Potential Cupramine Overdose, should I be worried?

Today I got two clown fish in the mail. They drip acclimated for three hours, then I added them to a 10gal QT tank. Just one piece of LR and some PVC for them to hide in if they feel the need.

I added initially three drops of Cupramine to the tank and realized I forgot to remove the LR. I quickly removed it, rinsed it with fresh water and added it to my DT. I'm hoping that's all ok, shouldn't have been that much in a 60 gal DT, Im hoping it got pretty diluted by then. Anyways, I was day dreaming and added about 20 (total, not additional) drops of Cupramine vs. the 16 recommended drops.

Should I be worried? The fish don't seem to be affected. They're swimming a bit less, but the lights are off as it's night. They seem to be resting on the bottom of the tank. No gasping, no erratic swimming, just a bit of listing now and then. I'm assuming the latter is due to shock from transition and shipping etc.

The next dosing, should I just reduce the dosage after the water change?

Do I need a Cu Test for the QT or should I not worry about that?

Thanks.

 

You should not add Cupramine without testing. You need either a Seachem or Salifert test kit. Its extremely important to test as a high level of copper will quickly kill your fish. Don't do another dose uny I l you test the water.

 

Is your QT cycled?

 

Yes QT is cycled. It's been set up for two weeks, Its filled with tank water and for filtration I've been using a well established canister filter that has been running for three months. I
've been testing and params look good. Nitrates are at 1.5ppm though, but not bad.

I will pick up a copper test tonight via amazon. Should be here by Saturday with Prime.

 

May I ask why you were using the cupramine in the QT?

 

I don't think three drops will overdose them, but you need to test. I added 18 drops of cupramine to my 33.5g QT and I acheived .5 which is where you want to be for treatment. You did sort of rush it though, usually you shouldn't start any type of prophylactic treatment until they have been in for a few days and are eating normally. This is to avoid adding more stress to an already stressful event like shipping and acclimation. Good luck. You local LFS will likely have the test kit you need.

 

I wont dose anymore until my test kit comes. Should be arriving Monday or Tuesday. I"ll just work on getting them eating etc.

Looked at them this morning and they all seem to be doing great.

 

+1 I could see treating for Brooklynella prophylactically (using Formalin)...

 

Cupramine is affective on ich and MV that is why I use it in my QT, but an argument can be made to just use a longer QT period for observation.