6 weeks in Quarantine tank ?

[efeeley]

Purple tang treated for ich with copper for six weeks.Now how do I safely get him back into the reef tank?How saturated is he with copper/will he intro copper to the reef tank?

[stelow]

Why don't you just remove the copper from the QT's water. Your fish is not saturated with copper.

[fewfish]

stelow,
Would you like to enlighten us by letting us know how you would remove copper from the tanks water?

[Shoestring Reefer]

Some poly pads are made specifically for removing copper. Water changes will help, too. And, I agree with stelow, the fish is not "saturated with copper."

[Mariner]

6 weeks in copper ?!? Not to be critical, and it could be that I don't know what I think I know, but I think that two weeks is all that is necessary, and with the sensitivity of tangs' digestive systems to copper.... hmmmmm, well.... I hope your tang continues to be able to eat and digest food.
If you stop adding copper to the QT and do a partial water change, you can drastically reduce the levels quickly. When you move the tang back to the display, you might do an intermediate dip/bath, either with freshwater or water from the display to remove any residual from the tang... but I agree with the above, your tang is not saturated with copper and there should be no ill effects to your display from putting the tang back in.
HTH,
Mariner

[stelow]

Yep and activated carbon works also, and like Mariner said that's to long probably for a fish to be exposed to therapeutic levels of copper. Hopefully the tang has been eating well. Water changes with fresh RO water, with no copper added is the quickest way to remove the copper from the QT.

[discusone]

why not just acclimate to the reef water?Put the tang in a bucket with water from the Q-tank.Do a slow drip until parameters in the bucket match those of the main tank.Get a decent net,and in goes the tang.Any copper the fish retains(not even sure if this is an issue) will be insignificant.

Copper treatments remain controversal,but it is the best way to ensure complete removal of all parasites.I still havent seen any reports to confirm the suspicion of stomach bacteria destruction that some are concerned about.

That length of treatment was a little drawn out,and just wondering,did you use a chelated copper or pure copper sulfate?What test kit did you use to monitor copper levels?

[alphaferret]

bump

[Shoestring Reefer]

Tangs digestive systems are sensitive to copper? I knew that either butterflies or angels were, I didn't realize tangs were, too.

[Mariner]

shoestring,
LOL, I didn't know butterflies and angels were sensitive to copper. I learn something new everyday....

But I thought that I remembered reading in more than one reference that copper does effect tangs' digestion, so I did a google search for "tangs" and "copper" and it returned these results from wetwebmedia.com on the first page:

NasoFAQ3
... It can really effect the internal systems of tangs. Copper can be harsh stuff! How's he doing at this point? Are you seeing anything on him? MacL> ...
www.wetwebmedia.com/nasofaq3.htm - 34k - May 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

AcanthurFAQ3
... Many tangs react poorly to copper and it should only be dosed at very low levels. I realize the Powder Blue is a notorious ich magnet but it would be ...
www.wetwebmedia.com/acanthurfaq3.htm - 30k - Cached - Similar pages [ More results from www.wetwebmedia.com ]

FWIW,
Mariner