Bacter AE

[CraigB7708]

I have been using this in my shrimp only tank with great results seems to increase survivability of the babies. Normally what i do is move my shrimp from this tank to my other community tanks over time. Now i do have lots of hiding places in my community tanks but never really consider shrimp breeding. Would Bacter AE ok to put in a community tank? or is it strictly shrimp only? My community fish are a mixture of various tetras, ottos, and guppies. Thanks

 

[Naughts]

Are your shrimps neocardinia?
I have red cherry shrimp and have not felt the need for that product. My tank is established so biofilm is present naturally. I assume yours is also established as you have otos. My shrimp breed readily with no observable shrimplet deaths, The breeding is particularly prolific over the summer months which could account for your recent results?

 

[CraigB7708]

yes they are Neo's, blue dreams. Now my community tanks have ottos my shrimp only tank is just shrimp. My question isn't on the efficacy of Bacter that I am pretty confident has done a good job. It is with using it in a community tank. I suspect it would be fine just wasn't sure if anyone has done it.

 

[Naughts]

No, I haven't used it.
I read the ingredients
Ingredients
Amino acids, polysaccarides, xylanase, glucanase, amylase, protease, hemicellulase, Bacillus subtilis, Pediococcus acidilactici (Lactobacillus)
They appear to be naturally occuring but I don't know what they all are so cannot offer an opinion on it's safety.
@essjay is great with science so may know if the ingredients are all benign?

 

[Bub]

Yes, it is safe for fish. It can actually be beneficial for fish like otos. I've used it in my community and have had no issues.

 

[Essjay]

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
Polysaccharides are a long chain of sugars. Starch is a polysaccharide as is cellulose and there are countless others both natural and synthetic.
Xylan is a polysaccharide; xylanase is an enzyme that breaks down xylan.
Glucan is another polysaccharide and glucanase is an enzyme which breaks down glucan
Amylase is an enzyme that breaks down starch (testing for amylase was a test done in the emergency bay in hospital labs back in the 1970s as raised amylase was indicative of pancreatitis)
Proteases are enzymes which break down proteins
Hemicellulase is an enzyme which breaks down hemicellulose in plant cellulose walls.
The other two are bacteria.

To my mind, it won't harm fish but I can't see it being a wonder substance either.

 

[CraigB7708]

Thanks much for the opinions I didn't think it would be harmful but just not much info on it's use in a community tank.

 

[seangee]

I haven't used this and my shrimp are healthy.
But just wondering out loud here...
A few weeks ago I was searching a lot on BGA (cyanobacteria) and one recommendation was to add competing bacteria. In fact a few sites suggested adding yoghurt, with a note that those bacteria will survive at best 48 hours under water. Lactobaccilus (albeit a different variety) is one of these. I never actually tried this, although it would be easy enough to do as I culture my own yoghurt.
I wonder if there is any mileage as a competitor for cyano?