utilizes Carbon in the system.  There is nothing you can do to pull that back as all living things have Carbon.

What you can do is make the reef think a storm or overcast have moved in.  You can turn your lights off for 3 days as the Cyano loves light.  This will not harm the corals or fish.  The fish usually are a bit dormant but you should still feed them during this time.  Having your skimmer on skimming off the bacteria during the period is also preferable.  You can use a turkey baster to pull out the cyano also during this time and make sure you do not just blow it around the tank.  On the 4th day turn on the violet or blue lighting if you have separate bulbs.  Then the 5th day turn up the lights to normal.

You can do this once a month and after a few months of this you should see a decrease in the amount of Cyano that is in the tank.  Yeah it will probably return but if it does just follow the same procedure.  Good water flow in the tank is also a plus as the bacteria do not like water flow.

Hope this helps.

Tank Transfer Done

Today concludes the tank transfer of the fish every 72 hours.  They are now in my 90 gallon hospital tank where they will reside for 8 more weeks until they finally get placed into the main display tank.  This will give me time to get the water parameters perfect and the tank more established.  I will post the results if the cryptocaryon comes back or if I do not see evidence of it's presence.

Tank Tranfer Setup

Here is the list of materials for tank transfer photos at bottom.


x2 45 Gallon Wheeled Rugged Tote. Made by Centrax Plastics. (Rubbermade bowed too much when filled with water they were unusable. Purchased at Lowes Hardware.

x1 Plastic coated Metal Wire shelf

x2 Bottles of Seachem Stability

x1 Bottle of Seachem Prime

x1 Small Pump

x1 Airstone

x1 Backflow adapter (Prevents Siphoning back - (Bought at Petsmart)

x1 Small Airpump for Airstone (Bought at Petsmart)

x2 Pumps for circulation

x1 Small plastic container (Drilled holes in the bottom to use for transfer of fish instead of net.)

x1 Heater

x1 t5 light only using the blue full time due to heat.