Copper sulfide and bamboo shrimp

[Everett]

Hello,

My son and I are new to fish and set up a 10 gallon freshwater aquarium with live plants. After a few weeks we starting getting a large snail population. To lower this population, we got some CopperSafe at the recommendation of the person at the store. I just put in about 2 teaspoons in a 10 gallon tank.

What he didn't know when he recommended it is that my son has his heart set on a bamboo shrimp. I've been sticking so many chemicals in the tank that I didn't think about one more. I now know other ways of getting rid of an overpopulation of snails, but if I've only treated it this once, how long will I have to wait until the tank is safe to put a shrimp in? I've combed the web, but found nothing definitive. Any thoughts?

Admins - please move if this is posted in the wrong place. Thanks!

Ev

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

Copper and inverts don't mix, that's why you use copper to get rid of the snails. The copper actually gets into the silicone that holds your tank together, and it's entirely possible that it'll never go away, unfortunately.

It's tough to tell for sure what the state of your tank is. There are copper test kits that *might* give you some kind of idea, however. Honestly, if it were me, since it's only a 10g tank I would just suck it up and replace it with a new tank since those tanks are so cheap.

 

[Everett]

Do you think that even if the copper is in the tank for one night it will be a problem? I'd rather not get a shrimp than buy a new tank, not because of the cost, but I'll have a tank that won't get sold, won't get used, and will sit in my garage, which is like 'Sanford and Son' as it is!

Anyway, thanks for the advice and help.

Ev

 

[neilanh]

Like I said it's tough to tell. It really depends on how much you dosed, and what you did to get it out of there and how quickly.

Wish I could be of more help!

 

[Everett]

No problem - thanks for the help. The snails are still swimming around, so I think that tomorrow I'm going to empty & clean the tank, cycle it, then test for copper. I'll follow up on this thread in a couple of weeks to post how it worked out in case someone has the same problem.

Ev

 

[mgamer20o0]

you can get a new tank for $10-12 for a 10 gallon. why not just set up a tank for the shrimp keep the other one as a qt or for other fish? snails in a tank isnt a bad thing though. if you must get rid of them the best idea is to put some veggy out at night in the morning take it out. the snails will be drawn to it.

if the snails are still alive you prob didnt add too much. you might want to try some ghost shrimp see how they do before getting the bamboo shrimp.