Jump to content

Holiday care


ineke

Recommended Posts

  • HOF Member

Well I knew the time would come but not so soon :( . We will be going away for about 2 months in July/August -at least I won't have to worry about hot weather. So what do you think minimum care could be for my tanks? I have 9 x 24" tanks running 2 sponge filters each. The shrimp in those are Cherries plus 2 with Crystals. Then there is 1 x 24" tank with TB/ TBM/Mischlings and Tibees that has an Eheim 2213 canister plus 2 sponge filters. Then a community tank Aqua One 980 with - at the moment - an overhead trickle filter and 4 sponge filters- I will be getting a canister for it before I go.

I can get my son to feed and do top ups but probably not water changes - I think I can get someone to come in to do some water changes but only a minimal number.

so what would be the longest I could let my tanks go with only water top ups? The shrimp would only get fed once a week with leaves and a set amount of dry food plus there will be IAL and barley pellets in there as well so there won't be excess food . Any thoughts /ideas would be welcome.

Pre going away water changes etc will be done so its just the number of water changes that will need to be done is the concern. No tanks will be heavily populated except the 980 but it will have a1200 lph canister with uv light plus the sponge filters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been experimenting on an 8L tank to see how long I can go without a WC before I get into trouble & with roughly 20+ shrimp in there, it's been about 3mths with only top ups, haven't had a death yet & they are still breeding. Food for thought. :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Besides top ups..looking for dead shrimps and getting them out is critical, as a tank can go backwoods very quickly with 1-2 death, then 3-4... Etc.....lots of leaves, filter clean, purigen etc....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

That sounds promising. If I can just get my son to feed and topup then there is no issue. I know I can get Eshrimp to come over if there is a problem - like dead shrimp- but he lives 1/2 an hour away and I don't want to impose un necessarily - although I know he would willing to come over anytime. At least that would be a back up if Bryan gets worried. I will have to get a stock of leaves ready in the freezer and bag up weekly food but that's all easy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

I'm still waiting for the shrimp crack to arrive and yes shameless Squiggs!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmmm, I sent all but Jamie's out on Monday, if it doesn't arrive on Monday or Tuesday I'll send you another one. :Scratch-Head:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

I wouldn't worry too much yet, I also haven't received the mulberry leaves that were sent out last week. SA post sux.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • ngoomie
      Alright, I've done a bit more research on gentian violet's cancer-causing potential but I haven't yet done research on malachite green's to compare. But from reading the California propositon 65 document about GV (North Americans incl. some Canadians will recognize this as the law that causes some products they buy to be labelled with "known to the state of California to cause cancer", including the exact product I bought) it seems that the risk of cancer is related to internal use, either injection or ingestion. Speaking of ingestion, I think GV bans mainly relate to its use in treating fish/shrimp/etc. which are intended for human consumption, because of the above. And in countries where GV isn't banned for this purpose, it does seem to get used on various species of shrimp without causing any issue for the shrimp themselves (at least enough so for shrimp farming purposes). See the following: In February, the FDA Began Rejecting Imported Shrimp for Gentian Violet and Chloramphenicol (2022 article by Southern Shrimp Alliance) FDA Starts New Calendar Year by Refusing Antibiotic-Contaminated Shrimp from Three BAP-Certified Indian Processors and Adding a BAP-Certified Vietnamese Processor to Import Alert (2024 article by Southern Shrimp Alliance) Southern Shrimp Alliance and some other organizations have tons of other articles in this vein, but I'd be here for a while and would end up writing an absolutely massive post if I were to link every instance I found of articles mentioning shrimp shipments with gentian violet and/or leucogentian violet registering as contaminants. That being said, I know shrimp farmed for consumption and dwarf shrimp are often somewhat distantly related (in fact, the one time a shrimp's species name is listed that I can see, it's the prawn sp. Macrobrachium rosenbergii, who at best occupies the same infraorder as Neocaridina davidi but nothing nearer), but this at least gives a slightly better way of guessing whether it will be safe for aquarium dwarf shrimp or not than my bladder snail anecdote from the OP.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      I would hazard a guess that perhaps those eggs were unfertilized and thereby unviable? Did the eggs change colour, usually yellow to grey as the yolks used up, or any eyes in the eggs. Is your water ok, using RO remineralised and the parameters in range, as I have heard others say that if the water isn't good it can 'force' a molt? How is it going overall, do you have a good size colony in the tank, you may have reached 'maximum occupancy' as a tank can only support so many occupants.
    • beanbag
      Hello folks,  The current problem I am having is that my Taiwan bee shrimp are molting before all their eggs have hatched.  Often the shrimp keep the eggs for 40+ days.  During that time, they lose about half or so, either due to dropping or duds or whatever.  Shortly before molting they look to have about a dozen left, and then they molt with about half a dozen eggs still on the shell.  Then the other shirmp will come and eat the shell.  These last few times, I have been getting around 0-3 surviving babies per batch.  I figure I can make the eggs hatch faster by raising the water temperature more (currently around 68F, which is already a few degrees higher than I used to keep it) or make the shrimp grow slower by feeding them less (protein).  Currently I feed Shrimp King complete every other day, and also a small dab of Shrimp Fit alternating days.  Maybe I can start alternating with more vegetable food like mulberry?  or just decrease the amount of food?
    • ngoomie
      Yeah, cancer risk was a thing I'd seen mentioned a lot when looking into gentian violet briefly. I kinda just figured it might only be as bad as the cancer risk of malachite green as well, but maybe I should look into it more. I've been doing a pretty good job of not getting it on my skin and also avoiding dunking my unprotected hands into the tank water while treating my fish at least, though. Maybe I'll just not use it once I'm done this course of medication anyways, because I know a store I can sometimes get to that's pretty distant carries both malachite green and methylene blue, and in pretty large quantities.
    • jayc
      Can't help you with Gentian Violet, sorry. It is banned in Australia violet for potential toxicity, and even possible cancer risks. I thought it was banned in Canada as well. At least, you now know why there isn't much info on gentian violet medication and it's use. But keep an eye on the snails after a week. If it affects the snails, it might not kill them immediately. So keep checking for up to a week. Much safer options out there. No point risking your own life over unsafe products.
×
×
  • Create New...