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Copper... Is it really that deadly?

I know this thread has been dead for awhile, but I'm curious if anyone knows of a copper concentration that is acceptable. Is 1 ppm enough to kill a ceph? I'm looking to keep some cephs soon and need to know how much copper is in my system. I am thinking about buying API's copper test kit (API® Products) which can detect copper concentration from 0-4 ppm.

Also, I've asked an aquatic toxicologist colleague of mine (Gretchen Bielmyer (Valdosta State University)) about why copper is so toxic: it doesn't seem to affect their O2 binding ability but it primarily affects their osmoregulatory ability. That would explain monty's reading about gill damage...

this is interesting as well, but I don't see specifics about the mechanism (but I don't have time to look in detail, loligo opalescens is mentioned in a table of accute toxicity concentrations, tho...):

Copper (EHC 200, 1998)

monty found a source that listed the lethal concentration at 0.309 ppm for larval Loligo but I'm curious if adult cephs would be more resistant. Larvae tend to be more fragile to environmental stressors than adults.

Also, would it matter if I'm using a flow-through system rather than recirculating?
 
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Great questions! I've worked with cephalopods for over 10 years now and copper was always considered the most deadly toxin in our systems. The protocol at the NRCC was to never, EVER even use a system that could have been exposed to copper at any point. I took this quote from The Cephalopod Page (Keeping Octopuses in Aquaria - The Cephalopod Page), "One water quality fact that is crystal clear, is that excessive heavy metals, especially copper, are deadly." Copper is toxic to many marine invertebrates, particularly cephalopods, as a consequence of having copper-based blood. In just scanning the literature I did not immediately find any values that cephalopods could withstand... Check this out too: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aalas/jaalas/1997/00000036/00000002/art00013

I think you are probably correct in assuming that larval cephalopods are more sensitive than adults but adults also have an increased surface area because of their larger size so they might actually be just as sensitive, if not more, because of their microvillus epidermis.

I would assume that copper in a flow through system would be washed out??? But if there were constant levels of copper in a flow through system, I think this would also be detrimental to cephalopods.

I would always error on the side of caution with copper.

Greg
 
The copper issue is interesting, I have often thought about this ever since I first read it. The towns "mains water system" is steel pipes but from there to the house the majority the houses here are copper, so I was wondering how much "leaching" occurs while the water is in transit through our house to the tank.
 

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