# treatment question.



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

After adding required cupramine to tank the fish continued to get ich spots. If the cupramine was working would I not expect to see less spots?
And i have read about copper resistance for ich but Seachem says that ich are never likey going to be resistant to copper, but more likely to be resistant to other formulations. Does this make sense to you? 
I think they want to support their own brand. In the meantime I am using ick- ease by mag labs to see if that works. 
Shouldn't I see less ich on the fish each day if a product is working??


----------



## e048 (Dec 23, 2010)

not necessarily, you sure its ick? try some malachide green instead


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Cupramine is less stable than most other copper formulations available, and you have to monitor it closely to keep it at full strength. It tends to rapidly bind to gravel and silicone, thusly losing it's effectiveness in a very surprisingly short time. It can also be filtered out by some common filter media.
I prefer Coppersafe instead on account of this. One dose is all you need for a month.

Anyway, that might possibly be the problem, or maybe it's just a really bad infestation that will take awhile to beat.


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

well who would have thought it!
They sure don't advertise that info do they. According to themselves it is the best thing on the market.
isn't it supposed to be safer than Coppersafe?


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I wouldn't say so. Anything that is stable and easy and more goof-proof will probably be safer than the alternative.


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I switched to Ick Ease by Mag labs and am seeing good results. Something in the product must soothe the fish because within a couple of hours of adding it the fish stopped jerking even though they had as many spots. The fish are clean right now as far as the naked eye can see but I have 2 more treaments to do before the course is complete.
I had removed 1/2 the fish from the infected tank and put them in the 5 gallon tank but of course have had an ammonia spike there due to fish over load. I treated the 5 gallon with 1/2 dose of quick cure with good results except on one platy who is not doing well anyway. She wasn't well before she got ick and she seems to be hanging on to the ick or else is getting reinfected easily.
Dunno.What to say about her. She is quite old and thin. And yes she has been treated for internal parasites last month with no improvement. I just think it is her time to go soon.
I sure am getting tired of doing water changes. Mag labs recommends water change between each dose of medication so between the false start with the cupramine for 4 days and the ensuing removal of it from the tank I am up to my nose in buckets and bottles.


----------



## AvocadoPuffDude (Jan 20, 2011)

Perhaps I'm the aberration here, but I haven't had any ich in years in my tank. If you keep getting infections, I think you're doing something else wrong - over feeding comes to mind, or over stocking, or in some way over-stressing your fish. Prevention being worth a pound of cure, I don't remember the last time I've had to chemically treat my tank for ich or any other disease (which is horrible for your beneficial bacterias.) My best advice is to determine what factor is stressing your fish, and stop it. Try feeding less to start.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Heh,heh, heh... you are new here, AvocadoPuffDude, so I'll clue you in on this one. The cause of mousey's problems is already well known, you see. Her local fish shop sells only the very worst junk on the market, and she's stuck with it. Nothing she does on her end will fix that.


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

well I would say that they are at times uncaring and would like to sell a lot of fish and medications.
A friend just added a new fish to her tank. it is doing fine but all her guppies have died within the week.
I don't think they should be selling fish that have obvious parasites like anchor worms on them.
This is the lfs. Petsmart and the privately owned pet store are even worse.
Sometimes you have to buy 5-6 healthy looking fish to get 1 or 2 to survive. It is appalling how they are shipped- just piled on top of each other in bags. Layers and layers. They must run out of oxygen or is there something that is given to fish to sedate them while travelling?


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

They do indeed give them some sedative for shipping, and usually pack the bags with oxygen. Unfortunately, that's little help if the fish are already sick at the wholesaler.


----------

