CopperSafe dosage and also snail

Question
HI there.  I have a small tank (2.5 gl) in which I am having trouble keeping fish (guppies) alive. I thought it was tail rot that was the problem, so I treated with Maracyn, which seemed to help but I may have treated in the late stages. I now have two mollies, three tetras and a guppy.  I saw that the molly was covered in spots this morning, so I bought CopperSafe.  I have a yellow snail that I moved into a large bowl.  Here are my questions:
1.  The Coppersafe directions say to put 1 tsp into 4 gallons of water.  It treats for 30 days, so do I only put the medicine in one time in 30 days? What about weekly water changes?
2.  Is there anything I should be feeding the snail while it is in its own bowl?
3.  when is it safe to return the snail to the tank?
4. Should I continue the Marcyn to be safe? For how long?

Since adding the CopperSafe an hour ago, the sick molly already looks better.

Thank you.

Answer
Dear Patricia,
I don't like being the bearer of bad news. But a 2.5 gallon can barely support more than 1-2 fish longterm. It is actually better suited just for 1 betta at most. I say this because part of your problem (likely the cause of tail rot in the first place) is tank pollution from too many fish in such a small volume. Also, flucuating temperatures occur frequently in such a small tank and sudden drops in temperature can easily bring on a bout of ick.
Whenever you get the chance, please try to move your fish into at least an inexpensive 10-gallon with a heater and filter. Your fish will be so much better off and you won't have to worry as much about the potential for horrible water conditions or temperature flucuations that can occur in such a small tank.

But for now, you'll have to treat the fish for ICK. Ideally one of the first steps to take is to raise the temperature to about 82-83F which helps speed up the ick's lifecycle and makes destroying them with medications much easier. This would be very difficult in such a small tank so were going to have to just make do.

The coppersafe is a very stable medication that only needs to be dosed one time. This may go against what the instructions say but I'd go ahead and with some prepared water ready (already with the medication in it, dechlorinated and equalized in temp and all) and do daily massive water changes...Draining the water down to leave just enough water for the fish to remain comfortable, then carefully refill. Add enough medication to the prepared water according to however much water you took out.

The water quality in a 2.5 gallon can change so fast and ammonia can buildup very high, these large water changes can relieve stress on the fish plus they remove excess ich parasites also.

You should definitely be feeding the snail. Give him shrimp pellets and algae wafers and make sure to do daily water changes on his bowl also. Snails are big polluters! Also make sure to keep the bowl covered because snails can easily crawl out.

The bad thing about using coppersafe is you can't be entirely sure if the coppersafe is gone. And you need to have plenty of carbon in your filter running all the time plus continue to do large water changes to remove it. I'd give it at least a week or two or water changes and carbon filtration before adding back the snail.

You can use Maracyn also. Most mardel medications are made to be used safely together. And it is often recommended to use an antibiotic along with an ick medication to prevent secondary infections. I might use the Maracyn just in case, and at least use it for the full treatment period recommended.

Best of luck and I hope everyone gets better!
Karen~