Copper poisoning

[BlennyBabe]

Over the past 10 days or so I have been seeing a decline in the health of my soft corals in my school tank. I thought it was just in response to the nitrates that are around 40 right now. I have been planning a waterchange for about two weeks, but I always seem t get delaed. I was in a car accident three weeks ago and havent been able to do water changes or top off at all. I ahve had help of course, but things just keep comming up to delay this water change. Anyway, my boss feeds the fish on the weekends and said that the corals are in really bad shape. It just occured to me that I pulled a 4 inch piece of insulated copper wire and a metal clip (like the kind that hold on name tags) out of the tank last week. It probably got knocked in accidnetally when my co worker or myself was working above the tank. I didnt think it would be enough to cause any problems, but aparently it is. What can I do , other than this scheduled 100 gallon water change to help slavage my corals? Is there any chemical filter that would help remove any copper?

Also, is there anyone in the central washington area that has a copper test kit? I would be willing to drive a while for it, but finals week, so it cant be too far.

Please help me! I feel so aweful. My boss thinks that Im not doing my job. (it is my fault that the area above the tank wasnt clear of things.) I hate that I didnt catch this sooner. I assumed that the wire was only in the tank for a few hours before I caught it.

 

[aquariumdebacle]

Depending on how long the copper wire was in the tank, I doubt much could have leached. The solid form is very stable and does not leach very quickly. if you caught it within days or less than a week it probably is not significant and can be remedyed whith a nitrate sponge and vigorous water changes. You do need to monitor the copper level with a test. Even the copper treatments need to be monitored and levels kept up because copper will go out of solution quite readily at high pH's. Don't let anyone blame you for others mistakes. When you have a tank that is not within 100% of your control problems will occur that are beyond your responsibility, people should know that things dropped into an aquarium may not be beneficial.

 

[cheeks69]

I was in a car accident three weeks ago and havent been able to do water changes or top off at all.

My old tank with mostly softies and LPS used to run regularly with nitrate levels in the 40's and never really noticed a problem but not topping off for three weeks may be the problem I would check the SG levels ASAP.

 

[NaH2O]

Rachel - hang in there. There may be something else to blame here. How are the water parameters? Cheeks made a good point about the salinity.

 

[BlennyBabe]

Sorry about that, I should have told you that the tank has been topped off and the skimmers emptied regularly by my coworker. I monitor it with a refractometer and tell him when to add DI. All the water parameters are fine. Ill check again today to get you more accurate measurments.