EricTheRed
No, I'm not a communist..
Been 3 days w the copper and it has now ripped open its side pretty good. N it does not look any better. Does it take longer then this for it to go away?
Whoa! What do you mean "ripped open its side"?!?!? Crypt shouldn't cause a fish to rip open. Can you post a new pic?
If it is crypt, then yes, it does take more than a couple days before you start to see the spots heal. The spots are not actually the parasite. The parasite is burrowed into the fish where you can't see it and the spots are actually tissue from the fish that was casued when the parasite burrowed. Think of how a gopher makes a mound of dirt outside its hole, same concept.
Copper cannot kill the parasite when it is burrowed in the fish. They stay burrowed for 3 to 7 days. So what you should expect is that new spots should not be forming once you start copper and it could be up to a week before the white spots start to heal. You MUST treat your tank for 4 weeks to allow for the parasites' life cycle to run its course. You must test for copper becasue as mentioned above, too little copper doesn't work and too much kills fish.