Shrimp cube to be....

[Garnelchen]

Hi Guys

So here is my little 30 L cube that hopefully will be home to some yellow cherrie shrimp soon.

My water parameters are:

pH: 6.5

GH: 30 ppm

KH: 0 ppm

NO2: 1 ppm

NO3: 20 ppm

The tank has been running for 5 or 6 weeks now (only plants and snails) but the pH has been moving around a bit (down) and lately the bladder snails in the tank have been dying.

I used to have a rock in the tank as well, but took it out to make more room for the plants to grow. Maybe could that be an explanation for the pH going down and the snails dying?

What do you think? Looking forward to your advice and suggestions.

Thanks!

[ineke]

Hi,

Lovely set up the plants look really nice. I can't help with your problem sorry but I'm sure someone will give you a heads up soon . Hope you enjoy the forum

cheers

ineke:encouragement:

[OzShrimp]

Nice lookin cube, did you test the rock before you had it in the tank as it is quiet possible that it was buffering the ph higher?

[Squiggle]

What's you ammonia level? It looks like your cycle is going, the nitrate level should be 0ppm & you want to get your nitrates down a bit, water changes will do this, no more than 10-20% a day :encouragement:

[Garnelchen]

Oh no! More dead snails this morning. :sorrow: I was quite fond of them.

No...I never tested the rock...I just put it in there because it was pretty. :redface-new: But it was in there right from the beginning and so were the snails and they were thriving. I took the rock out about 2 weeks ago...and I think that is pretty much when the snails started disappearing.

I haven't got a test for ammonia yet. It is ordered and hopefully will arrive today. I tested nitrate on friday and it was around 20 ppm. I did a small water change friday and yesterday and also upped the pH to 6.5 using Bicarb of soda. I thought that it might be a good idea because this would also increase the KH and GH of the water.

Why does this have to be difficult even BEFORE I have any shrimp! :sour:

[ineke]

Just be happy this is happening before you have shrimp so you can work it out without losing them!

I'm sure that with the help of the forum you will work your way through it.

Cheers

Ineke

[BlueBolts]

Be great if you can do a complete WP test of your tap and tank water, and perhaps bring it down to your LFS, just to re-confirm your test kit is 100%..

Snails are sensitive to PH swings, so you'll need to elaborate how you're adding the bicarb soda, and how much etc..... If you're adding like 1/3 of a teaspoon with you water chnage in your cube, that maybe the reason why your snails are dying ? Any additive and or changes to the WP, NEEDS to be done slowly.

As ineke said, good to go through these issues now, before the shrimps arrive...:-)

[Garnelchen]

Yes, I guess you're right. I am VERY happy that this is happening before I have shrimp.

But having a water test done is not easy where I live.

Next pet shop is an hour's drive away and I am not even sure if the do water tests there...

The snails started dying before a added any Bicarb.

I only did it for the first time yesterday. I roughly added 0.15 g to my tank (net water amount is 17 L) =

I dissolved 1/2 Teaspoon in 1 liter Water and then added about 100 ml of that solution.

Should I put the rock back in?

I also will get some new snails from the creek in our paddock.

The pH in there is slightly alkaline (7.5) but the snails had been happily living and multiplying in my tank at pH 6.5 for several weeks before I noticed them starting to disappear.

[Garnelchen]

I just saw my very favourite snail (yes I have a favourite snail :redface-new:) is still alive.

It's a yellow one ( maybe a ramshorn snail?) that just "grew" in my tank. Maybe it came in with the plants.

Hang in there little snail!:encouragement:

[BlueBolts]

Should I put the rock back in?

I'd say leave the rock out, and find out whats causing these issues, so that you/we can learn from it, and determine the actual cause. The danger with using tap water is that there's a number of unknown issues, i.e. copper etc, which snails/shrimps are sensitive too. If you're interested, you can send me your tank & tap water, and I can do a complete test for you... copper...etc. PM me if you want this done.

Thanks

[Garnelchen]

NH3 and NO3 test kits have just arrived and I tested my tank water.

ammonia: 0 ppm

nitrite: 0 ppm

ph 7 (has gone up from 6.5 yesterday)

[Squiggle]

If your ammonia & nitrites are zero & your getting nitrates then you tank has cycled, I think the snails are struggling because of the fluctuating ph as BB said, keep an eye on your WP for a few days & see if anything moves dramatically. If the snails are still dying then chances are the shrimp will too :encouragement:

[mr_c265]

If i was you, personally, i'd be adding Bicarb until the KH is around 20-40ppm at least. Anything. Your GH is only about 2 degrees as well, so a CaCO3 source wouldn't hurt i.e crushed coral, shell grit, oysters.

Whoops just saw your last post: Did you retest KH?

[Garnelchen]

Hi Chris

No, I haven't retested KH.

I haven't got a test for that. Bluebolts is doing a full analysis for me at the moment (when the samples get there).

I need a lab! :dejection:

[mr_c265]

I forgot to mention before:

NH3 and NO3 test kits have just arrived and I tested my tank water.ammonia: 0 ppmnitrite: 0 ppmph 7 (has gone up from 6.5 yesterday)

NO3 is nitrate, NO2 is nitrite, which one did you measure? if nitrite is 0 ammonia 0, its cycled, if nitrate is 0, ammonia 0, it hasn't started yet. A full test set should only be around $100 i think, thats how much mine has cost and i have a few that you won't need that are for my planted tanks.BB! HURRY UP! kidding :P I wouldn't mind a full spectro lab for my fish, really want to find out what the hell is in some of those substrate additives. I'd like to see my professors face if i used the nuclear spectrometer at uni for shrimp stuff, hehehe.

[jrc693]

it could of been the rock that caused the fluctuations, put a bit of vinegar on it and if it fizzles then you know it was doing something to the water

[torface]

it could of been the rock that caused the fluctuations' date=' put a bit of vinegar on it and if it fizzles then you know it was doing something to the water[/quote']

Rocks that don't fizz can affect the water quality too!

[Garnelchen]

I forgot to mention before:

NO3 is nitrate' date=' NO2 is nitrite, which one did you measure? if nitrite is 0 ammonia 0, its cycled, if nitrate is 0, ammonia 0, it hasn't started yet.

A full test set should only be around $100 i think, thats how much mine has cost and i have a few that you won't need that are for my planted tanks.

BB! HURRY UP! kidding :P

I wouldn't mind a full spectro lab for my fish, really want to find out what the hell is in some of those substrate additives. I'd like to see my professors face if i used the nuclear spectrometer at uni for shrimp stuff, hehehe.[/quote']

Yeah...of course YOU had pick up on that, Chris. I measured nitrite NO2 (NO3 was a typo)

I send the samples to BB just before Easter, that probably was not the best idea. :o I didn't think about all those public holidays coming up.

Why can't you run samples through the nuclear spectrometer at uni. Just pretend it's something related to your work. :congratulatory:

[mr_c265]

They are a little touchy about people playing with the small scale nuclear reactors, best keep my hands off :p

Plus to be technical, there is no speciation in Neutron Absorbtion Spectroscopy, i would get back a nitrogen reading and have no idea if it was nitrates, nitrites, ammonia.

Would then have to go to through the Gas Chromatography labs, at that point i'd quietly think to myself, those test kits i have at home are a lot less work.

Hahahaha, wouldn't be much good if i let typos go would i?! Once you hear back from BB it should be all clear! Thats pretty exciting!

[torface]

I have access to an XRF if anyone ever wants anything analysed with that :P

[Garnelchen]

They are a little touchy about people playing with the small scale nuclear reactors' date=' best keep my hands off :p

Plus to be technical, there is no speciation in Neutron Absorbtion Spectroscopy, i would get back a nitrogen reading and have no idea if it was nitrates, nitrites, ammonia.

Would then have to go to through the Gas Chromatography labs, at that point i'd quietly think to myself, those test kits i have at home are a lot less work.

Hahahaha, wouldn't be much good if i let typos go would i?! Once you hear back from BB it should be all clear! Thats pretty exciting![/quote']

Home test kits might be easier but instrumental analytics is WAYYYY cooler!

Why can't you play with small nuclear reactors at uni? They just won't let you have any fun. :p

[Garnelchen]

So, it's one week today that i have had my yellow cherries and so far everything is going well.

The last two days, everybody seems to have shed their skins (REALLY this time :o) and "Garnella" (the big saddled female) seems to be popular with the boys at the moment.

Unfortunately my water samples never made it to BB's house (stupid Australia Post) but my pH has stabilized after I started adding Bicarb with my water changes.

Still, my test strips indicate that the GH and KH are pretty low....somewhere between 0 and 3 for both.

While I understand that this is not ideal for the cherry shrimp, they don't seem to mind. :)

So i'm thinking that I leave my tank water as it is at the moment and maybe get a few CRS for my tank as well. :anonymous:

In other exiting news: This morning I have discovered a third snail species in my tank. I know, not everybody likes snails but I really do.

On the downside I am fighting lots of annoying hair algae growing in my tank, plucking it out with tweezers. Any suggestions how to get rid of that stuff? :confused:

"Snaily and friends" are doing the best they can to eat the algae but they just can't keep up.

[Squiggle]

That's awesome news Garnelchen, so glad everything worked out for you :applause: I you are going to get some CRS I recommend starting with the lower grades as they are more tolerant to water conditions. I am also fighting a loosing battle with some hairy algae, someone gave me a great idea of using a toothbrush & twirling the algae around it, it's not ideal & doesn't remove all of it but it;s helping get it under control until I can get some algae eating shrimp. You might want to turn the lights back a bit too, if you've got the lights on all day it wont be helping control the algae :encouragement:

[Garnelchen]

Hello Squiggle

Yes, I am very happy with my little shrimpies! :)

The only downside is that yellow shrimp are a bit hard to spot in between all the plants.

Definitely would not go for any high grade shrimp at the moment until I am a bit more experienced with my shrimp keeping skills. so anything looking red and stripy will do. ;)

Thanks for the tip with the toothbrush. Sounds good and I will try that later today. The stupid algae are so hard to grap with tweezers. :stupid:

Oh yes, and I problably should cut down on the light too (But then I can't see my shrimp :sorrow:)

[OzShrimp]

i used to have alto of BBA, green algae and once hair algae. I was running my lights for like 8 hours a day and not dosing ferts. to combat it i started using excel and had a blackout on my tank for 2-3 days. Now i run my lights alot less still dose ferts ebeing seachem comprehensive once a week half dose and seachem flourish 1-2 times a week