Fish: RE: [tropical fish club] Re: Planted tank ?'s

I believe it's a Myth that copper is absorbed in Silicone. Most copper treatments include organic dyes like Methylene Blue which are more likely to stain the silicone rather than silicone absorb copper. One of my Quarantine tanks in my Marine setups came with blue stained silicone and the previous owner did say that it had been extensively treated with copper treatments to eradicate snails but I was not too bothered since it was a Quarantine tank with just a bit of Live rock. I was amazed when I had some corals (polyps and xenia) start to emerge on the live rock despite the blue silicone and after doing a lot of reading it turned out that it is most likely a Myth. If a tank has been treated with copper, just giving it a good rinse a couple of times with RO or with bleach and then cleaning it should be enough. The Blue stain on the silicone is just from the dye.

On rock and sand however it is a different case as these are not 100% inert and can absorb copper by forming various copper compounds that can leach overtime.

Nim

From: tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com [mailto:tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Dawn Moneyhan
Sent: 30 August 2012 21:03
To: tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [tropical fish club] Re: Planted tank ?'s

Just a quick warning about this stuff... not all fish can tolerate it either. Some fish, in particular scaleless (loaches, some kinds of catfish, etc) are very sensitive to anything with copper in it. Copper also leaves a residue in the silicone, so once it is used in a tank then there is very little chance of any inverts (shrimps, snails, etc) of any species to survive in that tank in the future. I wish these companies would put proper and complete warnings on these kinds of products.

Dawn

Dawn Moneyhan
Aquatics Specialist/Nutritionist
To learn more about me go to
http://www.helium.com/users/449334

--- On Thu, 8/30/12, Bill Z <devilsadvacat@gmail.com <mailto:devilsadvacat%40gmail.com> > wrote:

From: Bill Z <devilsadvacat@gmail.com <mailto:devilsadvacat%40gmail.com> >
Subject: [tropical fish club] Re: Planted tank ?'s
To: tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com <mailto:tropicalfishclub%40yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 1:59 PM

I'm buying this now for my snail problem:

Petsolutions.com-Coppersafe.aspx

16 oz. item 84911340 $13.99

http://www.petsolutions.com/C/External-Parasite-Ich-Fish-Medications/I/Coppersafe.aspx

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tropicalfishclub/links/S_001308326695/

The information above is also in this Snails folder

Until now, I was getting something called "copper power green"

Made by Endich Inc in Newton, NJ at a small local

tropical fish retailer but 1 4-fluid ounce bottle

was costing me $5.99.

I have gone through more than 10 of these bottles and

still the snails come back when I stop the treatment.

The labels say: "Safe De-toxified metallic complexes

for the prevention and treatment of ich, fungus,

and external parasites."

"may be toxic to snails and invertebrates"

Copper Sulfate = .234 %

Nickel Sulfate = .339 %

Zinc Sulfate = .375 %

I guess the rest is water (?)

My own recent experience makes me think that it is

much better to buy a larger size bottle from the start

and have too much, than to keep buying smaller bottles

for a much higher per unit price.

I would also read the description and give the maximum

safe dosage they recommend.

I was very tentative about putting too much in my tanks

and I thus used the minumum dosage but the snails kept

coming back long after I thought I was rid of them.

And now I worry that their progeny have developed a much

higher tolerance for this metallic solution.

I wish I had used a higher dosage from the beginning.

Bill Zardus

Delaware County, PA

--- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com <mailto:tropicalfishclub%40yahoogroups.com> , "cahyman" <cahyman@...> wrote:

>

> Hi everyone,

> I just found this group. I am cycling a 6.6 gallon tank - the Petco bookshelf aquarium, following the instructions I found online. I bought this substrate called EcoComplete, and a couple plants. The tank is short and long. I plan to put a Betta in there.

> -my plants keep coming out of the substrate. Is there a special way to keep them in?

> -how long until they get rooted?

> - can I use a "python" on this tank? I have the mini gravel vac but find it really awkward.

> -how do I clean it without sucking up all the dirt?

> Thank you!!!

>

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