Testing For And Help With Removal Of Copper.

[Graeme Edwards]

Hello'ha

With recant disasters with all my inverts dieing ( MTS's and my amano shrimp) it leads me to think that although my water tests fine for all of the normal contaminants, I have a strong suspician that the cause of the deaths is down to Copper poisoning.

I need to find a test kit to test for copper and if im right, a way of filtering it out of my water, yes I know that my water conditioner should chelate the copper but i still think its having a negative affect.

RO isnt an option due to me living in rented acomidation.

I could be way off, but i need to rule it out.

Any thoughts, or advice.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Cant be of any help with how to test for or remove copper, but do you have any idea how it
is entering your tank, normal tap water shouldn't cause any problems..... if your problem is copper, it's entering your tank from somewhere !

Two thing's I'd check are the contents of any ferts you are using and if you have introduced any
plants recently, does the supplier ro your LFS treat with any anti-snail treatments as I believe most
contain copper.

I recently added some new plants to one tank and the next day some of my shrimp went nuts and
I lost one. A water change the next day brought everything back to normal and no problems since.

Just a thought !

 

[Themuleous]

Copper test kit - never used it personally but they are available.

S

 

[zig]

What happened to them? did they all just die suddenly?

What ferts do you dose in the tank?

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Cheers for the link Sam, the right up is quite interesting.

Hi Zig,
It wasnt an instant thing, it was within 2-3 weeks maybe a little longer.
The MTS would put as much of their bodies out of the shall and just sit there, then eventualy the would go back into the shell and after some time go moldy.

The shrimps, i had cherry and amano, they would hide away and i would hardly see them, the times when i did was when they were normaly dead, when they were close to dieing they would seem wobbely and unable to stay upright, but when i did find them dead they were always dead half way through a malt!!, cant understand, after reading alot about shrimps and one of my books ( ecology of a planted aquarium ) which have mentioned the effect copper has, this has lead me to this suspition.

As for the ferts, at first i was using SERA liquid plant grow, im now on Nutrafin plantGrow, I have a layer of JBL aquabasis under peagravel.

Hang on the back filter.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Just poping it to the top of the list, any other help??

 

[Aqua Essentials]

they were always dead half way through a malt!!, cant understand, after reading alot about shrimps and one of my books ( ecology of a planted aquarium ) which have mentioned the effect copper has, this has lead me to this suspition.

If you're sure they were half way through a molt, it may indicate a lack of iodine in the water - this is more common place with larger shrimp such as bamboo. However smaller shrimp rarely have this problem but I wouldn't rule it out.

If you have an incling it is copper, the only way of knowing is by testing. Although there is an initial outlay for the test kit, it's nothing compared to a load more shrimp fatalities.

Just my 2 pence worth

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Exactly, i need to rule it out.

I have read a little about the need for iodine, but i wouldn't know if they need it or not.

 

[Dubby]

Using activated carbon should help absorb some of that copper.