Copper- Long Term Effects
- Thread starter e55MD
- Start date
e55MD,
Sorry, I don't know of any formal studies, just anecdotal reports. We routinely maintain Coppersafe (similar to Cupramine?) in our quarantine systems, and sometimes, fish need to remain there through multiple 45 day cycles, we see no problems, but then, we also have not sent off any samples from deceased fish for histopath, at least not with the suspicion of copper toxicity.
My opinion is that these organically chelated copper products do not seem to cause chronic health issues. We used to see some peracute toxicity issues with Centropyge angelfish (and some other species) when we were using ionic copper at 0.22 ppm for only 14 days. We currently have a bicolor angel that has been in a Coppersafe system for months because it wasn't "playing well" with the soft corals in the tank it had been in.
Back in the mid-1980's, I ran a mortality rate study on 650 newly imported marine fish. the study ran six months, and the system had Coppersafe in it the entire time. None of the control fish (n=12) died during that run.
Jay
Sorry, I don't know of any formal studies, just anecdotal reports. We routinely maintain Coppersafe (similar to Cupramine?) in our quarantine systems, and sometimes, fish need to remain there through multiple 45 day cycles, we see no problems, but then, we also have not sent off any samples from deceased fish for histopath, at least not with the suspicion of copper toxicity.
My opinion is that these organically chelated copper products do not seem to cause chronic health issues. We used to see some peracute toxicity issues with Centropyge angelfish (and some other species) when we were using ionic copper at 0.22 ppm for only 14 days. We currently have a bicolor angel that has been in a Coppersafe system for months because it wasn't "playing well" with the soft corals in the tank it had been in.
Back in the mid-1980's, I ran a mortality rate study on 650 newly imported marine fish. the study ran six months, and the system had Coppersafe in it the entire time. None of the control fish (n=12) died during that run.
Jay
Unfortunately I forget the exact article, but awhile back I read an article that experimented with copper treating breeding pairs of dottybacks. They found that the dottybacks stopped breeding while being exposed to treatment levels of copper, but returned to breeding shortly after the copper was removed.
wooden_reefer
New member
Cu at level to kill ich is said to reduce immunity in fish. But I think if your fish don't suffer during or shortly after CU treatment, then Cu has no long term effect.
Most of my fish treated with CU have lived for many many years afterward.
I use straight Cu, not chelated Cu.
Most of my fish treated with CU have lived for many many years afterward.
I use straight Cu, not chelated Cu.
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