Copper in tank

[justseame]

I am a new Aquarist. I treated my tank with copper at the suggestion of the fish store because a newly added (my first expensive fish) Blue Tang had signs of parasites. The Tang is doing well. I have nothing but fish in the tank. The copper ran at 2.5 for two weeks and is now reading 1.5 I am going to do my first water change since the readings in my test kit are showing 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite which suggest that the tank has ran it's cycle course. I would like to now take out my starter fish and add two more nice fish. My confusion is: The fish store suggests that after my water change I should add more copper and add my new fish to a tank running with 2.5 or alittle less copper just to make sure the new fish stay healthy. My friend, who has been doing tanks for 12 years says NO to this. My friend suggests that I do the water change, get rid of the remaining copper and start the new fish in a tank that has no copper in it. I understand that a QT tank is what should take place. A QT tank will take time and I guess I'm trying to get around setting one up right now because I am so anixous. I will absolutely get a QT tank set up before I get much more into this though. Which should I do? Remove all copper and introduce new fish? Add and run copper after water change as a sort of preventive option? Sorry this post is long I just wanted to give a bit of history with it. Thanks! ~N~

 

[gobylover]

Hello and welcome.Well a quarantine tank is always a good idea as you know.You really don't want to run medications through the tank if its not needed.The best thing to do if you can't quar. is to observe the fish before you buy it.In a fish only tank it is a lot easier to treat disease but you still want to prevent it.Before you get a fish,make sure there are no signs of disease and that it is eating well.Patience is a big thing in this hobby.I know it is hard not to go out and buy those sweet things whenever you want to,but for the success of your tank,you have to control the erge.What size tank is it?Do you have a good book?You will learn a lot from a good book.HTH

 

[dugan]

I would only treat with copper in a QT tank. I have been told that once you add copper to a system, it leaches into the sand and any decorative (dead) corals you may have in there and therefore you will never completely get rid of it. Inverts are sensitive to copper so you won't be able to put any inverts or LR in there now.
Katie

 

[dugan]

Forgot to add, I wouldn't treat with copper as a prevention. Better to inspect the animal carefully at the LFS and then quarantine it when you get it home.
Katie

 

[justseame]

Thank for the quick answers to my questions. I will not add anymore copper to my tank. Yes, I did read that copper can leach into the dead rock and decorations....bummer. I never intended to put any inverts into this tank so I'm not too disappointed about this tank not being suitable for them. I do want to put a snail and a shrimp in there. I do have a wonderful book that I am slowly reading called "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" written by Robert Fenner. Last night I jumped to the part about disease and prety much read that I NEED A QT! Thanks again for the replies and also for the posts of which I am learning alot from. ~N~

 

[dugan]

Shrimp and snails are inverts!
Katie

 

[nyyanks154]

I agree with the QT and not running chemicals, antibiotics and copper in your main tank. Nuff said bout that. Stick a bag of chemipure in your filter for a while to get more of the copper out, and try to get it out as much as you can, regardless of how much has leached into the rock. If you ever want to have any clown fish (or inverts like you said) in your tank, the copper has to be near 0. (yes i learned the hard way) Bottom line: Fish dont get sick unless they are stressed so in your main tank, good water quality and constant salinity, pH and temps are key. Ask other LFS in your are what they think, I bet they will say what we are saying. Not sure why that LFS uses copper as a preventative measure..bad advice if you ask me.

 

[krustytheclownfish]

nyyanks154,
You mentioned not to add copper with clown fish, why?

 

[caymanlovers]

JustSeaMe - Trey is right, you never should have been sold a blue tang as a starter. I also bought in to the copper-all-the-time line and have been getting it back out because I want to scrap the UGF and go with live rock which you can't do with copper.
Since you are not too far into this you may want to return your tang and start over with LS and LR AND A QT TANK. Use meds only in the QT if needed.
Finally - patience, patience, patience. Read all of Fenner's book before your next move, it will be time well spent.
Good luck and enjoy the hobby.

 

[justseame]

Thanks for more replies! First off I need to say that the Blue Tang was a birthday present to me and my tank had been up and cycling for about 4 weeks before he was added. My Tang is doing great now so I won't be returning him. I am religious about checking my pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate levels. All levels are perfect except my pH...I'm adding a pH builder(which I pour right into the tank) to see if I can get it built up. To date the highest reading I have gotten for pH is 7.8. Yesterday I did about a 25% water change (my first change since I started the tank 6 weeks ago)AND I went to the store and bought a Coral Beauty. I really want to add a snail and a shrimp. Yesterday I also added, directly into the tank) some stuff called NovAqua which is suppose to remove toxic metals, chlorine etc. Today I will check to see if I can detech any copper left. If no copper is deteched I plan to add a snail. If I continue to detech copper then I will just accept that I won't be able to add inverts unless I remove everything and start over?? Yuk! Thanks again to everyone for your support and info ~N~