what can cause a .32 copper reading

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

costumer called us as his corals did bot open as usual in the morning so a few hours later we arrived to see that most corals looked close to dying...clam wide open but no extension..bubble corals both complete gone...GSP closed or gone etc etc...
non of the fishes were effected it seems
we did see quite some snails has turned around and cucumbers looked bad..some seastars looked ok..shrimps and anemone crab looked ok
even all anemones effected with heteractis seem to have turned inside out...pink bubble reduced to almost nothing and carpet tetracted about 70%....
sorry for long intro story
now about tank...we take care of this tank for about 1.5 years (700lt) with good succes with all corals..fish..anemones showing good growth and health untill today.....
we tested water right away...
Ph 8.3 (electric probe)
Nitrates 10 (api)
Phosphate 1.0 (api)
sal 1.026 (refracto)
Temp 26.3C
now it comes...copper 0.32 (hannah)
reason for testing copper we have another aquarium with him (fish only) under cupramine now. and thought why not test as NO CUPRAMINE for sure went in it.....but why not just test....(??)
now what else could trigger this result? any other heavy metal and how did that get in it???
we reacted with changing 300lt water and add carbon....

thought at that point maybe faulty copper test but after water change it read 0.19 which looks to have been with the 40%+ water change????

i am dumbfounded on what could have happened with this tank??????

again sorry for long post

 

[FishLvR]

costumer called us as his corals did bot open as usual in the morning so a few hours later we arrived to see that most corals looked close to dying...clam wide open but no extension..bubble corals both complete gone...GSP closed or gone etc etc...
non of the fishes were effected it seems
we did see quite some snails has turned around and cucumbers looked bad..some seastars looked ok..shrimps and anemone crab looked ok
even all anemones effected with heteractis seem to have turned inside out...pink bubble reduced to almost nothing and carpet tetracted about 70%....
sorry for long intro story
now about tank...we take care of this tank for about 1.5 years (700lt) with good succes with all corals..fish..anemones showing good growth and health untill today.....
we tested water right away...
Ph 8.3 (electric probe)
Nitrates 10 (api)
Phosphate 1.0 (api)
sal 1.026 (refracto)
Temp 26.3C
now it comes...copper 0.32 (hannah)
reason for testing copper we have another aquarium with him (fish only) under cupramine now. and thought why not test as NO CUPRAMINE for sure went in it.....but why not just test....(??)
now what else could trigger this result? any other heavy metal and how did that get in it???
we reacted with changing 300lt water and add carbon....

thought at that point maybe faulty copper test but after water change it read 0.19 which looks to have been with the 40%+ water change????

i am dumbfounded on what could have happened with this tank??????

again sorry for long post

Cross contamination?

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

Cross contamination?

well i cant say 100% not possible though unlikely ..
i think also the relative high reading of 0.32 is not just a common accidentally cross contamination???
to reach a 0.32 reading you need to add about 17+ml cupramine in 700lt of water..... ?????
wonder if it is even possible to reach a reading like this with something copper made in the tank?
we checked since our supply if saltwater (for water changes) our freshwater top off (RO/DI filtered....
all read 0
even tried samples of water mixed with our regular supply of fresh made frozen feed .and one mixed with dryfood
all read 0 or close to 0 (inside the error margin)

 

[Tangdora]

Would retest with a completely clean vial that has been cleaned out with some isopropyl if you used the same vile that you tested with water from the other tank, there may be some traces in the vile itself

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The Hanna copper test is not very accurate at the low end and often gives false positives. That does not mean you do not have a copper issue, but the reading also does not prove there is a copper issue.

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

this morning after the 300lt water change the copper test from Hanbah still had a reading of 0.22...???
so did another 300lt water change..
tested right after and still read 0.14...???
i am not getting this....
we tested all kid of other water samples from my water supply to mixtures we made with water and frozen food etc...all read 0 or close enough for error to 0 but only this aquarium bow has 4 positive readings of copper and well over 0.10 of that....
what else can be in the tank that triggers a copper reading but is not? any kind of coral or anemone or cucumber toxin release that could show as copper on those tests???
anything that can be leaking out of a pump? magnets? but then again to fo such high levels and i am sure if its leaking that bad it should not be working???? all devices working properly?

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

and could any kind if toxin release effect other corals and anemones that much...? but no fish? all fish as if nothing happened

 

[CUSO4]

Have you moved any rocks or other decor from the cupramine tank ? Rocks are like sponges.
Severely worn old pumps can also expose metal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

this morning after the 300lt water change the copper test from Hanbah still had a reading of 0.22...???
so did another 300lt water change..
tested right after and still read 0.14...???
i am not getting this....
we tested all kid of other water samples from my water supply to mixtures we made with water and frozen food etc...all read 0 or close enough for error to 0 but only this aquarium bow has 4 positive readings of copper and well over 0.10 of that....
what else can be in the tank that triggers a copper reading but is not? any kind of coral or anemone or cucumber toxin release that could show as copper on those tests???
anything that can be leaking out of a pump? magnets? but then again to fo such high levels and i am sure if its leaking that bad it should not be working???? all devices working properly?

Those values all seem appropriate for the size changes you are doing. If anything, it seems to be dropping more than expected.

There are no organic toxins that will read on a copper test.

Again, it may be real copper or the expected low range problems with the Hanna checker.

 

[CrewePD210]

Are you using imagiterium carbon from PETCO. that stuff got me twice before I started reading about it.

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

Have you moved any rocks or other decor from the cupramine tank ? Rocks are like sponges.
Severely worn old pumps can also expose metal.

no Sir...as we know the other tank is under cupramine we are extremely carefull not even use same equipment cleaning both tanks...in general nit even cleaning both tanks on the same day...
Could metals coming from a possible cracked magnet impeller cause a copper reading?
today we will pull out all pumps and take apart as for this could be the only route though unlikely i would say

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

Are you using imagiterium carbon from PETCO. that stuff got me twice before I started reading about it.

in Thailand so no Petcos here
we never had carbon in the tank untill 2nd day positive copper reading

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

Those values all seem appropriate for the size changes you are doing. If anything, it seems to be dropping more than expected.

There are no organic toxins that will read on a copper test.

Again, it may be real copper or the expected low range problems with the Hanna checker.

correct thats why i dont think it has issues with tester...all other samples we tried since then read low or 0 readings
would any other heavy metal show as a positive with that Hannah kit?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

correct thats why i dont think it has issues with tester...all other samples we tried since then read low or 0 readings
would any other heavy metal show as a positive with that Hannah kit?

I expect not, but Hanna doesn’t specify interferences.

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

think we found it....
one of both skimmer pumps had the back cap come of and showed a crack into the epoxy part causing water going in and out the mechanical part....weird it kept working though??
at the back cap that came off we noticed a black residu (not sure what it is..looks oily)
we added this faulty pump plus the black substance in a bucket of clean seawater and tested for copper 5 minutes after ......reading 0.52.....

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That’s certainly a possibility. Is the system on a GFCI?

Any current flowing out of a copper wire in the water can drive a large amount of copper to dissolve. More than just a bare piece of copper in the water.