# ill shrimp, copper poisoning?



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

I have three yamato shrimp in my original tank all happy as pie. When new tank was cycled i brought one of them across to new tank and he loved it for a day. Next day he was looking really ill, all curled up and not walking or swimming steady. I moved him to a bag filled with water from the old tank and after a few hrs he seemed to recover and i put him back in old tank.

new tank is now completely cycled, producing good nitrates, etc. It has a female betta and 5 cloudy white mountain minnows, all happy and have been for days. I bought four new shrimp and released to big tank. Same as before, first day happy then next becoming docile, walking unsteady, curling up lots and turned an orangey beige colour! I read that some of this behaviour was normal for a shrimp about to malt and that change of water conditions could cause a molt. But its been 3 days, no molting, no deaths, but they look so close to it.

the old and new tank have same water source and same water treatment. Same water parameters except old tank has ammonia problem and new tank doesn't! But shrimp in old tank fine with lots of water changes!

after googling the only thing i can think of is copper. New tank is heavilly planted and old tank only has a couple of plants. Apparently sometimes plants can release coppers? But i cant find anything in LFS to test for or remove copper from water, what can i do??

new tank filter has two foam pads cuz i read here that was best. Would some other filter material remove metals?


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Did you buy the new tank brand new or was it used and new to you? People will sometimes do a copper dip on plants to kill sasties but I have never heard of them actually releasing copper on their own. Have you treated anything thats in the new tank with any type of meds? Things like aquarisol? What is the temperature of both tanks? Also theres a good chance the betta is picking on the shrimp. They are considered food to them.


----------



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

There is no treatment for sicknesses in either tank. The tank was second hand but i thougherly cleaned it (with plain water and a scrubbing sponge). The first shrimp i put in there by himself reacted same way and was before betta was bought (she doesn't show much interest in them, possibly cuz they are quite big?) both tanks have heaters set to 24c (recommended by aqavisor) but are more like 27/28 due to the hot weather we are having. Again both tanks same temptature and both water from same tap treated with nutrafin brand dechloronator


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

If the tank was treated by past owner with copper that can be the problem. Copper will get into the silicone and never leave. I have seen this happen in many cases with inverts going into a used tank.


----------



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

I guess its possible  in which case i would have to give up on keeping shrimp
is it worth me trying to add some carbon to the filter? I think i read somewhere that some times plants grown in soils that have higher metal content than usual end up doing this to a tank.

thou its still just an assumption, i havnt found any way to test for copper!


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Aquarium Water Testing: Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Copper Test Kit
That is a copper test kit from API.
Seachem makes "cupisorb",a synthetic resin that specifically targets and removes copper.
I searched this form ,but couldn't find right key words.several people have had issues with a "insectacide" type treatment that some of the foriegn plant suppliers use to remove snails and stuff from their plants before they ship them,this is a possibility.


----------

