Crayfish And Copper Based Plant Fertilizer

Hello, all. I’m found this forum while searching for information about my red crayfish. He has been doing great and very active in his 20 gallon tank. However, the last couple of days he has taken to hiding in the back of a clay pot and barely eats. In fact, yesterday he did not eat at all. I then read about copper being poisonous to crayfish. I checked my plant fertilizer and sure enough is has copper in it. I immediately did a water change. I threw the fertilizer away. My crayfish remains the same. Is it possible that he is just molting and he could survive this? He is not staying in one position, as I see him on his back and then on his side; that’s why I thought he was just molting. Then I read about copper!!! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Hi, copper is toxic to any invertebrates, how long have you been adding the ferts? I'd keep doing large water changes to dilute the copper concentration as much as possible, do you have another tank (QT or hospital) you could move the crayfish into with clean water? That would probably be his best chance of surviving, otherwise frequent water changes is the only way to go. Hope he makes it.

 

Hi, copper is toxic to any invertebrates, how long have you been adding the ferts? I'd keep doing large water changes to dilute the copper concentration as much as possible, do you have another tank (QT or hospital) you could move the crayfish into with clean water? That would probably be his best chance of surviving, otherwise frequent water changes is the only way to go. Hope he makes it.

I had adding the fertilizer 3 times in the past two months. But I do water changes once every 2 weeks. I did another water change today. Tonight, my crayfish “Digger” was out and about the tank acting perfectly normal. He was moving a moss ball around and he ate really good. I’m hoping that he remains this way.

 

Copper in fertilizer and food is completely safe, unless your tap already comes with abnormally high copper. Otherwise everyone who has densely planted tanks and high fertilizer dosage would have shrimp/cray/snail die off, but clearly this is not the case.

Inverts have hemocyanin for blood, which is a copper containing protein - as opposed to humans that have hemoglobin, an iron containing protein. Therefore trace amounts of copper are still needed.

 

The copper thing is way overblown. As said above, crayfish and shrimp actually need copper. For instance, my shrimp food has copper as an ingredient.

I would, first, look elsewhere as to what the problem might be. How long did you have it for?

 

The copper thing is way overblown. As said above, crayfish and shrimp actually need copper. For instance, my shrimp food has copper as an ingredient.

I would, first, look elsewhere as to what the problem might be. How long did you have it for?

I’ve had him for a couple of months now. This morning he eagerly came to the front of the tank when he saw me for feeding. He seems ok, now. I don’t understand what happened. He did not molt and he seems fine now. Nothing wrong with the tank, temp and levels are all where they should be. Oh well, he seems happy, so I'm happy.

 

Greetings and welcome to Fishlore

What fertilizer are you using?

 

Greetings and welcome to Fishlore

What fertilizer are you using?

Thank you for the warm welcome! The fertilizer I was using was NA/Thrive. I really like this fertilizer for my plants, but I am eliminating it because of the copper. This brand does make a shrimp specific fertilizer that has no copper that I’m going to try. I’m not sure if the fertilizer was the problem but he has perked up and is back to normal as far as I can tell.