Shrimp In Planted Tank With Fertilizers

[hakova]

Hi guys,

I just finished cycling my 10 gallon tank, which is heavily planted with lots of light and CO2. I will add some ghost shrimp (~10) at the weekend. I may be using fertilizers for the plants according to the EI protocol. Specifically, it involves addition of a fertilizer, termed as CSM+B three times a week, which consists 0.1% copper (chelated). Now I know shrimp are very sensitive to Cu containing medications, but I also know that many people grow shrimp in heavily planted tanks. I am thinking that at least some of these people are using fertilizers, including CSM+B. I am guessing this should be OK but I don't want to assume things and be wrong, because the shrimp then will pay the price .

What do you recommend? Do you think using CSM+B in a planted tank with shrimp is OK?

And please excuse my ignorance if this is a well-known situation.

 

[saltynay]

Ferts and shrimp is fine if your adding the CO2 in liquid form there may be an issue. Ghost shrimp is a generic name for many species of shrimp coming from a lot of different environment (Marine and freshwater aswell as other factors) some ghost shrimp are very aggressive inhabitants and grow to a large size others are peaceful and friendly, give us a few more details so that we can ID.

 

[hakova]

I am supplying CO2 in the gas form but was thinking of supplementing some more with the liquid form, too. Would you recommend against it? Right now I have a drop checker which looks green (about 30 ppm CO2 I presume), but I have a lot of light (4.8 w/g) and until I can lower it a little bit, I was going to add some Fluorish Excel daily.

I will go to the LFS and see if I can get more info about the "ghost shrimp" they have. I don't know if this helps but I think they keep those as live feeders.

 

[saltynay]

If there feeds then its highly probable they are machrobrachium sp. which only some species can be kept in a 10 gallon and 10 would be overcrowding. Some people have had deaths from using liquid carbon some have been absolutely fine its not a direct link but it is an issue to be aware of atleast. Machrobrachium can be nasty pieces of work aswell but most are just oppurtunistic fiends with relatively large claws.

 

[mcgrimes]

Id recommend you do more research into your specific fertilizer, search on google, forums etc and find peoples experiences. There could be something other than copper in which is toxic to shrimp. Also, be aware that the presence of CO2 alters water chemistry, my focus being PH.

 

[hakova]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys. I really appreciate your help.

@saltynay: Will it help if I take the pictures of the shrimp at Pet Smart and post them here, to ID the particular shrimp they sell? Unless of course they could tell me the species, which I highly doubt :roll: . I don't want to get anything nasty in my tank and I will order some red cherry shrimp from ebay if that is the case.

@mcgrimes: It is a heavily planted tank with pH=6.0 or lower at the moment. The biofilter works great, processing even 6.0 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours to zero ammonia and zero nitrite. I believe (and surely hope) that presence of plants will help with balancing the water chemistry. That particular fertilizer (CSM+B) mostly contains trace elements but since I have read shrimp being very sensitive to copper, I just wanted to clarify the issue here. Thanks for the suggestion, I will search online to see if any other ingredients listed have reported effects on shrimp.

 

[saltynay]

Yeah take some pictures and we will give it a try its easy to identify whether it will be atyid or a larger species of shrimp whilst they are small although differentiating larger species such as machrobrachium from peaceful paleomenetes is a challenge as most of their colouration is lacking.

 

[hakova]

Turned out that the ghost shrimp the local Pet Smart has was of Paleomonetes sp., so I bought 5 of them as a start. It is tough to see them around all the plants and shells though. I guess this is the point, right? I would like to do a "head count" every now and then though, to make sure that they are alive and doing well. If you have any tips about how to make this easier, I will appreciate that.

 

[saltynay]

Paleomonetes are generally a very good clawed shrimp to begin your initiation as they are non-aggressive mostly although there are mixed reports which personally I think are down to misidentification with machrobrachium.

http/www.petshrimp.com/amazonglassshrimp.html
http/www.petshrimp.com/glassshrimp.html