Copper Safe In Planted Tank?

[Futralistic]

I have noticed some signs of parasites in my 55g planted tank, and I bought Mardel CopperSafe to treat it. The instructions warn that it may harm some plants. Are there certain plants that are more likely to be harmed?

I have swords, cabombas, java ferns, mondo grass, and dwarf hair grass.

Thank you!!

 

[Futralistic]

Oh yeah btw I noticed crawling on one of my snails today what looked like to me to be a leech. It was about a 1/4 inch long very small in diameter and light brown color. It seemed to be actively seeking something on my snail and had a sucker type mouth part. I took my snail out and got it off.

What could this be and where in the world did it come from?

 

[QuotheRaven]

Copper will kill off all your plants I believe but I cannot help with the snail issue...& if there is a parasite in your tank it may of been transported on the plants to your fish so killing the plants will kill whatever parasites but if you take the plants out and then once treating the tank has stopped put the plants back in it could bring back the parasite...so I think you may just have to buy some new plants at a later date

 

[DevUK]

You could try a non-copper med maybe? Something like Flubenol15 (depending on what parasites you think you have).

 

[Underwurlde]

Copper will kill off all your plants

What makes you think that?

PS, I'd have recommended Flubenol 15 too. This stuff is non-copper based and WILL kill snails.

Andy

 

[Futralistic]

I searched for Flubenol 15 and no results came back of anyone that sells it. Does anyone know where you can buy it in the US? My tank is heavy planted and removing them and replacing them is not an option. Thanks for the advice though.Any more anti-parasite meds that are plant safe that may be easier to get my hands on?

You could try a non-copper med maybe? Something like Flubenol15 (depending on what parasites you think you have).

I think I have gill flukes

 

[JamesC]

Flubenol 15 is for internal worms - www.flubenol.co.uk. It is possible to use a copper based treatment but there is a small window of concentration where you will kill the parasites and not kill the plants. Too little and the parasites won't be killed, too high and the plants die as well. Another problem with copper is that once in the aquarium it's very hard to get rid of so will cause problems if you won't to keep things like shrimps in the future. See if you can find a non copper based treatment. Can't help you much here as I haven't used any meds for yonks and don't know much about them.

James

 

[plantbrain]

Copper will kill at 0.4ppm for algae and about 1.0 for plants(most all plants).
So the Cambomba will die the others will take a beating and might come back.

Snails are very easy to deal with: stop over feeding your fish, you should not have many then.
They eat algae very well also, easy to care for.

A zebra loach, Botia striata is the best snail reaper there is and a nice peaceful fish to others.
Other loaches work well.

But the zebra is the best of all the snail killers I've used.
Stay away from copper as a rule.

It can harm and kill fish when not used correctly, shrimps especially.


Regards,
Tom Barr