Review on Exotic Environments Ancient Aquarium Ornament by Katie Richards

I bought this as I was planning to set up a new 5 gallon aquarium for a new betta. I was very happy to find this as it had a hole for the little fella to swim and sleep in but still looked nice (and not pink like some rooster locks). I tied some Anubias plants to the sides with fishing line for an extra jungle feel and set up my aquarium. It looked great and the new fish seemed happy, but I ended up developing some algae and getting a Nerita snail to keep it under control (and not get attacked by a betta). The snail moved a little but seemed to avoid the statue and the plants hanging from it. I put the snail on one of the Anubias leaves that had more algae and the snail stayed there for the next few days. He didn't move at all! And then one day I noticed that he had fallen off a leaf and was dead rocking in the creek. No problem, he was brand new and sometimes they don't make it home. But I still had a lot of algae, so I grabbed one of my Neriti snails from another of my betta tanks to get a handle on it. It was a snail that had been in 3 other aquariums, scraped off the glass for several months and grew happily. But as soon as I put him in this new statue pool, he wouldn't move. A day later I put it on the front edge of the statue and it acted like it was burned and it just stayed there closed for 2 days. I then put it back in the tank from which I removed it and after 30 minutes it came out again and was moving around the jar. He's been fine ever since (a month or two now). I know that invertebrates can be easily poisoned by copper in the tank and I'm wondering if maybe there is some copper in this statue mixed with plaster or paint etc which is causing problems with my snails. Maybe this is an isolated case and anyone else who buys the statue won't have a problem, but I still couldn't keep the statue in my tank and I don't want someone buying a statue for a shrimp tank and poisoning it. Everyone!