Moving fish back to DT after copper treatment in hospital tank???

[agover]

Hi Everyone,

IF anyone here has been using copper to treat ich Im hoping someone can give me some advice.

My display tank is a mixed reef w/ sps,lps and inverts.

I recently had an ich outbreak and pulled a few (the ones i could catch) fish showing the parasite and placed them in a hospital tank. And have since been dosing the hospital tank with copper for several weeks (about 3 1/2).

As I am going away in a week or so I would like to move them back into the display tank - none of the survivors have shown any indication of ich for 2+ weeks.

My concern is that I know copper + inverts = bad. The question is how to migrate them back to the DT.

Im assuming that I should just remove them from the hospital and drip acclimate them to the dt water once again. The question is should I do this for like 24 hrs and just continue to throw out the water - or should I drip for like 2 hrs and then put the fishes in direct tank water as rinse?

I guess this should be obvious but I really dont want to kill off my inverts etc (nor stress the fish any more than absolutely necessary).

Any one have any info would be great.

Thanks
Adam

[Aquattro]

For one, the ich is still in the tank, so they may get reinfected. Or not. When I move my fish back, I'll do a larger water change on the treatment tank using tank water. That will acclimate them. I'll then scoop them out of the tank with a container, walk them over to the display, pick them up with my hand and drop them in the display tank. Easy peasy

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

For one, the ich is still in the tank, so they may get reinfected. Or not. When I move my fish back, I'll do a larger water change on the treatment tank using tank water. That will acclimate them. I'll then scoop them out of the tank with a container, walk them over to the display, pick them up with my hand and drop them in the display tank. Easy peasy

+1 thats the best possible route i would think too, just use tank water in the qt and then a quick toss in the display.

without getting the fish out of the display the copper treatment is not much good, if there has been bouts of ich in the display chances are they will get it again. if you must put them in the display feed lots of garlic and add the most territorial fish last.keep stress levels low and the fish fed well with good clean display water but unless you go fallow your tank could still host the parasite.good luck