Copper Pipes As Algae Preventative?

[Davo86]

At work, a few of the customers have been telling me about reading an article somewhere about using copper pipes to prevent algae in a pond,
at least two customers i have spoke to say they have found some old copper pipes and simply threw them in their ponds, and about a week later their ponds have been algae free,
Now I'm a bit sceptical to this and presume there will be negative effects caused by the copper in the water, anyone know anything i don't?

 

[aaronnorth]

I know copper in the aquarium in higher doses than usual kill of algae but if you have any invertabrates that you keep will be killed,

 

[Colin_T]

They did a similar thing years ago to prevent whitespot. Who knows if it worked or not, the fish didn't come down with whitespot, but maybe they weren't going to anyway.
The long term effects of copper on fish is not good. It damages the kidneys and leads to an early demise. Short term it might work but I would remove the copper when the algae is gone and do more water changes to help reduce the nutrients. You can also put heaps of plants in the pond to help reduce algae problems.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with Colin, copper is not good for fishes health in the long term so is not advisable to keep something like copper pipes in the long term in a fish environment (also i am wary of the effects that the copper might have on the aquarium if it corrodes underwater). Since there are plenty of much safer methods to get rid of algae in ponds and aquariums, i would advise against the copper treatment as this can be stressful for fish in the long term .

 

[Davo86]

Ok Thanks guys, was pretty sure it wouldn't be good for the fish long term.