Jump to content

planted tank question

ineke

By ineke
in General Questions/Discussions

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • HOF Member
Posted

/i have a very large densely planted shrimp tank that needs a bit of thinning out. The plants are mostly swords with a few stem plants- I also have mosses and java ferns but they are on driftwood. The plants are in a thick layer of benibachi substrate and have a very large root system. My question is if I uproot some of these plants while my large CRS colony is in the tank is it likely to cause an ammonia spike? Is there anything I can do to stop the adverse effect? I have just had several drops of Shrimplets and I don't really want to catch them out as they are so little but I really would like to take a few plants out. I always worry if the substrate is disturbed so if it's too risky I will have to wait until the breeding season is over- I missed the boat this time they started breeding before I got a chance to do a big clean out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jc12 Shrimp Lover

jc12

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have read that you could slowly pull the plant and expose 1-2 inches of the root (depending on size of plant) and snip it off there, and leave the rest of the roots in the substrate. I have wondered if the roots would rot and have an ammonia spike. Sorry I am not very helpful here but it seems to work for the person who posted his solution.

Personally I just did the same. Pulled out 40+ chain swords last weekend with 2-4 weeks old TB bubbas in the tank. Touch wood... so far so good without any obvious ill effects. Initially I pulled at it gently and not much got stirred up so I continued. I was taking a risk but the chain swords were hiding my shrimps from view. Overgrown chain swords are messy and I had to uproot some of them whole, some with trailing roots at around 30cm. Some I snipped the roots off. I left the canister and sponge filter running while I was doing it.

Good luck!

Edited by jc12
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • Author
  • HOF Member
Posted

Thank you. These are huge swords with very very large root systems so I wonder if I snip the roots will the plants still survive? I might try taking out the smaller ones and see how they go maybe if I only do a few at a time it might not cause too much trouble?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kizshrimp Shrimp Breeder

kizshrimp

Posted
Posted

The plants will survive no matter how much roots you remove Ineke but they will be set back a bit. Swords are super tough things and big ones will have plenty of energy stored to replace lost roots if necessary. They might drop some old leaves and the new ones might be small or distorted for a little while. 

Yes, cut roots left in the substrate will decompose and release their nutrient load to the environment. It might all be consumed in the substrate and never reach the water column. It might be dealt with by the filtration and never cause a spike. Or, it might all go wrong. Depends on the obvious factors. 

I think if you follow your instincts not to remove to many and not to make much mess you'll be fine. If you leave some swords behind they will probably suck up any excess very quickly. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
2OFUS Shrimp Master

2OFUS

Posted
Posted (edited)

We done this recently ! 

We had 2 monster crypts that had the biggest root system I have ever seen 

 

I got the mrs to hold the gravel vac rite at the base/soil as I slowly uprooted them ! 

she didn't gravel vac so to speak 

she just held the gravel vac as close to the root system as possible and sucked out all the black muddy stuff as it came out :) 

no amonia spike what so ever and we topped up the tank straight away :) 

 

the tank had roughly 100/150 adult and juvi Crs 

Not 1 death to date 

the 2 plants at the front left side are the ones we removed 

plants got much bigger 

this is a 12 month old pic 

Plant was removed 1 month ago

 

hope this helps :) 

goodluck 

image.jpg

Edited by 2OFUS
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • Author
  • HOF Member
Posted

Thanks Gary sounds encouraging.

This was the tank a few months ago but the plants have almost doubled in size and you can't see the substrate. They have grown right to the top of the water and are much fuller looking now so I really need to thin it out. I will give it a go tomorrow I think.

image.jpg

image.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
2OFUS Shrimp Master

2OFUS

Posted
Posted

WOWZA !!!!!!

If you try our method maybe get the hubby to pull the plants out very slowly whilst you control the gravel vac (you will know where to direct it better) 

and if you are worried about the tank occupants maybe catch out what you can and put them into a container/bucket and re drip them in later :) 

me and jess were EXTREMELY worried about removing our plants but she came up with this method and it worked a treat :) 

we also added an extra drop or 2/3 of prime 

  • Like 2
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
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Join Our Community!

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

  • Must Read SKF Articles

    Shrimp Disease and Treatment
    Tibee, Taitbee, Pinto, Mischling, F1, F2

  • Tropical Fish Forum
    Discus Breeding Guide
    Discus Disease and Treatment Guide

  • Posts

    • sdlTBfanUK
      Shrimp molting before eggs are hatched

      By sdlTBfanUK · Posted

      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
      Shrimp molting before eggs are hatched

      By beanbag · Posted

      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
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By ngoomie · Posted

      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
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By jayc · Posted

      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.
    • ngoomie
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By ngoomie · Posted

      Hello! I have a tank that currently does not contain shrimp, but does contain neon tetras which I am currently treating for Ich, as well as some bladder snails. Shrimp will be a later addition, likely cherry shrimp but I'm still doing research just to be sure. Initially I'd intended to buy some sort of Ich-fighting product that contains malachite green after doing a decent bit of research on it, most of which indicated that it should be shrimp-safe so I'd be good if I ever needed to use it again once shrimp were actually introduced (though I should note I'm aware shrimp can't get Ich, I'm more wondering in case the tetras could get Ich again, or something else that responds to similar medication). I ended up not being able to find any MG-containing products without either having to travel quite far or wait multiple days for delivery (which I was worried could lead the Ich to be fatal), and ended up picking up 'Top Fin Ick Remedy', a product that contains gentian violet which is a triarylmethane dye like malachite green. The bottle has two slightly differently worded warnings about its use with invertebrates ("not recommended for" and "not safe for" respectively), but when I'd been researching malachite green, I'd also heard of products that contain MG but not any other ingredients that would be harmful to inverts still being branded with warnings that they could be harmful, just as a "just-in-case" since the manufacturer didn't test it on any inverts, and I'm wondering if maybe it could be a similar situation here. I'm having a very very hard time finding information about gentian violet's use in fishkeeping at all though, it seems currently extremely uncommon. What I will say though is that I'm on day 2 of treating my tetras with it, and the bladder snails seem just fine -- in fact today I noticed what looked to be a bladder snail that appeared to be newly hatched (because of its size) that I hadn't seen before that was zipping around the tank without issue. But obviously, shrimp are not snails, and bladder snails are also notoriously hardy little guys, so what I'm seeing right now could easily be totally inapplicable to cherry shrimp. It might even be inapplicable to other species of snails, for all I know. Has anyone else here ever used anything that contains gentian violet in a tank that actually does contain shrimp? Were they okay, or should I make sure to not use it once shrimp are added?
×
×
  • Create New...