Pyrite Toxic to Supershrimp?

[kblue]

Hello everyone.

I am new to keeping these shrimp, but not new to aquarium-keeping. My tank is set and cycled. It's a 20 gallon long with sand and coral substrate, and a couple sandstone rocks. However, it is looking pretty spartan.

I decided to get some lava rocks today, but found they have this golden glitter on them that is somewhat hard to see. In the past, I was warned that Pyrite, aka Fool's Gold, is toxic to aquarium creatures. I am not sure if this is Pyrite, but if it is, would it harm the Opae Ula shrimp?

I can show pictures if needed. I would just have to take them. Any responses would be appreciated; information on these shrimp is scarce even on the internet.

[minishrimps]

Not sure about how the shrimp will react to pyrite but for the sake of identifying the "golden glitter" we'd need pictures to at least help. The existence of gold and pyrite in lava is rare but can occur. Try scratching the surface of the gold colored mineral with a needle. If the needle makes a visible scratch in the "glitter" it's likely not pyrite as it has a higher hardness level than gold. There are other golden colored mineralizations that can occur in lava depending on how it is extruded.

[Ace]

Salt water destroys metals very quickly. No metal can be included in salt water with living creatures in that you want to remain living.

[minishrimps]

Salt water destroys metals very quickly.

While there is truth in this statement, many of us have lava in our tanks. In addition to silicates, lava compositions in most cases contain metals, e.g. aluminum, iron, magnesium.

[Stalker]

Lava contain metals in the form of chemically inert silicates. Pyrite is a sulphid, not soluble in water, but absolutly not chemically inert. It is also rich in stain, arsenic, nickel and other metals who will slowly reacti with water, enough to kill invertebrates.

[Ace]

No pyrite!

I understand just what you mean. It looked a little boring and you wanted to spice it up a little. Options are a little limited, unfortunately. :/