copper question

[haydro280]

Is it bad to put copper in your tank to cure ich? What does it do?

 

[mr_X]

It will kill all inverts and probably render the tank useless to keep inverts in it for a long, long time. Not to mention it's toxic to everything else as well. Fish simply can tolerate it better than inverts.

 

[haydro280]

Inverts as in soft coral like anemones will die out to?

 

[mr_X]

Anemones will definitely be history.

 

[haydro280]

Well awesome my girlfriend tried being a hero and decided to put copper in my tank. Any ideas

 

[haydro280]

She said she poured half a cap full of it in and it was 1 tea spoon to every 5 gallons I dont think she put the quota for the 40 gallons

 

[Gti_Leo]

alot of carbon and heavy metal removers. what level is the copper at, if its low enough hopefully it doesn't have to much of an effect but if she heavily dosed it you may have problems.

as for inverts he doesn't mean soft corals, he means anemones crabs, snails urchins shrimp lobsters.

basically any clean up crew is gone, as well as corals and anemones

 

[Phranque]

And, unfortunately, copper will embed itself into the rock and even the silicone seals of the tank itself, pretty much rendering it useless for any future reef use. That's why hospital/QT tanks that have had any copper based meds in them can never be used for inverts or corals.

 

[haydro280]

According to her is was a little bit. But who knows. How long does it take the copper to take effect on my tank? I have her putting heavy metal removers now and put extra carbon bags in filtration system. Am I completely screwd or what? Thank you guys for yalls help.

 

[Mr. Crabs]

I'd do a heavy water change (50% atleast) then run Cuprisorb or Polyfilter. They both turn blue as they absorb Copper......all while running carbon in addition. I would run the carbon (high grade) for a week, then toss it and replace.

Copper leaches out of everything (substate and rock) for 5-10 years. During certain times, more than other times depending on the water chemistry.

 

[Gti_Leo]

And, unfortunately, copper will embed itself into the rock and even the silicone seals of the tank itself, pretty much rendering it useless for any future reef use. That's why hospital/QT tanks that have had any copper based meds in them can never be used for inverts or corals.

lol i highly doubt copper embeds itself into the silicone, it may stay on it but i highly highly highly doubt it will be permenently stuck to it, it has a better chance of getting stuck to the glass then the silicone. the rock i can see it as it is pretty porous but the silicone? come on

 

[haydro280]

This really sucks. So im pretty much screwed and my fish are the only thing going to make it is my fish? I have already started making this water change.

 

[Phranque]

lol i highly doubt copper embeds itself into the silicone, it may stay on it but i highly highly highly doubt it will be permenently stuck to it, it has a better chance of getting stuck to the glass then the silicone. the rock i can see it as it is pretty porous but the silicone? come on

Ummm...YES. The wife of one of our reef club members works as a lab tech on Wright-Patterson AFB, and she has access to a mass-spec, so she occasionally slides in a few water tests for us. One member was resealing a hospital/QT tank, and saved a piece of the old silicone to check out...... guess what?? There was copper present. I couldn't tell you what the number was, or even what it meant, but she said it was present in a low concentration.... Considering many corals & inverts are intolerant to even a trace of copper, I would be reluctant to take the chance.

 

[Gti_Leo]

This really sucks. So im pretty much screwed and my fish are the only thing going to make it is my fish? I have already started making this water change.

take it down a notch good sir, don't let people scare you to much and stress out alot, if she said she put only a little then do what you can to remove it from the system, there are many many many people that use tap water in their marine aquariums and tap water contains Cu in it, dranted the levels may be lower but if you generally use RODI water then there should not be any Cu to be found other then what is added, and the aditive is not a super heavy concentration. there is a certain level of Cu that fish and even inverts can handle, it may cause some stress but get a Cu test kit and add some Cu removers to help suck out as much Cu as possible.

take it slow and steady and don't jump the gun its not worth it to stress out over a single small dose

 

[Gti_Leo]

Ummm...YES. The wife of one of our reef club members works as a lab tech on Wright-Patterson AFB, and she has access to a mass-spec, so she occasionally slides in a few water tests for us. One member was resealing a hospital/QT tank, and saved a piece of the old silicone to check out...... guess what?? There was copper present. I couldn't tell you what the number was, or even what it meant, but she said it was present in a low concentration.... Considering many corals & inverts are intolerant to even a trace of copper, I would be reluctant to take the chance.

i find this hard to believe, silicone is not a porous material and very few things will stick to it once its cured even itself. with proper rinsing i can see the silicone being clear of Cu i would be more concerned abotu the glass as it is more porous then the silicone is

i've resealed my aquariums before and filled it with tap water, which has traces of Cu in it had the tank leak test for months upon months, had sand rinsed with tap water and my inverts are perfectly fine, they are actually thriving.

i understand that heavy dosing of Cu can cause issues but don't scare soemone because of a relitivly small single dose. i'm not sayign he won't have issues and i'm not sayign he will, there is only one thing he can do right now to combat the accidental dosing and that is do what he can to remove as much of it from his system as possible

 

[Phranque]

Agreed.... Not trying to be a fear monger, here. In a low single dose, if there's problems, it's far more likely to be with the porous substrate & rock, but heavy metals can settle in quick, and there's the possibility that the tank itself can present problems...

 

[Gti_Leo]

agreed

just take the precautions to remove as much as you can and monitor things

 

[Ingy]

agreed

just take the precautions to remove as much as you can and monitor things

I also agree here.
Copper is lethal to your bacteria at a certain dose. So by keeping an eye on your ammonia and nitrite levels you will see if the dose was strong enough or not. A big water change and carbon filtering and watch. Oh yeah, cross your fingers.

 

[haydro280]

Ok thank you all for your help and input. I did a 35 percent water change with carbon bags in. Added heavy metal removers to the water and all parameters check out. I dont have a coper tester so I will get one tomorrow. Everything in the tank looks fine and is all open. Thank you all again. I will see what happens. How long does it take to generally take before I see negative effects?

 

[Gti_Leo]

never had to dose so i'm only speculating but it shouldn't take to long before you would notice the corals beign stressed out and anemones begin to close up