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Hammy

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Okay so the ammonia test came and I’ve just done it and I’m happy I have 0ppm possibly just on the 0.25ppm so should I still add some of Dr Tim’s one and only. I don’t see why not but I shall wait until I hear from you guys, iv got to go back to work but I’ll do a ph,gh and kh when I’m back I was also thinking of doing a small water change/top up. D421FF23-9B3D-4DE1-A446-0603C5BA1779.jpeg.39be3dae68194c0faa7aca4e782a5c45.jpeg

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9 hours ago, Hammy said:

I have 0ppm possibly just on the 0.25ppm so should I still add some of Dr Tim’s one and only.

Yeah, looks close to 0.

It doesn't hurt to add the One and Only. You can go with recommended dose.

Did you do any of the water changes I recommended prior to this?

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Yeah But only about 30% water change and that was it. I needed it to rain to do some more, so today I got some distilled water to top up the tank to the right level because it’s been really hot here and absolutely no rain. This year’s weather has just been different 

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1 hour ago, Hammy said:

But only about 30% water change

Okay. That's good.

don't forget, you will NEED to do a water change after planaria treatment is used. That is to prevent build up of ammonia when the planaria/nematode/hydra die out.

Edited by jayc
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How long after I use it. I’ll do ammonia tests but just so I have an idea. 

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54 minutes ago, Hammy said:

How long after I use it.

I gave you instructions in your "Not sure" post.

2 days after the first treatment. No more than 3 days at the max.

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You will need to do a large water change (approx 50%) after the treatment I am sending as well, it should be done 1 week after treatment. Treatment is really easy, you just put some tank water in the bag, shake it to dissolve, pour it in the tank and that is it. You should not do any water changes during the treatment week! You probably could do a smaller water change if you only have a few hydra, rather than an infestation! Always add new water slowly!

Don't mix the different treatments though, just use which ever you get first and I am sure that will be sufficient to do the job!

I use this filter jug with tap water for my shrimp tank, it produces virtually RO water. The filter does me nearly a year so it may be worth you having it as a backup. The filter does 100L water for me (will vary with different water) and so it should last longeer I expect for you as your water is softer and you won't be using it all the time;

https://zerowater.co.uk/pages/shop

They also sell them at some supermarkets and ocado, I think morrisons also, but direct through post from importer would probably suit you better? Other makes of jug will not produce RO water like this one!

How are you getting on with the vorticello treatments? Do you still have 10 shrimp?

Just keep an eye on the shrimps and check ammonia every so often and IF they start acting differently, but you may already have the tank cycled sufficiently by now? Look forward to hearing the other test results!

Simon  

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I’m down to 8 I know that the 9th one died of a bacterial infection as it turned orange and I lost one yesterday morning no signs just found it standing there and i couldn’t see it moving so I took my tweezers to nudge it and it just fell over, that one I don’t know why or how, it honestly looked same as it did when I got it. I’m scanning my tank everyday for any more signs of hydra or anything and not found or seen anything since that once. All my other shrimp are looking good and swimming around sifting through everything that they get there little claws on. I was going to try and take a picture of each one to see if you guys could see anything if you don’t mind that is. I’ve discovered how to change my picture file size so I can send pics again lol 

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I have just done your letter with the treatment so that is ready to go next time someone comes, probably sunday though!

The photo you sent me of the female shrimp, she has eggs in her saddle (I zoomed in) and looks very healthy so hopefully she will help you restock!  Early days yet with her though!

Your tank hasn't been going long enough to get an infestation of hydra so that shouldn't really be an issue beyong next week when you treat it!

Try to get photos of under 1mb as I 'beelieve' that to be the file size limit? Try one first as you can then add the others by editing the post.

All shrimp go pink in the flesh when they die (like cooked prawns) so sometimes that can be misleading, ie that one you thought had a bacterial infection, may not!. Similar with the eggs, they are usually yellow but through the blue shell will probably look greenish, when they develope they usually go grey as the yolk in each is used up! I'm not sure if there is any obvious signs when a shrimp dies from ammonia poisoning/affects, I suspect not, maybe JayC knows?

Even if you are now on top of everything and the tank looks settled, as JayC pointed out, the shrimp could be sick or weakened so they may still die occasionally, fingers crossed though that that won't happen after all the hard work you are putting in. Shrimps need stable conditions though so don't go too mad with changing/trying different things etc as that may make things worse!

Simon

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No physical noticeable signs for ammonia poisoning with shrimps.

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Thanks Simon and yeah I don’t change the water unless you guys have suggested it or if the tank needs a little topping up after testing or evaporation. So last night I put a little dose of the Dr Tim into the tank so I turned the filter off so that it could settle down and not be filtered out anyway I left it off during the night and I couldn’t believe the amount of little worms floating around in the tank one big one on the glass I was able to get a picture. So I can’t wait to get the treatment from Simon or my order when it comes DB03626C-EA9E-4FAE-84C4-9A42D380A6DC.thumb.jpeg.4dcada2120208978319b5040e0b97ce7.jpeg

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I obviously don’t know because it’s so small  but by the way it moves it reminds me of a leach. If I ever buy plants from eBay I’ll be making sure that they get an alkaline bath first and then rinsed off 

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Just remembered that I took a picture of the one I thought died of bacterial the night before it was blue but hardly moving at about 4 am I got up had a little look and it was still alive but the same hardly moving around 9am I got a call from my partner saying that it was on its side and it was turning colour when I got back for lunch I snapped a picture to show you guys but forgot to send 

75FFA8D4-3A17-4298-BE42-1A7743BAFAB7.jpeg.c44c757acd88f67a9758cc097e2cfe00.jpeg.fb26c3e7ee9690926fb84ef3bacc2079.jpeg

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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Glad you managed to get pictures attached now! That shrimp probably was a bacterial infection or something as that isn't a normal death! I had lots look like that though when my tank overheated because of a heater stuck on???

You could probably have left the filter running, that is normally where you get the most bacteria growing anyway.

The worms are probably just detritus worms and nothing to worry about, I doubt there is any tank without them when using soil substrate. The treatment I am sending, and the panaria zero won't probably kill those worms. I have had large patches of them in the past, it may be a sign you are overfeeding? They were more likely in the substrate rather than the plants.

When you top up for evaporation use pure rain (ro) water without gh/kh+, otherwise you will get a rise/build up in tds, evaporation is purely water and the tds are left in tht tank.

Simon

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So after a thorough search of all the shrimp I don’t think that I’ve been able to stop the vorticela reason I say this is I have found two that are showing new signs could only get this two shots the rest just didn’t show anything the red one had one tiny tiny little white hair between the nose so I’ve gotten them all together and given them a 1 minute salt bath I hope that was the right thing to do. I still have them in a cup floating in the tank and I’ll try taking some pictures of them all tomorrow. I’ll give them follow up baths unless advised otherwise 79D5C870-5D27-4315-A0AE-244DE81DE1FF.jpeg.02ce9aec8f045bf113e8b272bf3335b5.jpeg4BFD25C9-E592-4DC0-80A6-7DB386881B97.jpeg.9fb012ab67883f02e00e32a56cca57c6.jpeg

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Just keep treating the ones with it, that is all you can do, and you should get there in the end! It often takes a few treatments but at least it isn't a difficult treatment to administer.

Simon

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Just remembered that we were talking about the water evaporation and putting fresh water in. Well I just thought what is the danger level of to much mineral and what can result other than death 

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9 hours ago, Hammy said:

what is the danger level of to much mineral and what can result other than death 

That's what the TDS meter measures. Dissolved Solids.

The recommended range for Neocaridina is 150-200. Some people say the upper limit is 300, but I like to keep things at a tighter range. 

The problem with TDS measurements is that it doesn't tell you what mineral is building up. However, in an aquarium, we can make a good assumption that Nitrates will be building up. 

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As JayC states, you don't know what makes up the TDS figure. As you know what is going into the water is balanced for the shrimps health with GH/KH+ that gives you a good starting point, though there will be some things over time that get used up and others that build up. I think JayC has recommended to me that a very large water change once a year or so should be done to bring everything back into line as after a long period the tds figure of the tank may be right but not have the ideal proportions of everything that makes up that total figure.

Yesterday I did my betta tank, I like to keep that at about tds240, the tank was tds253, so the replacement water (20%) I mixed at tds175 and that should bring it back to near the tds240 I want. As it has been fairly cool down here the last week some of the tds build up will have been due to evaporation I expect! 

TDS is the easiest parameter to use generally as a tds pen is cheap and quick to use, but it does only give you a rough idea, however most people find that sufficient for the normal running of the aquarium, especially when using a pre-prepared product like GH/KH+ with RO water which will give you the right PH, GH, KH balance anyway, unless something else in the tank is altering any of those (ie rocks can alter PH etc)! I then test everything generally every few months or so. 

Cherry shrimp are quite adaptable and strong so adapt quite well, so you shouldn't need to worry about tds in general, just choose a figure, say 175 (mid JayC figure) and aim for that and you should be fine as that gives you a sufficient buffer each side of that figure for any fluctuations due to evaporation etc.

My old(est) neglected fish tank has hundreds of cherry shrimp (90% boring/wild now) and they have lived happily in that tank at about tds225 for years! I also have some of those same shrimps in the betta tank as well, which, as mentioned, is around tds240!

Simon

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So just done checks and my ph is 7.21 and my TDS is 208 so I’ll bring it down just a little bit next time I need to do a change and the Ammonia is 0 so I’m happy the shrimp seem happy. Also I wanted to ask do the shrimp start off as one colour and as they age then turn another. Reason I ask is I contacted the seller when I bought them to say that one has turned red he then said it would change blue in a couple weeks. I just wanted to know if that’s true or not here is a picture of the so called blue dream 807BB955-52C6-410A-9E5B-DDAAF38F2E65.jpeg.be2522e71b52ec9ad99ada8e1e7b003e.jpeg

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I don't think that shrimp will go blue, it looks like a lovelly red, maybe a bloody mary! It is true that the colour fades in transit and then colour up after a few weeks, but I doubt they change colour! You will need to decide whether to keep it with the blues at some point as if it breeds with them it will speed up their reverting to wild type, boring clear or browns? Even both parents being blue you will need to cull off poor quality shrimps to keep the overall colours good. I would leave the red one in there for now though!

Those parameters look good and I am pleased to hear the shrimps seem to be doing well at the moment.

Simon

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Thanks Simon I don’t think it’s going to change either when it arrived it was extremely light blue almost see through but definitely had a blue colour to it then after 24 hours it turned this cherry red. I didn’t mind because it actually stood out more against the almost black substrate. Once im more confident and comfortable I’m going to get another tank one to keep the good coloured ones in one and the other for those not so colourful I just have to decide what colour shrimp I want to go and stick with. 

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Hey guys been a few days just thought I’d check in say hi and to let you know that I lost another shrimp the red one absolutely no indication of anything then yesterday morning it was not moving. On a happier note the zero planaria I had ordered arrived yesterday so I have added the recommended amount and now just waiting I can see a couple of hydra on a corner of the tank what should happen. ie die and fall off the glass or just die and then start to vanish/disappear. My ammonia test was 0 ppm yesterday so I’m going to check again just now 

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Also do you know/think if shrimp are able to  tell colour reason I ask is if I put a jug or something in the tank yes they will take a swim around ect but they have never stayed well I have a little jug with a blue rubber rim on the bottom after two minutes of sitting it in the tank three shrimp swam to it and just stayed holding it they aren’t feeding they are just resting and every little while they will go about the tank eating and then return to the blue rim. So I think I’ll try a little experiment with some different colour options and see what results I get to what colour they prefer. 

Edited by Hammy
Deleted the picture sorry
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