Help, I didn’t rinse my new plants before adding them to my tank..shrimp dying ):

[moonmist]

As you can see by the title, I did something really dumb ): I ordered some plants from Buceplant and I did not rinse them off/quarantine them. I’ve learned my lesson. Anyways I can’t tell if the massive shrimp die off is from a pesticide on the new plants, or from an ammonia spike from digging up the gravel? (I took out some preexisting plants to make room). I have checked the ammonia a couple times since then and it’s always at 0 so not convinced that’s the issue. I feel devastated that I’ve nearly killed off my entire colony. Will I be able to add more shrimp in the future if I just do my normal water changes every week? Will it be safe to add more in a few weeks? Please let me know.

Also, I have a small school of ember tetra and they are all fine. Not sure if that means anything.

Edit: they were added on Friday last week. So over the course of a few days they have been dying. I found one that jumped out of the tank this morning and 2 more this evening after I got home from work that were laying at the bottom.

 

[Archerfish]

Is your tank cycled? It sounds like it isn't. How long has it been established? Fish jumping out could indicated ammonia poisoning. I would get your water tested before adding any more fish.

 

[moonmist]

Is your tank cycled? It sounds like it isn't. How long has it been established? Fish jumping out could indicated ammonia poisoning. I would get your water tested before adding any more fish.

Tanks been running about 5 months now. I’ve had the cherry shrimp in there for about a month and a half with no problems. That is until I added new plants.

 

[Colin_T]

Do a 80-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. This will dilute the chemicals on the plants.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine or chloramine before it's added to the tank.

After that, add some activated carbon to the filter and run it for a month, then throw the carbon away and you should be able to add shrimp after that.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I don't know the likelihood of plants being treated with pesticides there, but I almost lost my shrimp colony after adding some plants that I'd bought to my tank, then finding out they'd been brought into the UK after being grown in a fishfarm in Indonesia, and so would have had to have been treated with a pesticide before being imported into the UK. Unfortunately, the pesticides used can be fatal to shrimp, as it affects their ability to mount, so I experienced a gradual die off, with more and more passing every day.

Since that tank was contaminated and I couldn't trust anything in it, I was only able to save my colony by setting them up in a brand new tank, with nothing taken form the old tank besides the shrimp themselves. So new substrate, plants only from shrimp safe sources like Tropica or ones grown in-vitro, and hardscape and filter that hadn't been used in the contaminated tank.

Since the set up was brand new, I had to be careful to feed, but not overfeed, the shrimp, and kept a close eye on water quality as the tank cycled and got established algae for them to feed on. But after a few more losses once moving them, the rest of the colony bounced back and recovered. The pesticides didn't affect fish, so the fish in that tank were safe, and after reading around, it seems the pesticides most likely used do break down in water and in soil over time, but it was around three months before I was able to keep shrimp in that original tank again, and now I'm very careful about where I source my plants. With inverts, we have to be a lot more careful, since they're so sensitive, and many aquarium fish and plants are grown abroad because of how much more cheaply they can be produced there.

@Essjay is pretty knowledgeable about this, and helped me through my own disaster!

 

[Essjay]

A brief bit of history first.
Back several years ago, a species of apple snail was found in a river in Spain so the EU banned the import and spreading of all species of apple snail. They also intended to ban the import of plants from places where apple snails are endemic, but settled for making it compulsory for these countries to treat their plants with a snail killer before import into the EU. This meant that only plants grown within the EU were safe for shrimps inside the EU.
The US does not have the same issue with apple snails but it is possible that the plants you bought were from a grower which treats all its plants as they could be sent to any country and they don't want two batches of plants, one for the EU and one for everyone else.

Carbon will remove pesticides from the water, as Colin suggested. If it's available where you are PolyFilter in the filter is also good for removing contaminants, though it is more expensive than carbon. This is a specific product, not just filter floss and could be sold under the brand names Underworld or Arcadia.

Amazon.co.uk

 

[moonmist]

A brief bit of history first.
Back several years ago, a species of apple snail was found in a river in Spain so the EU banned the import and spreading of all species of apple snail. They also intended to ban the import of plants from places where apple snails are endemic, but settled for making it compulsory for these countries to treat their plants with a snail killer before import into the EU. This meant that only plants grown within the EU were safe for shrimps inside the EU.
The US does not have the same issue with apple snails but it is possible that the plants you bought were from a grower which treats all its plants as they could be sent to any country and they don't want two batches of plants, one for the EU and one for everyone else.

Carbon will remove pesticides from the water, as Colin suggested. If it's available where you are PolyFilter in the filter is also good for removing contaminants, though it is more expensive than carbon. This is a specific product, not just filter floss and could be sold under the brand names Underworld or Arcadia.

Amazon.co.uk

Thank you so much for the information. I should’ve done my research but now I know! I will look into these. I was always under the impression that “oh there might be snails in here but that’s ok” never did I think that they could be treated with pesticides. I’ll be extra diligent in the future if I purchase more plants.

 

[Essjay]

Another alternative is to buy only in vitro plants as these are grown in a laboratory under sterile conditions and have no chemicals on them, nor snails or any other pests/diseases.

 

[Mikeyboy123]

i had a similar issue a while back. cheap plants bought off ebay. The shrimp immediately went absolutely ballistic when I put the plants in and some crawled out. I did a big water change followed by filtering with Polyfilter and it all calmed down. I don't think I lost many shrimp, other than the ones that crawled out, and the fish didn't show any sign that they were affected.

Be careful. I'm quite fussy where I get my plants from now.

 

[Mikeyboy123]

i had a similar issue a while back. cheap plants bought off ebay. The shrimp immediately went absolutely ballistic when I put the plants in and some crawled out. I did a big water change followed by filtering with Polyfilter and it all calmed down. I don't think I lost many shrimp, other than the ones that crawled out, and the fish didn't show any sign that they were affected.

Be careful. I'm quite fussy where I get my plants from now.

I would add that I was unable to use the offending plants and just had to throw them away. Even after a week of floating them in a bucket outside and frequently changing the water, whatever it was that was causing the issue was very persistent and the same thing happened when I reintroduced just a couple of stems.

 

[moonmist]

I don't know the likelihood of plants being treated with pesticides there, but I almost lost my shrimp colony after adding some plants that I'd bought to my tank, then finding out they'd been brought into the UK after being grown in a fishfarm in Indonesia, and so would have had to have been treated with a pesticide before being imported into the UK. Unfortunately, the pesticides used can be fatal to shrimp, as it affects their ability to mount, so I experienced a gradual die off, with more and more passing every day.

Since that tank was contaminated and I couldn't trust anything in it, I was only able to save my colony by setting them up in a brand new tank, with nothing taken form the old tank besides the shrimp themselves. So new substrate, plants only from shrimp safe sources like Tropica or ones grown in-vitro, and hardscape and filter that hadn't been used in the contaminated tank.

Since the set up was brand new, I had to be careful to feed, but not overfeed, the shrimp, and kept a close eye on water quality as the tank cycled and got established algae for them to feed on. But after a few more losses once moving them, the rest of the colony bounced back and recovered. The pesticides didn't affect fish, so the fish in that tank were safe, and after reading around, it seems the pesticides most likely used do break down in water and in soil over time, but it was around three months before I was able to keep shrimp in that original tank again, and now I'm very careful about where I source my plants. With inverts, we have to be a lot more careful, since they're so sensitive, and many aquarium fish and plants are grown abroad because of how much more cheaply they can be produced there.

@Essjay is pretty knowledgeable about this, and helped me through my own disaster!

I would add that I was unable to use the offending plants and just had to throw them away. Even after a week of floating them in a bucket outside and frequently changing the water, whatever it was that was causing the issue was very persistent and the same thing happened when I reintroduced just a couple of stems.

Ugh that is terrible I'm sorry that happened to you. Makes me so scared to buy plants now! I feel awful. But oh well, you live and you learn

 

[Essjay]

Another alternative is to buy only in vitro plants as these are grown in a laboratory under sterile conditions and have no chemicals on them, nor snails or any other pests/diseases.

In vitro plants do not have these issues This site has a video explaining in vitro plants.

plantit! In-Vitro Plants - Dennerle Plants

dennerleplants.com