During my last post, I focused on one parasite that rapidly kills fish and how to diagnose and treat it. Sadly, it is only a small fraction of the conversation on how to treat fish that succumb to any external parasites. The mechanisms that determine a fish’s ability to survive infection, on up to the side effects treatment will have, are very deep (no pun intended) and should be understood by aquarists. Also, the effect treatment has on an aquarium ecosystem is vital as well. In a perfect world, all sick fish would be treated in a hospital tank and returned to a parasite free display aquarium at treatment’s end. The world isn’t perfect, and reality is that many aquarists will treat infections in the display aquarium. Since copper is cheap, easily administered and kills a wide array of pathogens, it’s easy to see why it’s the weapon of choice, when dealing with external parasites. Copper usage: Copper has been used as a disease treatment in marine aquaria for a long time. At one point, aquarists would soak a sock of pennies in the aquarium and when snails began dying off, they would assume the copper was having therapeutic effect. Copper usage has evolved, but the basic premise is the same. When using copper, you are adding a metal ratio to marine water and while it kills a large variety of unwanted parasites, it also brings with it a host of side effects. The ugly side of treating with copper:
First, it’s well known that copper kills invertebrates. Reality is, it doesn’t outright kill them all. There are various species of true crabs that can tolerate copper therapy. For example, I have dozens of hermit crabs that have survived multiple copper treatments and still clean the bottom of my hospital tank. Since knowing exact species of crabs or invertebrates that can tolerate copper, and identifying them within the aquarium is nearly impossible for most, the rule of thumb is to not administer copper if invertebrates are present. Any coral, sea cucumber, snail, etc. is likely to have a fatal reaction to copper. This means that during treatment, you can expect a mass amount of die off. Tiny invertebrates such as copepods will die, and your aquarium can be home to thousands and thousands of them. Larger organisms such as amphipods will die off as well.… More:
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