help - store water in my tank

[ramatt]

Hi - I am totally brand new to the this hobby and I think I did a really bad thing! My 65 gallon has been through its initial cycle, and new fish are being added. We inherited a sailfin tang from my roommates tank(she is moving). I went and purchased a sohol tang and a wrasse. Well, in my naive little mind, I did what the store owner told me(this is a good dealer), and introduced the fish like he said(1/2 hour floating, with 1/4 cup of my tank water added every fifteen minutes for another 45 min and so on). I then proceeded to put the fish and the WATER from the bag into my tank. Two bags with about a 1/2 gallon of water between them. Well, I'm now reading websites and such(you would of thought I would have seen this earlier, I've been doing my homework, the brain must have not registered it) and now realize that it is bad to put the water from the store in my tank. I found out today that the tanks at the store are medicated with copper. Now the crappy part. Is my live rock going to die? I don't have any inverts in the tank, only live rock. Is that amount of water going to pollute the tank and kill the rock and bring parasites into what I have worked for over 3 months to get to!!? If anyone has advise or recommendations, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Richard

 

[fishgirl]

I've always put the tank water in the tank, but of course it was always the QUARANTINE TANK! I don't think there's enough water with copper in it to do severve damage to your live rock, but get a QT: from your last post it seemed like you put the fishes directly into the display tank: BAD idea! But we all make mistakes, and I don't think this should be major. It's good that you're conserned, though. Have fun with this hobby!

 

[mainejo1]

Hi Richard--you sound just like me! I have had my first marine tank for 7 weeks now, and am obsessed with it. So far, so good, but I am worried about every little thing I do to it. I literally scrub as if preparing for surgery before I feed my fish and on partial water change day I am a wreck! So, I can surely identify with your concern over adding store water to your tank. I also have live rock, and no inverts except for a cleaner shrimp. I understand it is best to get as little store water in your tank as possible, but from what I have been told a minimal amount will not bother your live rock. Also, I do have a hospital or quarantine tank, but only for use if I need to treat an individual fish. The way I understand it, quarantining your new fish prior to putting them in the show tank is useless if your quarantine tank does not have biological filtration. The dealer I use will not let his fish go until after at least a week of their arrival, so I feel fairly comfortable in putting my new fish in my show tank. (As comfortable as a neurotic novice can feel!) Also, I have read a bit about a product called "Coral Vital", and have been using it. I have minimal lighting in my tank at this point, but my live rock is doing quite well, so it seems that the product could be doing what it is supposed to be doing. I have been getting help from a young man who is getting his degree in marine biology, and has had fish all his life, and he really suggested the product.
Good luck. It sounds to me like you have the passion that it takes to make your tank work. Hopefully, we both do!

 

[kris]

I was always told to NEVER ,NEVER allow any of this bag water into your tank regardless of whether or not it was treated with copper. To remove copper do the large watwer change and add some extra carbon to your filters. (got a copper test kit?? you may not have enough of it to worry about.)

 

[ramatt]

Thanks for the help on this. I'll watch the rock and see if any changes. Hopefully, not enough water to do any serious damage. This is a such a great hobby but very stressful on us newbies!
Originally posted by ramatt:
Hi - I am totally brand new to the this hobby and I think I did a really bad thing! My 65 gallon has been through its initial cycle, and new fish are being added. We inherited a sailfin tang from my roommates tank(she is moving). I went and purchased a sohol tang and a wrasse. Well, in my naive little mind, I did what the store owner told me(this is a good dealer), and introduced the fish like he said(1/2 hour floating, with 1/4 cup of my tank water added every fifteen minutes for another 45 min and so on). I then proceeded to put the fish and the WATER from the bag into my tank. Two bags with about a 1/2 gallon of water between them. Well, I'm now reading websites and such(you would of thought I would have seen this earlier, I've been doing my homework, the brain must have not registered it) and now realize that it is bad to put the water from the store in my tank. I found out today that the tanks at the store are medicated with copper. Now the crappy part. Is my live rock going to die? I don't have any inverts in the tank, only live rock. Is that amount of water going to pollute the tank and kill the rock and bring parasites into what I have worked for over 3 months to get to!!? If anyone has advise or recommendations, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Richard

 

[ramatt]

What is a QT? Sorry if a dumb question.....
Originally posted by Fishgirl:
I've always put the tank water in the tank, but of course it was always the QUARANTINE TANK! I don't think there's enough water with copper in it to do severve damage to your live rock, but get a QT: from your last post it seemed like you put the fishes directly into the display tank: BAD idea! But we all make mistakes, and I don't think this should be major. It's good that you're conserned, though. Have fun with this hobby!

 

[kris]

Qt is quarantine tank-every hobbyist should have one And try to relax this hobby is supposed to relax you not stress you out further.

 

[fishgirl]

sorry i thought u knew that QT stands for quarantine tank. it's just a habbit to abbreviate, even around newcommers which is a bad thing i relize. By the way, UGF is under-gravel filter, for future info, and LFS is local fish store.