# Mardel Coppersafe?



## prg9483 (Jul 19, 2008)

I'm cycling a 20 gallon tank with some bettas and platies. I noticed that one of the bettas has anchorworm (the bettas where given to me by a friend), so I treated with Coppersafe. The directions merely state that it treats water for one month. Does that mean that just one dose will do for the whole month? 

ps...the bottle also states that it is unsafe for invertebrates, but says nothing about plecos. I didn't know that it was unsafe for plecos until it had killed my rubber lip pleco. 


Eventually I would like to have some freshwater shrimp in this community tank. So what do I have to do to remove all of the Coppersafe to make this tank safe for inverts?
Your advice is appreciated.
Patty


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Ah yes, unfortunately Plecs are not a huge fan of the copper meds. 

Do you have carbon in your filter right now? Because if you do, you can bet that the medication will not be in your tank for a month.

Remove carbon from your filter when adding medication, and put carbon in your filter to remove meds from your tank when finished treatment. 

You should be careful when adding medications when dealing with bettas too. Bettas can be sensitive to a lot of meds. You may have gotten lucky with this one though.


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

It's extremely hard to make a tank safe for inverts after copper has been used. I'm not sure that there's any way to really do it without emptying the tank and bleaching it (or something like that). Even that isn't guaranteed to remove all copper.

You'll want to run carbon in your filter. You'll also need a copper test kit. If you can get zero readings of copper in your tank, you can probably try adding a feeder shrimp or something as a tester, and hopefully all will work out.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Really?? I added copper safe to my ten gallon back when I had ich, and ran the carbon in the filter when the treatment was done. 

Then when my tank was all good and back to normal I added three shrimp and an apple snail and they did great!! 

I've never heard that before. Crazy, I'll keep it in mind. Lol even though I fully never intend to use copper safe meds ever again. Now that I know salt does a way better job at kicking ich butt.


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

I think this issue with copper is more true of saltwater inverts than freshwater (as they are probably more tolerant). Oftentimes you'll see used tanks advertised as "never used copper" as this is a legitimate issue and concern. However, it's really good to hear that you've had success with inverts in your tank- perhaps the copper issue is given more attention than needed.


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## prg9483 (Jul 19, 2008)

Well, okay...thank you for the response. Still a little confused...but that's nothing new. I went to Petsmart on Sunday, and the man there said that Coppersafe would not harm plecos, but everything that I've read online says that it will...which is correct? 
As for the shrimp, I think I've given up on the idea. I'm told that my bettas and even my platies will eat them! :shock: 

Thanks for the help
Patty


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

prg9483 said:


> Well, okay...thank you for the response. Still a little confused...but that's nothing new. I went to Petsmart on Sunday, and the man there said that Coppersafe would not harm plecos, but everything that I've read online says that it will...which is correct?
> As for the shrimp, I think I've given up on the idea. I'm told that my bettas and even my platies will eat them! :shock:
> 
> Thanks for the help
> Patty


I've kept platy and shrimp together and never had that problem. 

And it really depends on the personality of your betta, many betta tolerate a little snail or shrimp buddy. But others if they are a little more aggressive may try to eat the shrimp. The shrimp I have are pretty big though... I can't imagine a betta even trying and eat one.


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## prg9483 (Jul 19, 2008)

Hmm...maybe I will try it out in another tank. As for this one, I lost a betta this morning. My ammonia levels are high, but everything else seems okay. I have tried amquel, cycle, among others...I even put ammo chips in the filter, and the levels are still high. I know that it's still cycling, but the levels are pretty dangerous. On Sunday, I did an approximate 25% water change hoping that that would help...no such luck. I guess I will just ride it out and see what happens. 
Thanks for the help
Patty


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

You should try doing a small water change everyday to help keep the ammonia down, it may cause the tank to take a bit longer to cycle.

But at least none of your fish die! :wink:


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## prg9483 (Jul 19, 2008)

Thanks, Little-Fizz...you've helped a lot!
Patty


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

No problem!!! Good luck!


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