Copper Kills Biofilter?

Beverly · #1 11-30-2004, 04:31 PM

Have 10g and 20g quarantine/hospital tanks set up. Both have well established biofiltration. If I have to treat with copper, will the copper kill the biofilter bacteria?

Bob I · #2 11-30-2004, 04:52 PM

I think there are mixed feelings on that. Some products claim they are safe. Others don't. I am not fully sure though.

danny zubot · #3 11-30-2004, 05:07 PM

I guess you need to ask your self if the fish is more important than the biofilter?

MitchM · #4 11-30-2004, 05:39 PM

I expect that it would kill any invertebrate.

Mitch

Beverly · #5 11-30-2004, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danny zubot

I guess you need to ask your self if the fish is more important than the biofilter?

I could move the biofiliters to one tank or the other and still have them if I need them.

The real issue is that if there is no biofiltration I'd have to do serious daily water changes to keep ammonia levels low enough to avoid stressing already stressed/sick fish.

Gotta keep looking for healthy looking fish is all.....

danny zubot · #6 12-01-2004, 02:19 PM

Whats wrong with the fish?

Perhaps you can use a different form of treatment to help it.

Beverly · #7 12-01-2004, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Whats wrong with the fish?

Perhaps you can use a different form of treatment to help it.

No sick fish at present. Just asking questions in the event I need to use copper is all.

TSUNAMI · #8 12-02-2004, 06:34 AM

In my experience copper will harm the biofilter, although it will bounce back given time. Copper is stressful to many species of fish also.
In particular angels and some species of clowns, will not tolerate therapeutically effective levels of copper and will be severely harmed or killed. Having said that, copper can be extremely effective and many of us have snatched prize specimens back from death's doorstep with it.

Out fitting your quarantine tank with a diatom filter and/or an oversized UV sterilizer is an extremely effective method for eliminating parasites! Without the use of toxic meds, a small fully functioning reef tank (with no fish) can be used. This further minimizes stress to the fish and gives it a much better chance of acclimating to a captive environment. Usually a three to four week stint in this type of setup is adequate to eliminate most parasites. In my opinion these two pieces of equpment are much underutilized by the hobby (probably due to cost).

On the rare occasion where this does not work one can then resort to using the usual chemical agents, sans the UV of course! A diatom filter is OK to use in conjuction with medications.

Hope this helps!
Cheers!
T