Shrimp and Copper ?

[aralph65]

Hi All,

So I just got a report from my local water supplier, which is the town. As far as heavy metals the water contains zero lead and .009 ppm of copper.

I am wondering if copper builds up over time since it is a heavy metal. Maybe .009 is a negligible amount in a 20 gallon aquarium.

I do use the tap water for water changes. Any thoughts?

Let me note that we have had almost no notable shrimp deaths. We have shrimp in 4 of our 6 tanks.

Have a great day!!

Andy

 

[Yugang]

I am no expert shrimp keeper, but even if I were I probably could not give an easy answer as to how much copper shrimp can tolerate and it probably depends on species and other conditions as well. What I find on fora, shrimp keepers posting, is estimations at best that lethal Cu PPM's are multiples of the 0.009 ppm in your water report.

Copper - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki

www.theaquariumwiki.com

So your water does have trace amounts of copper, but these will not accumulate as you say unless you have your tank evaporating and only top up water. If you do significant water changes, old water out and replenish with 0.009 Cu ppm fresh water from your tap it is unlikely that your tanks ppm will ever come significantly above this 0.009 ppm and definitely not at a multiple of this.

we have had almost no notable shrimp deaths.

This seems to confirm that there is no major issue here with your tap.

Note: I have a stable population of cherry shrimps in my tank, cleaning crew, and Hong Kong water reports for Cu an average 0.02 ppm Cu.