Shrimp Problems

[Devlin H]

Ya I had 2 harlequins die off and one porkchop but I did not medicate that was over a month ago and the rest of the fish are all good. And that is a good piece of advice I will not use ferts and get a different bucket I am just using a 5 gallon from home depo

 

[Devlin H]

I have not tested for copper I do not have a copper test

 

[Colin_T]

See if your pet shop can test the water for copper. If they can't, then contact a pet shop that deals with marine fish and corals, and see if they do copper tests. If you can't test it, then see if they have a copper test kit for sale. Most pet shops sell copper test kits but they can be expensive and after you have tested the water, you might not have any copper in the water.

If you do buy any test kits, check the expiry date before you buy it.

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If the bucket you bought has not been used for anything but the fish tank, it should be fine regardless of where you bought it from. But if the bucket has been used for anything except the fish, then get a new one and use a permanent marker to write "FISH ONLY" on it. Keep that bucket with the fish keeping gear (nets, gravel cleaner, sponge, etc) next to the aquarium, and don't let anyone else use it for anything.

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Make sure there are no fumes in the room. Stuff like hair spray, perfume, deodorant, cigarette smoke, paint, air fresheners, etc can all cause problems to fish and shrimp.

Make sure you don't have any cream, grease, perfume, oil, soap residue or disinfectant soap residue on your hands or arms when working on the tank. Rinse hands and arms with water only before doing water changes or working in the tank.

 

[Devlin H]

Ya it's only been used for fish and I was thinking about getting into salt water as well so it might just be a good idea to get the test kit

 

[Colin_T]

You normally only need to check the copper levels a couple of times a year and that is to make sure you don't have copper leaching into the water.

If you plan on keeping corals and marine invertebrates (star fish, sea anemones, shrimp, crabs, etc) then you can get a copper test kit if you like, but if you only plan on keeping marine fish (without invertebrates) then I would try to find a pet shop that tests it for you.

With marine aquariums, you can use tap water mixed with artificial marine salts, or you can use reverse osmosis (R/O), distilled water, or rain water (but only if clean) with artificial marine salts, or you can collect natural sea water from the ocean (if you live close to a beach and it is not polluted).

Some tap water has lots of nitrates and phosphates in and if this is the case, you should use R/O water or try to prefilter the tap water to remove the nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Devlin H]

Thanks for all the advice and ya definitely will have star fish crabs etc I have a local marine shop that supplies free RO water as much as you need and sells salt water per gallon for cheap and I was told j only need to get salt water at the beginning then just top off with RO water unless I do a water change ofcorse

 

[NickAu]

or you can collect natural sea water from the ocean (if you live close to a beach and it is not polluted).

And what else are you introducing into the tank? Its not as simple as that.

When mixing artificial salt water using RO/DI-purified water and a quality sea salt mix, all you have to do is make sure the basic parameters—specific gravity, temperature, pH, etc.—are in the correct ranges before using it in your aquarium.

Natural sea water, on the other hand, tends to require a lot more pretreatment before it’s safe to use in aquariums because of the dissolved organics and planktonic life it often contains. This typically involves filtering the water through a micron filter sock at the time of collection to eliminate as much debris and plankton as possible. Then, processing of the water usually continues once the hobbyist gets it home in order to render it safe for aquarium use. This might involve one or more of the following steps:

• Storing the water in a dark container for at least a few weeks to allow any remaining plankton to die off and settle to the bottom, and to allow bacteria time to consume any dissolved organics
• Running the water through an ultraviolet sterilizer to kill off any parasites or disease-causing microorganisms
• Treating the water with chlorine to kill off any life form, followed by the use of a dechlorinator

Of course, after that, it’s still necessary to test and possibly adjust all the critical water parameters to make sure they match the parameters in your aquarium.

http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/challenges-of-collecting-natural-sea-water-for-marine-aquarium-2751/

 

[Colin_T]

And what else are you introducing into the tank? Its not as simple as that.

Yes it is. I have been using natural seawater, straight out of the ocean since 1985 and never had any issues with it. I go to the beach when it is quiet (late at night or during the week) and fill up some 30 litre plastic water containers and put them in the car, then I splash about in the water for a bit before going home and using the water to do 90% water changes on the tanks. I drain the tanks and refill them with seawater straight from the ocean.

I have never had a disease outbreak in a marine tank caused by the natural sea water and in fact the only disease I ever had in marine tanks was whitespot caused by contaminated water that came from a pet shop when I bought a clown fish that decided to kick hell out of everything in the tank. The clownfish went back a couple of weeks later and the tank was treated and no more problems.

As for plankton, that is the best part of natural sea water. You get all sorts of things appear in a marine tank that uses natural sea water. You get different coloured coralline algae, tube worms, mysis shrimp and other types of shrimp, copepods, anemones and even different seaweeds (macro algae) like Caulerpa and Halimeda.

My marine tanks always had more biodiversity in them than any other marine tank I saw, and most of it was from plankton coming in with the natural seawater.

Most of the plankton that gets brought in gets eaten by the fish or filter feeders in the tank.

Every pet shop in Perth that sells marine fish, uses natural sea water in their tanks. Even shops that are 100km away from Perth use natural seawater from the supplier in Perth. The water comes from Fremantle and they simply pump it out of the ocean and run it through a course filter to remove seaweed, before taking it to the pet shop when they need it. The pet shops buy it 1000 litres at a time and use it straight away or put it in holding containers and use it over the next week.

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With a marine tank, you top it up with freshwater to compensate for the evaporation. If you have nitrates and phosphates in the tap water then use R/O water. If your tap water is free of nitrates and phosphates then dechlorinate some tap water and use that to top up the tank. You add freshwater to keep the salinity (salt level) stable.

If you have hard corals in the tank then you should monitor the calcium levels too and top them up as required. Regular water changes will help keep calcium levels good.

 

[NickAu]

I have been using natural seawater, straight out of the ocean since 1985 and never had any issues with it.

I have been smoking cigarettes since 1975 and never had any issues.

I know people who drink and drive and never had any issues ( Please note I do not drink at all )