copper sulfate will not kill the fish.
In fact, copper sulfate (bluestone) is a popular medication for treating parasites in aquarium fish.
However, copper sulfate is lethal to crustaceans, which will present a problem. alot of scuds and shrimp will die.
I beg to differ because in the late 90's or early 2000's when they last blue stoned they killed off dump truck after dump truck after dump truck of stripers. The other day's stoning was very mild and no harm done this time. The last time the pumps got shut off (big blunder) and concentrations of the stuff were sitting in patches. Fish swam through and croaked by the thousands and thousands. Catfish were not affected.
I can definitely see it killing the mysid shrimp in there. That would be a negative impact because the juvenile stripers and even the adult eat that stuff like candy. If they die, it will have a negative impact through the food chain? I might have to go tumbleweed fishing and drag one up to see if they are alive or dead as they attach to them by the thousands.
Dang, they used way too much, then! Either that, or stripers are alot more sensitive to copper than other fish!
I know for a fact that cyprinids and catfish are VERY tolerant of it. They bluestone the hell out of the bigger lake at mile square, like every week, and it's still loaded with bullheads and carp.
carp died too,
If your too busy to go fishin; YOUR TOO BUSY!!!!!!
Yeah some carp died too but it was mostly a striper massacre for the AV. The mysid shrimp are the only casualty this time. I can confirm that they are dead. Hopefully they will repopulate asap.
Smokehound, the pumps got shut off the last time (about 12 or so years ago) and the concentrations stayed stagnant. Many stripers swam through them and died.
i can't chime in on the micros eating the shrimp, because i've never opened one up, but i'm pretty confident that they eat them.
several of the 4-8lb stripers that i've opened up have had ounces of shrimp in them....so i don't see why the babies wouldn't?
so, like you said, i hope they repopulate quick so the fish don't go hungry...although, they might go for my lure if they're extra hungry, lol