Inverts and Copper

[i love fish]

I've used copper in my QT to treat fish and I would like to get some cleaner shrimps for my DT.
Do I just tip out all the water in the QT tank and take mature water from the DT, cycle it for abit then get the shrimps, or do I need to change the filter media as well incase it's holding onto some of the copper?
Thanks

 

[dmjordan]

are you putting the shrimp in the QT or the DT? If you haven't used copper in the DT than you will be fine. as a safe guard i would get a copper test kit and see how it comes out. if you test positive for copper than you can always get the toxix metal sponge media. i would change all media after any medications were added to a tank.

 

[scsinet]

Although other people will probably heavily disagree with me, I've never quarantined invertebrates.
QTing won't hurt though, and if you decide to do so, I'd really recommend having a separate QT for inverts. It can be a simple 5g aquarium, so it need not be large. The only reason why is that with all the meds that are used in a fish QT that would kill inverts, you can never be sure of scrubbing tanks well enough to get rid of it all.
If you are in a pinch, then I'd fill the tank with fresh water and scrub it out real good with a new brush.

 

[snakeblitz33]

copper seeps into glass, and into silicone and plastics (including acrylics). Even if you mature your quarantine, copper will still be present in that aquarium.
I wouldn't even bother with quarantining invertebrates, especially cleaner shrimps.

 

[i love fish]

i'm putting the shrimp in the QT to quarrentine for afew weeks before introducing it into my DT.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by i love fish
i'm putting the shrimp in the QT to quarrentine for afew weeks before introducing it into my DT.
That is the problem with using copper. Inverts need to be qt'd as well. Was the qt bare, as in no substrate at all? If so then run cuprizorb and carbon in the filter. It takes time for the copper to leach back out. It should be fine for three weeks after using the pads to remove any copper. Test the qt frequently while he is in there.

 

[geoj]

How many of you killed inverts with copper?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by GeoJ
How many of you killed inverts with copper?
Are you asking if it happens? Copper is known to kill inverts, even with trace amounts. The trace amounts are most lethal to sensitive corals, or stars, but copper at any level is lethal to inverts. It is used to kill ich, which is an invert.

 

[geoj]

It is also in trace supplements.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by GeoJ
It is also in trace supplements.
As in what? What specifically?

 

[geoj]

You will have to give me some time a day to find it. I remember seen it in a mineral trace supplement and I think a refuge mud.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by GeoJ
You will have to give me some time a day to find it. I remember seen it in a mineral trace supplement and I think a refuge mud.
I am sure it is found in a trace element for something, but nothing that should be used in a salt system. There are many products out there that say that they are for SW tanks that should never be added into the system.

 

[geoj]

Well you see my original question was “How many of you killed inverts with copper?” the reason for the question is that it may sound good to treat copper like it is plutonium but experience may have prove this to be unnecessary or it may justify the statements that have been made. I am just working through this and would like some more info.

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
copper seeps into glass, and into silicone and plastics (including acrylics). Even if you mature your quarantine, copper will still be present in that aquarium.
Have you ever actually witnessed evidence of this yourself, or are you repeating what you've read or heard?
I don't want to sound confrontational, but I've done testing on this personally and have never seen any evidence to suggest that this is anything more than a wives tale. IMO it's a very commonly perpetuated falsity of fishkeeping.
I also agree with Geo... copper is present in any system in usually undetectable (with aquarium scaled kits) amounts. It's always going to be present in NSW, it's an abundant and naturally occuring metal. The amounts that we introduce into a tank for copper therapy are many, many times the amount found in nature, but it will always be present in a system... just often not enough to register on a test kit - but present at the ppb level.
Heck... humans are 70% water... but you can die from drinking too much.

 

[lexluethar]

Originally Posted by SCSInet
Have you ever actually witnessed evidence of this yourself, or are you repeating what you've read or heard?
I don't want to sound confrontational, but I've done testing on this personally and have never seen any evidence to suggest that this is anything more than a wives tale. IMO it's a very commonly perpetuated falsity of fishkeeping.
I also agree with Geo... copper is present in any system in usually undetectable (with aquarium scaled kits) amounts. It's always going to be present in NSW, it's an abundant and naturally occuring metal. The amounts that we introduce into a tank for copper therapy are many, many times the amount found in nature, but it will always be present in a system... just often not enough to register on a test kit - but present at the ppb level.
Heck... humans are 70% water... but you can die from drinking too much.
I've read that copper does NOT leetch into silicon on the newer aquariums. This is something that is just widely accepted in the hobby but there is no evidence to prove it, and what studies are out there indicate the opposite. I will have to find the article, but there was a study done that indicated that newer aquariums (like 1980's and after) use a different type of silicon that doesn't absorb metals as easily as the old types of silicon.
I agree with SCSI here - this is something that has just been widely accepted but not proven (the part about copper leaching into silicon in new aquariums).