# Difference between Mardel coppersafe and maracide. HOW DO I CURE VELVET?



## andyxxatomic (Mar 19, 2012)

So I believe my betta has velvet or ick. I'm thinking it is velvet. He almost looks like he has brown sand on his body, it isn't exactly "patchy looking" like some pictures I've seen. It's mostly on his face. From the comparisons I've made to online pictures, I think it may be velvet.

Anyway, I just bought mardel coppersafe to put in the tank. (it says it is for both diseases) I originally planned on buying mardel maracide, but the store didn't have it... 

I was wondering what the difference is between the two treatments. The explanations in the booklet that comes in the box are nearly identical with minor differences listed. If I understand correctly, coppersafe treats the water while maracide treats the fish? If that is the case, will coppersafe cure my fish also?

How exactly do I go about curing him? I read something about heating the water to 85-90 degrees but I'm a little sceptical on that one... 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

I've used mardel and it worked when I had ick in a tank before, I haven't used the other brand so I can't compare.


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## andyxxatomic (Mar 19, 2012)

copperarabian said:


> I've used mardel and it worked when I had ick in a tank before, I haven't used the other brand so I can't compare.


Coppersafe and Maracide are actually both "Mardel" brand products. 
Do you remember which product of the mardel line you used?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

ich is fairly easy to cure.. whilst velvet is a little trickier. can you fill out the form in the stickie? jus to get a basic idea of ur betta's house conditions, feeding schedules symptoms and behaviour


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

Coppersafe is bad stuff from what I've read elsewhere. Don't use it unless you absolutely have to. I didn't know this the first time I used it...  

What I learned on the other fish-keeping site (not betta specific, just fish):
Copper is a toxin. It works to kill the parasites, but it is also killing your fish "just a little bit". The levels in coppersafe don't kill your fish immediately, but the copper can have prolonged negative health effects and may shorten their lifespan. Also, once you've had copper in your tank, it's in there, forever. You can never completely get rid of it. OFL was kind enough to give me that information. It gets down into the sealants and into the plants/ornaments. 
Apparently, aquarists were using big sheets of copper just stuck down in tanks many years ago when someone realized it was great for killing and preventing diseases like Ich...then someone finally realized it was also harming/stressing the fish, and so the practice stopped. But, you still have products like coppersafe on the market. 

I used it on my boy, and within a few days his fin tips started to get red streaks in them. At first I thought he had septicemia, and I thought that he'd probably die. I treated him for septicemia, bringing on more stress, and making the red streaks worse. I finally gave up, stopped treating, and he got better. Since then, I've noticed with all my fish with white on the edges of their fins, when they're stressed the red streaks reappear, so it's definitely related to water-quality, disease, and stress. 
Later, I thought he had Ich again, so I re-treated in coppersafe, and within 12 hours the red streaks reappeared, stopped treatment (new water, new tank) and he was once again back to normal. (No ich, his color was just changing.)

I wouldn't use coppersafe. Most stores will take it back if you haven't opened it yet, and there are *lots* of Ich treatments out there that don't contain copper and work well. 

I hope that was helpful to you, and please don't think that I'm blaming you or anything, I just wanted to pass on what I had learned/experienced from the same issue and hopefully save someone else the stress.  I had the same thoughts, bought the same meds, and it was detrimental to my fish, so I've been where you are!  

I hope your boy is well and happy again soon, and good luck to you!


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