Equipment in Copper Treatment -- Threat to new Inhabitants?

[clowninaround]

leebca gotta a question haha. well you know how i used to have a freshwater? well one of the reasons i switched over was because i had freshwater gill flukes i could not get rid of. this required alot of copper. now that was a while ago and i have changed water and filter media and carbon back in and what not (i have carbon in my filters btw) and i thought it would be safe to test it out with a few crabs and snails under the guidance of my lfs. now, the crabs are doing pretty well but the snails...not so hot haha. i am going to assume this has something to do with the copper and that invertabrate like crustaceans can withstand copper remnants slightly better than mollusks. this is all just a guess because i was told a long time ago you can never fully get rid of copper. therefore, i wanted a fish only tank. no reef if i did something bad the lfs tricked me! haha but thank you if you have any idea plz help me out

[leebca]

I moved your post into its own thread, since the subject was quite different from the one it was attached to.

Equipment (tanks, pumps, filters, etc.) that are in place during a copper treatment are in fact copper contaminated. To break the copper-plastic and copper-glass bonds takes some effort. Yes, residual copper can cause the death of sensitive invertebrates -- even in very small quantities.

The equipment should be thrown away if the cleaning process would damage it or render it unusable. However, a sufficient cleaning should include the following:

1. Vinegar
2. Mild Soap
3. Bleach

with plenty of tap water rinses in between AND at the end, then finishing off the process with RO/DI or distilled water multiple rinses.

This subject has been written about before. If you want to read more about it, you can search for other threads. This is one for you to read through:
Snails and hermits dying!

Another good read:
No disrespect Ninong but I need more opinons before I throw in the towel

[clowninaround]

ah that is a good idea haha well the article was very informative. i got the impression that it is possible to pull it off as long as it isnt a reef tank though, correct? That i can have a happy fish only tank?

[leebca]

That is the general recommendation by the very conservative, however I have not found that to be necessary. If the cleaning is done as I suggested, I have never suffered any losses that I cannot account for, or which might be attributed to a copper poisoning.