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CRS, Dying,berried,moulting, all at the same time, CONFUSED


doctr-dan

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Its very hard to understand CRS, currently Im loosing one a day of all sizes and ages, at the same time others are moulting perfectly fine and others are getting berried.

???????????

Its like something is wrong but something is right at the same time.....

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can you provide some water parameters? so the pro's can see what is wrong:encouragement:

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Check your nitrates...has there been new additions to the tanks ? As this can cause a rise in your nitrates...nitrates seem to affect the older shrimp initially, before working through the tank. Post up your water parameters, and list of any changes /additions you've done, and hopefully the forum would be able to identify the issues....

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Sounds exactly like what im going throught doctor dan. Like BB said check your nitrate. When i check mine, it was 20+ ppm (API test kit). Im doing very small amount of water changes every day to reduce it. Also feeding them less now. As BB and honcho suggested to me, you can aslo use API Nitrazorb (spelling). I will be getting that tomorrow to help lower the nitrate level as the level is still high in my tank. Good luck Dan.

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I've lost a couple more since I started this thread.

Ive tested the parameters this morning.

Nitrate 0

Nitrite 0

kh3-4

gh 10-11

ph 6-6.5

ammonia 0 I think, it might be a touch higher I find it very hard to differentiate the colours sometimes

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Hi Dan, crazy frustrating huh ! KH (ideal 0-1) and GH (ideal 3-5) high for CRS. Any other influences, water change, fluctuations in WP......often hear of unknown deaths occurring this time of the year through spring cleaning ! Insecticides ????

Do you use RO water, there's always a risk of using tap water... One of the major reason why so many breeders start with RO water is so that they can eliminates external factors and control what goes into the water...

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Hi Dan' date=' crazy frustrating huh ! KH (ideal 0-1) and GH (ideal 3-5) high for CRS. Any other influences, water change, fluctuations in WP......often hear of unknown deaths occurring this time of the year through spring cleaning ! Insecticides ????

Do you use RO water, there's always a risk of using tap water... One of the major reason why so many breeders start with RO water is so that they can eliminates external factors and control what goes into the water...[/quote']

So my gh is very high , how do I get that down?

I don't think there are any other influences, no spring cleaning etc, I do top ups daily with a 50-50 RO and tap water mix.

Should I change to straight RO water?

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If you already have access to RO, then definitely go for 100% RO, and use salty shrimp to replace minerals. This at least eliminates the potential issue of contaminated water..ensure atleast the water temp matches.... On the next level/step, then matching TDS/Ec would also assist.

Good luck

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agree with blue bolt. the gh is too high and crs prefer 4-6gh. best to perform small water changes with ro water and the bee mix but do it slowly! i personally do a 10-15 percent water change every 10 to 14 days.

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Rather than just changing the water to bring the GH down, I'd first look at why the GH is so high in the first place.

Until you work out whats causing the GH to rise, each time you change the water it's just gonna rise again. You'd be treating the symptom and not the cause.

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well said triggs. fix the problem first!! what rocks do you have in the tank? i had some rocks in one of my tanks that increased the GH to around the same as yours. also the 50/50 tap/RO could be creating a lack of needed minerals?

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well said triggs. fix the problem first!! what rocks do you have in the tank? i had some rocks in one of my tanks that increased the GH to around the same as yours. also the 50/50 tap/RO could be creating a lack of needed minerals?

Whats in the tank,

Benibachi mineral balls

Up aqua shrimp sand

driftwood

goldvine

java fern

bolbitus

subwasertang

I tied the java fern to the driftwood with cotton.

Theres noodles in the hob.

So I don't know what would be raising the gh.

I add benibachi mineral powder every now and then.

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Up aqua shrimp sand hasn't caused the problems ??? I say this because have heard of a lot of stories about it stop buffering etc

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Up aqua shrimp sand hasn't caused the problems ??? I say this because have heard of a lot of stories about it stop buffering etc

Nah it's not the Shrimp Sand. Been running it now for near on 12 months and my GH & KH have never changed in the slightest. The only thing SS buffers is pH.

I think it's more the mineral powder, in conjunction with mineral balls, and if you use an additive for the RO water also. All 3 things together could be causing a rise in GH. Minerals are essential yes, But only the right amount. Too much isn't a good thing.

It could also be noodles, I've read stories of cheap noodles causing all sorts of strange things.

However, I'd personally be looking at all the minerals you're adding first. There really is no need to have so much.

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These issues sound familiar. Is your HOB an AquaClear by any chance?

If so I originally had similar issues when I added the noodles that came with my AquaClear 110 to my canister to drive my chiller. Within a couple of days the GH went from 5 to 12, KH from 0 to 6 but the PH stayed the same due to the buffering from the UP Aqua Shrimp sand.

I started losing some high grades one every day or two. When I removed the noodles and replaced them with sintered glass noodles the WP stayed the same but after a few water changes 10 - 15 days apart they dropped back to where they were originally. The few shrimp i had left stopped dying for a few weeks then it started again, I tested the WP and the PH was over well over 7. It seems the buffering capacity of the Shrimp sand had run out most likely due to it fighting the PH rise from the AquaClear branded noodles.

After reading around a bit I found that some noodles may have contained some crushed coral to buffer the PH. I remember them having a chalky powdery feeling to them, which was different to any of the other noodles I had used before.

Hopefully what happened to me in the past might help you .

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I've recently read articles about noodles causing rises in GH too ..... great thread to highlighting this potential and issue...well done to everyone !

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@ triggs, I think I have 3 benibachi mineral balls in the 30cm cube. I add the mineral powder every now an then and only a little spoon of it. I think I will convert to straight RO with the salty bee powder.

@ trav funnily enough it is a aqua clear job but it's got aqua one noodles in it from memory, but they too had a chalky feeling about them too.

I wonder if the noodles are fine for a while and then slowly start to raise the gh as they get older?

If I was to remove the noodles straight away and maybe just put some wool in there would that cause a major spike?

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My issues didn't stop till the WP dropped back to normal. Before you pull out the noodles maybe seed some new stuff, your LFS should have sintered glass noodles or balls/pearls like the Eheim Substrate Pro pearls or rings. Hang a bag full under the HOB so the water falls over the bag of new media.

Maybe someone else has a good quick way to seed the new filter material.

Good luck :)

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I checked the noodles and they are out of a second hand ehiem I had laying around at the time.

So I can't be sure what they are.

I have another tank in the garage that definatly has sintered glass noodles in it so I might steal some from that.

The tank in the garage isn't a great concern so is there any reason why I could do a swap and replace the noodles in the aqua clear with the garage noodles as they are seeded so I wouldn't need to slowly introduce them or anything would I?

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To be honest I'm not to sure. Someone else with more experience might be able to assist a little more.

I already had a filter running on my tank, it was the second filter that caused the issue so it was easy to solve without causing any issues to the bacteria colonies.

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I still say it's the minerals you're adding.

Salty bee will raise GH.

benibachi mineral balls will raise GH.

The mineral powder will raise GH.

I just think the mixture of all of them togther, Plus the GH of your tap water is what is causing your GH to rise so much.

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Another death this morning.

I tested the tank again and the gh is up at about 9. I've been using a 50-50 RO tap water mix for this tank.

I then tested another tank I have which I have only been using tap water in and it came in at about 12.

I then made a mix of salty bee and RO and tested it which came in at 5.

So I'm thinking it may be my tap water that's causing the high gh.

I thought it might be a idea to switch to RO and salty bee only and then that will at least rule out the water being a issue. I will also take out the mineral balls.

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RO plus SaltyShrimp Bee minerals with set GH 6. It's a better way to manage your tank water for sure. Remember to change over slowly though. Like 10-15% per fortnight.

You should to a full test on tap only water just to confirm it is GH 12 and not something both tanks have issues with.

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Tested the tap water it came in at 9ish. So it's possible that there is something else causing it to rise as well.

The tank I have in the garage only has some cherries etc in it that I can take out an put in another tank. Could I then do a 100% water change with RO and salty bee to determine if there is anything else in the tank that is causing the rise?

My only concern is will the 100% water change cause a mini cycle? Or kill any of th bacteria in the filter?

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