Effects of copper on fowlr????

[jay2525]

What are the effects of adding copper to a fowlr tank. I know it will kill the rock, but will this kill all the bacteria and hence the fishes? I have had several fish in hypo for about 7 weeks now and the fowlr running fallow. Yesterday I decided to start adding the fish back to the aquarium one or pairs at a time. I added my koran and he seemed fine in the qt tank, but once I got him under all the lights in the display, I don't know. He didn't have anyhthing on his fins, but his body looked as if there was maybe 1 or 2 spots. Possibly. It could've been the coloration stress as he looks great today. But I am concerned. I don't want to add any of the other fish because of this, but if I don't I will have trouble adding them ( couple angels) later. Im thinking If I have to I'll add copper....will this kill the bio in the tank? anyone done this? thanks.

 

[kevin2000]

My 02

Copper will not kill off all your beneficial bacteria ... most aquarist shy away from copper in their show tanks because its harmful to many inverts (snails, corals etc) and some would argue its capable of binding to calcium carbonate (most live rock and aragonite sand) and may leach out later to harm inverts.

 

[jay2525]

I had a service company use copper on my tank years ago, and it seemed to kill the ich without crashing the tank. Although this tank is fowlr, I'd prefer to keep my fish at this point. The stress of all the quarantine tanks, and fish is wearing me down.