Looking for CopperSafe Info.

[lizard]

Hiya.

I got some CopperSafe today, as I have an Oto with blood-red gills and other fish with reddish-gills. I've also seen the fish rubbing on things a little bit. Now I have a few questions (I'm full of those lately, aren't I? ).

Is this safe to use with Corys, Loaches, and Neons? Do I need to use a half-dose?

The box says it may harm plants. Does anyone have any experience with that? Has it harmed your plants? Have your plants been okay? Are certain kinds of plants more susceptible to this medicine? I have Corkscrew and Giant Vals, Hygrophilia, a banana plant, Amazon Swords, Java Fern, and Java Moss.

Oh, and will this bother my little probably-a-Guppy fry that's in there?

Thank you very much!

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[pnyklr3]

My lfs told me NOT to use coppersafe because my clown loaches wouldn't be able to handle the meds. If anyone knows anything else from experience, I'd love to know too! I had to find a different med becuase of it "not being safe" for my loaches.

 

[lizard]

I did a Google search for Coppersafe, one for coppersafe + loaches, one coppersafe + kuhli, and one for coppersafe + cory.

After the reading I've done, I think I'm going to go ahead and add the CopperSafe at half or three-quarters the recommended dose. We'll see how that goes... I'll let you know how it goes (if I remember ).

Here are some quotes I found, along with the URLs I found 'em at.

Links and quotes:
"Coppersafe: Very safe when used in the recommended dosage. Kills Ich, Flukes, Anchor Worms and Velvet parasites. Works slowly, a drawback (takes 21 days in some cases), but it does kill them. If treated for less than 21 days, Ich will come back. (Also true for other anti-parasite meds, by the way.) Not toxic to any fish. Sometimes does impact delicate plants, but they recover quickly after the Coppersafe is removed. If I had an expensive prized plant, I might remove it to a 5-gallon aquarium for safekeeping while I treated with Coppersafe, but in actual practice I've not had problems with it."
From: http/madhunag.tripod.com/diseases.html

"I have used this treatment on all the species of fish that I keep, including Clown loaches, Cories, Tetras, and Pictus Catfish and have had wonderful results. Be aware, though, that if you have shrimp or any other invertebrates in your tank, you will either need to remove them or use some other form of treatment; invertebrates will not tolerate Coppersafe. (Note from Vicki: Coppersafe's label also warns that it may harm some plants. However, of those plants in my quarantine tank that have been exposed to Coppersafe, I have never seen any lasting negative effects. Among the plants that have gone through treatment with Coppersafe are various crypt species, hydrocotyle leucocephala, anubias nana, hygrophila polysperma, java fern and java moss.)"
From: http/www.vickisaquaticplace.com/Ichfish.html

"The clown loaches were apparently undamaged by the copper, and the ich was eradicated. A very robust Java Fern was completely wiped out, along with a bunch of other plants that hadn't been doing so well."
From: http/fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/mont...8/msg00332.html

"Actually, Java Fern is more tolerant of copper than some plants are. The
problem is that they are slow growers. Slow to show damage and slow to
recover. Remove all damaged foliage, and just wait it out. In all
likelihood, with time your Javas will come back as good as news."
http/fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/mont...7/msg00112.html

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[lizard]

This is just FYI.

I've been using CopperSafe, at about three-quarters of the recommended dosage. One Panda Cory has died - don't know if it's related to the CopperSafe use or not As for how the plants are handling it.... The Corkscrew Vals are *not* impressed. I have actually temporarily moved them to a little tank, sans CopperSafe "infested" water. The rest of plants <Banana, Giants Vals, Java Fern, Java Moss, and Hygrophilia polysperma> seem to be doing okay. Not perfect, but not bad either. Hygro is still growing like mad. Java Fern seems a little unhappy about the copper in the water, but it's not dieing or anything like that.

Am I supposed to keep using the CopperSafe for a month?

Pamela
aka Married Lizard