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Berried Female Mortality


Unagi42

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How much water do you change and what is the temp difference between the two waters? Best to change small amounts gradually over a longer period than large amounts or suddenly. Keeping fish and prawns together looks great but can be stressful for the percieved prey. Shrimps in the presence of potential predators such as fish and other large shrimps often delay their moulting which then leads to complications. Providing lots of hiding places for the moulting victims is an option but if you want succesful breeding then best to do them in isolation from fish. Hang in there!

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38 minutes ago, jayc said:

20% is on the high side.

Cut it back to 10% (or 10L-12L) weekly.

 

Great, I will do this. 

Learning as I go! Thanks

37 minutes ago, Matuva said:

I have about the same size of tank. Did you put new water or did you refill with the old water after your move?

Have you any informations about your TDS, No2 and No3 levels? If they are in range, I think you can change less and less frequently.

I saved about 75% of the old tank water as I put it in drums and transported with the stock and plants. The other 25% was taken out at the last moment, with a light gravel vac to get heaps of random gunk from the top of the aquasoil and ditched on the lawn. I took the opportunity to give the tank a good clean.

When I set it up at the new house, I put in the 75% of old tank water, and put in 25% new water. Didn't have any more water drums to save any new water and after discussing the move on this forum, another forum and Subscape Aquariums in Richmond, I am under the impression that saving about 75% of the old tank water was a good way to do it. 

 

No info on TDS, sorry.

13 minutes ago, ura said:

How much water do you change and what is the temp difference between the two waters? Best to change small amounts gradually over a longer period than large amounts or suddenly. Keeping fish and prawns together looks great but can be stressful for the percieved prey. Shrimps in the presence of potential predators such as fish and other large shrimps often delay their moulting which then leads to complications. Providing lots of hiding places for the moulting victims is an option but if you want succesful breeding then best to do them in isolation from fish. Hang in there!

Understand the point of fish and shrimp together. I am not looking to breed with any real intention. More looking at creating a more natural, enjoyable eco-system. I do have plenty of plant cover, and the fish and shrimp co-exist pretty well. The shrimp are happy to zoom around to their hearts content whether the lights be on or off. 

 

I currently change about 20-25L (in the range of 20%) weekly. Water temp is similar. The new water added sits next to the tank in a drum aging so both tank and water are always room temp.

For reference, my tank and the level of planting/cover for the shrimp is here:

PHOTO_20151114_085757.jpg.3fa7c0cb1021cc

Edited by DemonCat
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50 minutes ago, DemonCat said:

The other 25% was taken out at the last moment, with a light gravel vac to get heaps of random gunk from the top of the aquasoil and ditched on the lawn.

If you had to do it again some other time. I would recommend doing it the other way round.

Save 75% of the water WITH the gunk vacuumed from the substrate and ditch the rest of the water.

There will be a ton more beneficial bacteria in that gunk than there would have been free floating in the water column.

Yes, the new tank will look dirty for the first 30 minutes, but the new tank would essentially have been flooded with beneficial bacteria and no risk of a mini cycle.

 

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Sure, I will take that on board for next time, although I hopefully will not be moving any time soon!!! There was more than enough gunk in the saved water I hope, as I disturbed a fair bit removing the rocks and plants out before siphoning the water. 

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Blah - found another shrimp dead yesterday in the java moss. 

Starting to be a bit of an issue... Really unsure of what it could be. The good thing is that I can now let the tank settle and will not be moving house or playing around with it any time soon. Hopefully much less stress for all the guys and girls in the tank.

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I am a bit over cautious and always drip my waterchange water back into the tank over a few hours. Limits chance of shock and stress. 

Sorry to to hear of these deaths, it's one of the most frustrating parts of the hobby. 

I personally only waterchange around 10% at a time, if that. 

Hope to hear things settle down for you soon.

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On ‎25‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎11‎:‎21‎:‎52‎, larrymull said:

speaking of water changes and adding RO water with salty shrimp back in to the tank for a water change, is there a guideline for how much salty shrimp you should add in to meet current tank TDS

I was thinking if someone tried to match the TDS of say 150 in the tank and had the same TDS of 150 in the water change, this would obviously lead to a much higher TDS when the water change has been added and severely stress the shrimp?

Thoughts?

When adding two liquids with equal concentrations of minerals, the amount of minerals in the two liquids are averaged regardless of the amount of the liquids added together. so if you have TDS 150 in the tank and the water being added to the tank is also 150, then the TDS of the water stays at 150 after the water change.

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1 hour ago, newbreed said:

I am a bit over cautious and always drip my waterchange water back into the tank over a few hours. Limits chance of shock and stress. 

Sorry to to hear of these deaths, it's one of the most frustrating parts of the hobby. 

I personally only waterchange around 10% at a time, if that. 

Hope to hear things settle down for you soon.

Yeah I was doing 20% changes, but pulled that right back now... How do you do your drip? As I have an internal filter I do not want part of it to be above the water line, thus killing off the BB. Or would that not be an issue?

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On 30 November 2015 3:14:26 pm, DemonCat said:

Yeah I was doing 20% changes, but pulled that right back now... How do you do your drip? As I have an internal filter I do not want part of it to be above the water line, thus killing off the BB. Or would that not be an issue?

Definitely better to keep the internal filter power head submerged. If you can't move the internal filter to a lower level then you are probably best doing the change how you are currently doing it.

For my water changes I use a bucket of new water with an airline and tap. I just set it so it drops in slowly over time. I have the luxury of being able to leave it overnight.

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My understanding is that most internal filters have the pump at the top and the filter media at the bottom. It wont hurt if the pump is exposed during water changes, assuming you turn it off so it doesn't overheat.

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Thanks for the info @fishmosy and @newbreed

Whilst on the topic of internal filters, I have the fluval U3 which has a venturi system, therefore whilst its submerged, the top part of the filter is right on the waterline so the venturi system can access the air.

Thus, when I take water out, the top 10% - 20% or so of the filter and water outlet is above the water line.

I always turn the filter off when I do a water change as I am unsure whether the top bit can be above the water line... and it does not exactly say in the instruction book!!

Ha - I feel like such a newbie. 

Attached image is from the instruction bit... so from what I gather from the highlighted image and text is that i have to have it off when the waterline is below the water outlet (which it is when I have taken out water)

 

 

 

 

filter bit.PNG

Edited by DemonCat
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The only reason the filter has to sit like that is because of the Venturi. The venturi let's air in to the water outlet.

If you want to submerge it further, and avoid the filter being exposed during water changes you can attach an air hose to the venturi and valve to allow the venturi to sit outside the water.

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2 hours ago, jayc said:

The only reason the filter has to sit like that is because of the Venturi. The venturi let's air in to the water outlet.

If you want to submerge it further, and avoid the filter being exposed during water changes you can attach an air hose to the venturi and valve to allow the venturi to sit outside the water.

....

I am an adult, and have a steady job. My job is to problem solve policy issues and property development issues. I pride myself on my problem solving ability in this regard.

Yet, I couldn't think of investing in a simple air hose to fix all of my problems. 

I am such a plonker. 

 

Thanks @jayc!!!

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@DemonCat Sometimes we get so lost in the overall it is very easy to miss very small details. As @jayc mentioned. A small section of tubing can make a big difference, especially in this situation. 

Thats where it's great to be able to openly share problems/issues here, someone will have a solution! 

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I was overseas not too long ago, my friend had my 60L hex at his place. When I brought it back to mine, I found dead shrimps once a day. I tested the water and my nitrates were at 80ppm. I did three 25% water changes in two days, each taking a few hours. I use a suction cup hook at the level I want to stop draining, put an airline on the hook and suck out the water and let it out in my floor drain. When done, I do the same in reverse, I let the new water siphon in.
Nothing moves in the tank so the stock isn't stressed by constant movement, and a 15L changeover takes around 3 hours, if not more (never timed it), so there's no shock either. I haven't lost another shrimp since (about 3 weeks).
 

Edited by FMuscle
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Interesting @FMuscle when you say nothing is moving do you also mean there is no water current from the filter outlet?

I think you are onto something for my situation.

I cleaned the filter the other day and there was a fresh moult around an hour later.

I guess having a tiny tank means a higher sensitivity to everything.

So much for small tank small worries.[emoji15]

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No, I mean there is no unusual movements. My sponge filter creates some water movement. but that's 24/7 so no stress possible from that. The only thing I do is stick a tube on the hook, and pull it out when done. I don't even have to get my hand wet, unless I change the amount I want to remove, i.e. the height of the hook. I also monitor and switch to the bucket just before the siphon breaks, so the siphon will simply change direction as I lift the bucket above the tank.

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Dry hands @Fmuscle?! [emoji50] Sounds too good to be true. Do you take bookings?[emoji12]

Thanks for the further explanation.

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Melbourne? only in summer. :5565bf0371061_D:
It is virtually true. that's if you don't mind a hook on your glass, I have a peg holding my air line in the bucket, I just leave physics to do their jobs. 

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And I now have at least 5 (that I can see, probably more) shrimplettes no more than 3-4mm long I can see dashing around the tank, teasing the fish. 

How quickly things change from mortality to life!

So excited about the babies! Woo!

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And I now have at least 5 (that I can see, probably more) shrimplettes no more than 3-4mm long I can see dashing around the tank, teasing the fish. 

How quickly things change from mortality to life!

So excited about the babies! Woo!

Glad to hear.

Sounds similar to my situation with most of the adults gone the juvies are everywhere.

So did you find out what your problem was in the end? Do you reckon it was water changes?

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23 hours ago, Unagi42 said:

 

Glad to hear.

Sounds similar to my situation with most of the adults gone the juvies are everywhere.

So did you find out what your problem was in the end? Do you reckon it was water changes?

Yeah I think it was. Have been more careful of late with my water changes (amount and time taken) and have not had any deaths. 

Fingers crossed.

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