Copper Treatment +Puffers = ?

[schlecht13]

Forever I have typically used Coppersafe on new arrivals to rid them of ich and even works sometimes on brooklynella on my clowns. As for puffers, I have always read that quite obviously due to puffers lacking scales that copper treatment could hurt them.

Well needless to say, I have used Coppersafe at the rate of about 2.5ppm up to 4ppm with many different species of Arothron. It has always "cured" (more likely semi-perm dormancy) the ick and never has hurt the puffers ( at least so far....many of my puffs are 2-8 years old with no adverse effects - some having been treated multiple times).

I guess what I am getting at is a the search for an explanation on copper toxicity to puffers (SW only for this discussion), possible renal or liver failure and species that may be more prone to its effects...

Fro example, currently I have been treating an immaculatus and (2) Manilaninses (sic) for 30 days + to get rid of the crazy ick in one of my 72G. These puffers are all fairly small little guys (2-4") and eat, grow and act fine...

So what is the consensus and more importantly, why? Is it more of a build up of the metal within their bodies (which needless to say would be tough to test without blood tests or spinal fluid tests) over time or can it be a one time thing that kills them? To my knowledge, I have never lost a puffer to copper poisoning and the only recent loss (which I detailed in another post) was my large Stellatus who was treated with copper for about 60 days when he was about 6 months old, but after that, grew like crazy and then died as detailed in the post....

Anyone else?

[yunachin]

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