So far so good, Dandyman. Still got the 8 shrimp. Doing daily 10% (2L) water changes with RO water remineralised with Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ and pH is steady at 7.8. Will check the KH again when I've been using the GH/KH+ for a week and then every week to see how much it's improved. Will probably take a full month to get from 1.2 to the 3.5 I'm aiming for.
Added the cholla log back in and am contemplating trying the banana leaves again (no boiling this time!). The nitrate readings are 5 ppm using Salifert and 10 using API - I think I trust Salifert more. You have to be so brutal with the API one to get the reagents to mix properly but good to have it as a back-up I guess. Also I'm not very good at distinguishing the colours on API - with Salifert if it looks to be under 10 you can look thro the side of the container rather than from the top and compare colours then divide the result by 10 for the correct reading - a double check.
Does anyone else add leaf litter and if so what's the best way to prepare it?
Won some Shrimp King food in a competition and I'm trying that out this week too. They eventually got to trying it out, but I think they love the snowflake best. It's tempting to put it in frequently just to see them swarming all over it, but am trying to stick to twice a week at most.
Added the cholla log back in and am contemplating trying the banana leaves again (no boiling this time!). The nitrate readings are 5 ppm using Salifert and 10 using API - I think I trust Salifert more. You have to be so brutal with the API one to get the reagents to mix properly but good to have it as a back-up I guess. Also I'm not very good at distinguishing the colours on API - with Salifert if it looks to be under 10 you can look thro the side of the container rather than from the top and compare colours then divide the result by 10 for the correct reading - a double check.
Does anyone else add leaf litter and if so what's the best way to prepare it?
Won some Shrimp King food in a competition and I'm trying that out this week too. They eventually got to trying it out, but I think they love the snowflake best. It's tempting to put it in frequently just to see them swarming all over it, but am trying to stick to twice a week at most.
awesome have you noticed any change in the behaviour of your shrimp since using RO water in the WC?
also isn't that salifert test supposed to be for saltwater aquariums would this not change the result, even tho the API test kit is supposedly the best but i too find it difficult to distinguish the values like 10 and 20 are the same colour
dose not help.
also isn't that salifert test supposed to be for saltwater aquariums would this not change the result, even tho the API test kit is supposedly the best but i too find it difficult to distinguish the values like 10 and 20 are the same colour
dose not help. I'm not at all keen on colour comparison tests unless they have quite distinct colours. If I've got to use the API one I tend to do a dilution test to get a more accurate idea of what it is.
I believe that nearly all the Salifert ones apart from pH are also suitable for freshwater. There are a few other exceptions but the ones I use are ok for F/W. I still use API for ammonia, pH and nitrite, but it's the nitrate one that really is the bug-bear.
Souirce: http
/www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=531779
The shrimp do seem to be more active after each water change but whether that's due to RO water or just freshened water I'm not sure. The only time I was concerned for them was when I did that massive 35% w/c and only had Salty Shrimp GH and ended up with a pH crash. Things seem better since I got the SS GH/KH+ and only exchange 10% at a time.
I believe that nearly all the Salifert ones apart from pH are also suitable for freshwater. There are a few other exceptions but the ones I use are ok for F/W. I still use API for ammonia, pH and nitrite, but it's the nitrate one that really is the bug-bear.
Souirce: http
/www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=531779The shrimp do seem to be more active after each water change but whether that's due to RO water or just freshened water I'm not sure. The only time I was concerned for them was when I did that massive 35% w/c and only had Salty Shrimp GH and ended up with a pH crash. Things seem better since I got the SS GH/KH+ and only exchange 10% at a time.
Seems like I spoke too soon in my last post - just found Marvel dead this evening
. Seemed ok earlier on today, but clearly can't have been. Despite being a blue shrimp she was pink when dead.
Water tests were ok. Ammonia 0, nitrate 5, GH 9, KH 2.8 (which surprised me at this stage)
So there are 7 shrimp - all white pearls in there now.
Water tests were ok. Ammonia 0, nitrate 5, GH 9, KH 2.8 (which surprised me at this stage)
So there are 7 shrimp - all white pearls in there now.
I wonder what caused this. Have all the white pearls being fine out of interest did you say? In terms of numbers... Perhaps they are more hardy then the blue Neocaridina species. So sad to hear this though. Devastating.
I do feel quite sad as she was one of my first Neos and the only blue one to survive my ignorance when I first got them. She wasn't an old shrimp at all - only 1 cm when I got her 3 months ago. I don't know if the pH crash I caused at the beginning of this month had anything to do with it. I lost 4 of the white pearls around that time altho on checking my records 2 of them actually died before the pH crash so I don't know if the other 2 deaths were linked to that or not.
I've noticed that the GH has decreased slowly over the last couple of weeks since I've been using RO water and GH/KH+. It used to be 11 then 10 a week ago and 9 today so not rapid drops by any means. Still aiming for around 250 TDS. The only thing that has changed dramatically that I wasn't expecting is the KH but I don't think that there's a need to match KH levels. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong there.
I've noticed that the GH has decreased slowly over the last couple of weeks since I've been using RO water and GH/KH+. It used to be 11 then 10 a week ago and 9 today so not rapid drops by any means. Still aiming for around 250 TDS. The only thing that has changed dramatically that I wasn't expecting is the KH but I don't think that there's a need to match KH levels. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong there.
There's something going on in the shrimp tank that I just can't pin down. Found another shrimp dead this morning.
Am going to stop the daily 10% water changes and keep an eye on the parameters. Glad I didn't put any leaf litter in there or I'd be thinking it was that.
There's been a suggestion that it could be a bacterial infection as the tail was opaque. If that's the case how on earth do you treat a bacterial infection in shrimp?
I have some Interpet Anti-fungus and Finrot treatment which is phenoxyethanol. I know that they can't have tx with copper in it but not sure about this one.
Better go and do some research>>>>>>>>>
Am going to stop the daily 10% water changes and keep an eye on the parameters. Glad I didn't put any leaf litter in there or I'd be thinking it was that.
There's been a suggestion that it could be a bacterial infection as the tail was opaque. If that's the case how on earth do you treat a bacterial infection in shrimp?
I have some Interpet Anti-fungus and Finrot treatment which is phenoxyethanol. I know that they can't have tx with copper in it but not sure about this one.
Better go and do some research>>>>>>>>>
You would think that with your tank it would be easy to pin-point. However a smaller tank just seems to make it even harder!
When my increase in nitrite happened I was like, is it the dead plants, was it one of the fish before even though removing them, the snails, big piles of dirt in the gravel which hadn't being picked up?
Can't believe you are down to 6. It seems you have a great period then suddenly a drop in numbers. I suppose you are doing the right thing by cutting down on 10% daily changes as that is one thing which you have ruled out as the cause then.
When my increase in nitrite happened I was like, is it the dead plants, was it one of the fish before even though removing them, the snails, big piles of dirt in the gravel which hadn't being picked up?
Can't believe you are down to 6. It seems you have a great period then suddenly a drop in numbers. I suppose you are doing the right thing by cutting down on 10% daily changes as that is one thing which you have ruled out as the cause then.
I think maybe I picked the wrong sort of shrimp to start with. Not the easy cherries I thought they were at all altho they are still Neocaridinas - just palmata (which used to be zhangjiajiensis) not the usual davidi (which used to be heteropoda). (Wish they'd stop mucking about with names - whoever they might be!)
I can't fathom it really - it's almost like I start to relax with them and then bam! They go a do something like that! Wish I knew what was causing it.
@Dandyman - one reason I've stopped the water changes is because the KH is almost what I wanted it to be (3+) so in theory the only thing that should have changed from the daily water changes is the stability of the pH. The pH level itself never seems to vary tbh, altho it did do that sudden drop when i first tried RO water. I can only assume that the event stressed them somehow and that in turn maybe left them open to bacterial infection.
Have sent a picture to the breeder and am hoping he can tell me if it is likely to be bacterial - he did warn me to look out for mottled colours. Waiting to hear from him as I don't want to add something else to the equation if it's not necessary.
This is what one or two of the ones that have died look like for a few days prior to dying.
I can't fathom it really - it's almost like I start to relax with them and then bam! They go a do something like that! Wish I knew what was causing it.
@Dandyman - one reason I've stopped the water changes is because the KH is almost what I wanted it to be (3+) so in theory the only thing that should have changed from the daily water changes is the stability of the pH. The pH level itself never seems to vary tbh, altho it did do that sudden drop when i first tried RO water. I can only assume that the event stressed them somehow and that in turn maybe left them open to bacterial infection.
Have sent a picture to the breeder and am hoping he can tell me if it is likely to be bacterial - he did warn me to look out for mottled colours. Waiting to hear from him as I don't want to add something else to the equation if it's not necessary.
This is what one or two of the ones that have died look like for a few days prior to dying.
hmm that white patch is that reflection from camera or not? that may be a problem with malting? i saw a post on fb of something looking similar and people said it was a mult gone wrong :s not sure tho ive never seen that before my self such a shame i loved the blue shrinp in your tank
The white stripe looks like it's in the gut to be honest. I don't think they are having problems moulting as there are exoskeletons all over the place with new ones appearing almost every day.
I'm tending towards bacterial infection induced by stress due to my own actions
Will see what the breeder thinks when he replies.
I'm tending towards bacterial infection induced by stress due to my own actions
I was doing 10% daily w/c to get some KH in there but not too quickly - nitrates are checked almost daily - haven't checked today and I haven't done a w/c since Sunday. It was 5 ppm last night.
Got an email this morning from the breeder and he says:
Hi Ros, that doesn't look like bacterial infection from the picture.
Normally if it is a bacterial infection it will turn the whole shrimp milky white.
There is no cure for bacterial infection, this is the down side of keeping the cherry family as they are prone to this.
And you are correct the shrimp can spread it to other shrimp. But if the immune system is high of the shrimp they will either not catch it, or they will get rid of the infection.
You need to feed your shrimp an immune booster all year round to combat the bacterial season, which normally happens when seasons change.
That's a relief altho it doesn't help solve the riddle of why they are dying.
Guess payday has got another purchase to cover now! BetaGlucan + Immunoglobulin is supposed to be a good immunity booster for shrimp These things are quite expensive on the main shrimp web-sites - so am off to trawl the cheaper sites like eBay and Amazon altho it's not always cheaper there. Fingers crossed!
Got an email this morning from the breeder and he says:
Hi Ros, that doesn't look like bacterial infection from the picture.
Normally if it is a bacterial infection it will turn the whole shrimp milky white.
There is no cure for bacterial infection, this is the down side of keeping the cherry family as they are prone to this.
And you are correct the shrimp can spread it to other shrimp. But if the immune system is high of the shrimp they will either not catch it, or they will get rid of the infection.
You need to feed your shrimp an immune booster all year round to combat the bacterial season, which normally happens when seasons change.
That's a relief altho it doesn't help solve the riddle of why they are dying.
Guess payday has got another purchase to cover now! BetaGlucan + Immunoglobulin is supposed to be a good immunity booster for shrimp These things are quite expensive on the main shrimp web-sites - so am off to trawl the cheaper sites like eBay and Amazon altho it's not always cheaper there. Fingers crossed!
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