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I agree finding 15mm or 16mm fittings is a pain. I soften 16mm hose with hot water and they slip onto the 19mm irrigation barb pieces fine with a bit of twisting. Removing it though would be near impossible after it cools off. Read this from somewhere and have been doing this since without any issues. Something you might like to consider? Hope this helps.

i have finally gotten around to kicking off a > 50% waterchange tonight, i'll see how i go i guess. the pH has been staying neutral so far as i can tell which is one thing I'm glad about. And i haven't seen any more deaths. :-) Will have more of an update in the next few days for sure. Thanks again Ben! love n peace will

Very nice, well done.

@Disciple You certainly deserve a mention mate! Thanks and inspiration make things happen. ?? @NoGi Please don't even joke about it!! Lol! I don't need anymore ideas!

Thanks @noGi They are called Leopard Endlers and a kind of guppy. They are quite active and unagressive towards shrimp as well as add a lot of colour to the tank. Apparently they are also easy to breed but I wouldn't know having only 5 males.;)

I am always much less precise in the science of things so Fishmosy's information is much more informed. My tanks receive 6-8 of artificial light and are mature tanks with plenty of plants , moss and large surface areas of glass for biofilm to grow naturally . I often trim my moss and place it in ice cream containers in a well lit area by a window which only gets early morning sun. I leave it covered in tank water for 2-3 days and if I put it into a tank the shrimp will graze on it for quite a while. My shrimp are fussy eaters when it comes to commercial foods so I would have to say the biofilm in the tanks reproduces quickly enough to keep them well fed. My tanks all have 20 - 30 shrimp maybe up to 50 and are only 24" tanks. Remember biofilm grows on all surfaces in the tank including the substrate so given the right light and good water conditions most of our tanks should produce enough for our shrimp. But they always like any plant or moss that has been out of the tank for a while so I guess as Ben said different conditions grow different biofilm. i have kept moss in glass jars with a piece of muslin or a chux as a lid to prevent bugs getting in and allowing air in and the moss has grown reasonably well just getting the morning sun . I do change the water 2-3 times a week in the jars so I don't know how much that affects the biofilm but the moss does multiply well. However I still think it grows just as quickly in the tank.

I just double checked the water parameters that I measured in Short creek. TDS was 21, GH and KH less than 20ppm and 10ppm respectively - i.e. the levels couldn't be measured. A 50% water change with RO should drop your TDS to roughly 40 (from 80) so I would start there. Don't add any remineralising salts/buffers or any other products. That should reduce the bacterial count in the water substantially. Just make sure the RO is at the same temperature as the tank water and its probably best to feed it into the tank over a couple of hours after removing half the water from the tank. I would make smaller daily (or every 2nd day) water changes after that to reduce TDS to at least 30 and hold it there. Hopefully that will help the shrimp to be less stressed. Another thing you could do is to add a few IAL leaves. I'm not 100% sure about this as I've never done it with sick natives, but there are reports it helps with bacterial infections in exotic shrimp. If desperate, i.e. you continue to lose shrimp, I'd go for broke and try it. Another antibacterial remedy that has worked with fish is honey. Honey has a natural antibacterial agent in it, but be warned using in your tank will almost certainly kill all the bacteria in your filter, leading to a crash and obviously create more problems. Best to use it in a hospital tank or perhaps in short baths. There should be recipes online for fish but I would use it at a much lower dosage rate for shrimp (at most 1/4, and I'd probably start at around 1/10). Finally if you happen to have access to them (though its pretty much impossible to get them without a script from a vet) antibiotics can clear up bacterial infections in shrimp according to what I've read from overseas keepers who have easy access to them. Don't ask me which antibiotics or dosage rates as I don't know.

Love those fish. What is that pattern called?

Hahaha! I'm a little way off a rack. Maybe just one more tank..... thanks for the compliment, I have a long way to go with planted tanks, especially coming from large fish and cichlids.

This is a new addition I got on the weekend. Dont tell my wife. I hope he will help improve the future generations in section one. I had to twist the sellers arm into making him availiable unfortunately my photography equipment and skills do not do him justice. I also believe he is still acclimatizing to the new tank but very happy with the colour.