Copper and inverts

[Stephy A]

A while back in December, I dosed my display tank with copper with inverts. All my snails passed and a couple shrimp. 2 hermits and 1 peppermint shrimp survived. I know…dumb. It is now April and I finally got my copper level to .49 (Hanna) with water changes and the copper removal. Is this still too high to start adding more inverts?

 

[Hoodstream]

A while back in December, I dosed my display tank with copper with inverts. All my snails passed and a couple shrimp. 2 hermits and 1 peppermint shrimp survived. I know…dumb. It is now April and I finally got my copper level to .49 (Hanna) with water changes and the copper removal. Is this still too high to start adding more inverts?

That’s still too high it needs to be 0.01 or zero. Copper can seep into rocks and sand and come out later. At this point you’d be better off just restarting your tank.

 

[Mikedawg]

Macroalgae in a refugium may bioaccumulate some of the copper and lower your numbers somewhat, but to be safe you might consider using new sand, new rock, etc. Given the time lag between initial dosing and today, I would guess some copper is still in your rocks/sand and will continue to leach out over time.

Good luck

 

[Stephy A]

Bummer…I have like $200 in rocks in there too

 

[Mikedawg]

Yeah, maybe write $200 bucks, your time and some anguish off to a valuable experience. Not sure how valid this article is, but does suggest some harmful effects to certain forms of ocean life with long term exposure to copper.

Copper in Reef Tanks & What it does to Coral < AKUARIUM LAUT

AKUARIUM LAUT < Copper in Reef Tanks & What it does to Coral < ADDITIVE < WE KNOW HOW < AKUARIUM LAUT < Copper in Reef Tanks & What it does to Coral

akuariumlaut.com

 

[Stephy A]

Yeah, maybe write $200 bucks, your time and some anguish off to a valuable experience. Not sure how valid this article is, but does suggest some harmful effects to certain forms of ocean life with long term exposure to copper.

Copper in Reef Tanks & What it does to Coral < AKUARIUM LAUT

AKUARIUM LAUT < Copper in Reef Tanks & What it does to Coral < ADDITIVE < WE KNOW HOW < AKUARIUM LAUT < Copper in Reef Tanks & What it does to Coral

akuariumlaut.com

I for sure learned my lesson the hard way when I did that. I now have a separate QT since Jan that I had one fish (currently quarantining) so that would never happen again. I’ll read into this article!

 

[exnisstech]

I dosed a display tank a couple of years ago with cupramine. No inverts at the time so wasn't worried just trying to kill ich. I ran seachem cuprisorb in a hob filter until all traces of copper were gone. I still have all the rock in the tank with snails shrimps and crabs and has never been an issue. I'm not saying it can't be absorbed into the rock and released but I don't think it happens quite the way a lot of people say and kills everything and the rock has to be trashed. But then again maybe I just have dumb luck?

 

[PeterEde]

Bummer…I have like $200 in rocks in there too

Could setup up another fowlr tank. Copper won't worry fish

 

[Stephy A]

I dosed a display tank a couple of years ago with cupramine. No inverts at the time so wasn't worried just trying to kill ich. I ran seachem cuprisorb in a hob filter until all traces of copper were gone. I still have all the rock in the tank with snails shrimps and crabs and has never been an issue. I'm not saying it can't be absorbed into the rock and released but I don't think it happens quite the way a lot of people say and kills everything and the rock has to be trashed. But then again maybe I just have dumb luck?

I’m actually running cuprisorb right now. It went from .8 to .49 in almost 3 weeks. I am hoping it will continue to get lower and lower with weekly water changes and with this. I was reading that some live rock can continue leaching into the water but I don’t plan on having corals. Just want my CUC back lol

 

[Stephy A]

Could setup up another fowlr tank. Copper won't worry fish

I was almost thinking about just moving the live rock to my QT at this point

 

[Miami Reef]

How To Remove Copper From DT

First of all, best practice is to NEVER dose copper in a display tank, and to use a quarantine tank. It is much easier and safer. Copper in a DT can heavily dampen your nitrogen cycle in your tank, and will leach in to your rock, substrate, and equipment. As a result, the amount of copper...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[exnisstech]

I was almost thinking about just moving the live rock to my QT at this point

I've been told that's not a good idea. Rock in a QT can make it difficult to maintain steady levels of copper if you are treating in QT. The rock absorbing and releasing can make the levels fluctuate. I started down that road but was convinced pvc etc is better in a QT / hospital tank. But I'm just going from what I was told and read but it made enough sense to me that I pulled the rock out of my QT

 

[Rmckoy]

Bummer…I have like $200 in rocks in there too

Sad but it would be a lot worse .
Imagine purchasing rocks for a 200 gal
I just bought 1 rock to use as a large top rock .
the one rock cost $220

moving forward .
medicate quarantine tanks only with no rocks . Only using clay pots or pvc fittings

Using copper and adding inverts is almost comparable to us moving to Chernobyl

not quite . But close

 

[reeftankdude]

There is copper sulfate in the Hikari Crab Cuisine pellets that I feed my snails and crabs. What might be the long term effects of feeding with this product? Thanks all

 

[clarimore]

I was almost thinking about just moving the live rock to my QT at this point

will make it stupid hard to catch your fish when your ready to move them.... ask me how I know

 

[SlugSnorter]

A while back in December, I dosed my display tank with copper with inverts. All my snails passed and a couple shrimp. 2 hermits and 1 peppermint shrimp survived. I know…dumb. It is now April and I finally got my copper level to .49 (Hanna) with water changes and the copper removal. Is this still too high to start adding more inverts?

sorry to say, but you may want to consider having a FOWLR. Copper will slowly leach from rocks and sand, and keep it invert unfriendly for a while. Run a polyfilter to help remove some from the water.

 

[Mag805]

I rand copper power in my 300 gallon for ich for about two months. I later used cuprisorb for a month with two full tank water changes. I have had a thriving snail and hermit crab population for 4 month now.