"Making wishes" in your fish tank

[iwishtofish]

Has anyone ever had a kid (big or small) toss a penny in their tank? Having a child, it's something that just comes to mind...

 

[FTDelta]

Don't do it. Pennies turn green if left in tank for long, long time.

 

[disc1]

And the copper from the penny is deadly toxic to your inverts.

 

[iwishtofish]

Oh, definitely not going to do it. I'm thinking about it as one of my greatest fears. I was just wondering if anyone has had this happen to them, how they learned of it, what transpired, etc.

 

[iwishtofish]

I don't even want pennies in the house, for that matter, lol

 

[jorda9095]

i always wish for more coral in my tank

 

[phantomg23]

there was something on the new about how an lfs ripped off some kids, so they put pennies in the sump. Something like that anyway....or maybe it was a dream. this comment never happened........

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

what about throwing frags in the tank an making wishes...

 

[fishfreak2009]

This happened to me at my high school graduation. My 3 year old cousin threw a handful of pennies into the refugium on my 187 gallon. I ended up losing my urchin, my snails, my cleaner shrimp, my bubbletip anemone, and all the caulerpa in the fuge. Surprisingly none of the hermit crabs seemed to be affected.

I only figured out why everything was dying when I was pulling out masses of dying caulerpa and saw a penny. With more searching, one penny turned into 18 pennies.

 

[jeffesaurusrex]

Yeah, ask Paul B about this. He has told a tale about how back in the day when there was no Cupramine, Copper Safe, ect., he fashioned a penny holder and added pennies to the tank to kill ich. Back then I don't think they had live rock or coral, but if pennies can kill ich then it can and will kill all other invertebrates along with it.

 

[iwishtofish]

Lol, SaltwaterSensei, no good if the wishing penny kills them!

So, apparently there is a pretty dramatic effect if a penny goes in the tank.