why cant invertabrates handle copper

[callum_parsons]

i no that invertabrates cannot deal with copper but i was just wondering why.

can anyone tell me and ease my mind

[Kev]

No idea, but then I would think most creatures on the planet have an intolerance to heavy metals, including humans. In my lay terms, some creatures merely have a greater tolerance to levels than others?

[Reefer]

Funny also that Hermit crabs can tolerate it but shrimps cant

[Macca]

Copper depending on concentration will kill mamals, reptiles, insects and all life forms. It is a natural substance found in land, freah water and salt water in trace amounts. In natural sea water it is measured in the low parts per billion range (ppb). Inverts cannot tolerate copper in the ppb range when higher that what is found in natural sea water. Fish can tolerate copper in this range and even in the parts per million range (ppm). I have read articles that when a fish is treated with copper for say marine ich it can affect its immune system as well as its reproductive organs. Copper can be absorbed in live rock so be very very careful buying live rock from a fish only system. I personally would only buy live rock straight from the ocean or from an established reef setup. Many inverts when poisoned with copper do not die right away. If the concentration is low then inverts will die through time. So if your keep losing inverts and everthing appears normal then I would certainly suspect copper. Most test kits I believe do not go into the ppb range as most are used to treat fish with copper (ppm range).

Hope this helps

James

PS Remember copper is aborbed in the sand and can adhere to glass / silicone so be very wary and make remember that if you buy anything second hand that it could have been treated with copper. Also a lot of LFS use copper in their fish systems so make sure and never releas their water in your system. Also treating a fish with copper is very stressful to the fish so make sure you are sure you need to follow this extreme action.

[Blue]

We have corals and a few inverts in with our fish only system to show customers that we do not run copper. We have about 99% reef customers and we could not take the chance of running copper through our system and I think it is best to quarantine fish first, then put them into our main system. Also be careful not to put fish water from LFS into your reef tanks, always discard the water you take out of the bag. :) Our customers don't use copper, so why should we.

[callum_parsons]

you brought up a very good point then chris with the water in the fish bag, that could be a possiable explantion of my shrimps sudden death

[Robbirch]

Copper is the marine invertebrate equivalent of iron in mammals blood. It is the reason why the blood of a crab is green instead of red. This might have something to do with it??