Mysterious disappearances...

[rogierfvv]

Today is day 86 of my new 29G setup, increasingly heavily planted. At ca day 21 I added 6 Amano Shrimp, of which 5 seem to have made it, at least I never was able to count more than five at once after the first two weeks.

(Note: Can't figure out why I can't insert a pic from Google Photos here...)

In about the fifth week I added 5 pygmy cories that had came from a smaller tank. They too are very adept at hiding from time to time, but most of the time I could count them, with some patience. Funnily enough they always seemed to behave as 4 + 1. At one time I thought the 1 might have died, but then I saw him again. Now, the last few days, with water conditions seemingly better than ever (nitrate at 15 ppm without even a water change this week), I only see the one cory, not the other 4. There appears to have been a slight spike in ammonia (measuring 0.25 PPM today, after 0.0 a week ago). Maybe I have indeed had some casualties, for they've never been able to hide for days...

Not sure what this might be. They should be about a year and a half old just now...

For now I'm just watching and learning, but a single pygmy cory is going to get lonely without his pals...

[Carl]

I seriously doubt ammonia had anything to do with this as .25 or even .5 is not deadly at based on my experience

What is the answer is the mystery, but I would rule out ammonia.

Cory Catfish do seem to have a knack of disappearing.
I would check in the substrate or better, under any decorations.

I would also watch the activities of your lone survivor to see if he/she is acting abnormally

As for the picture, these can be attached directly from your computer/device via the add attachment feature (upper left) we pay Proboards a monthly fee for or you can use insert/image button that is the 7th from the right (which has to be a hosted url such as Google would use). You can also old school add pictures using your hosted url image with standard BBCode tags (which is what I often do)

Carl

[rogierfvv]

nope, my suspicion was not ammonia as the cause, but ammonia as the possible effect of a dead body that I was not finding... but I'll keep watching. These little guys are very good at hiding sometimes...


That was the pic. I could insert it from my blog, but not from google photos directly...

[Carl]

Beautiful tank Rogier!


Carl

[childofiam]

May 7, 2016 11:38:58 GMT -5 rogierfvv said:

Today is day 86 of my new 29G setup, increasingly heavily planted. At ca day 21 I added 6 Amano Shrimp, of which 5 seem to have made it, at least I never was able to count more than five at once after the first two weeks.

(Note: Can't figure out why I can't insert a pic from Google Photos here...)

In about the fifth week I added 5 pygmy cories that had came from a smaller tank. They too are very adept at hiding from time to time, but most of the time I could count them, with some patience. Funnily enough they always seemed to behave as 4 + 1. At one time I thought the 1 might have died, but then I saw him again. Now, the last few days, with water conditions seemingly better than ever (nitrate at 15 ppm without even a water change this week), I only see the one cory, not the other 4. There appears to have been a slight spike in ammonia (measuring 0.25 PPM today, after 0.0 a week ago). Maybe I have indeed had some casualties, for they've never been able to hide for days...

Not sure what this might be. They should be about a year and a half old just now...

For now I'm just watching and learning, but a single pygmy cory is going to get lonely without his pals...

Are you using AAP Seachem Stability? I have used other products to reenforce my bio but the bacteria in other products die out over a very short period of time and I would see this kind of NH3 level rise to .25-.50. AAP Seachem Stability is a much better bacteria for your tank and since I started to use it the NH3 stays at 0. I do, at the first of every month, replenish the bacteria in my tanks with regular doses.

Richard

[rogierfvv]

Yes, I've used Seachem Stability on this tank. Another few days have gone by, and those cories have fairly well disappeared, I am sure. They can hide, but not that long. No clue what hit them, but for now I am happy with the shrimp, and will be looking to do some more inverts, and grow out my plants... All in all, there's only one left of the five. Curiously, they always behaved as 4 + 1, and I think the one that is left is the one that was always off on his own. He would only occasionally fall in line with the school. About 2 weeks ago I saw some funny behavior out of the corner of my eye, and thought there might be mating going on, but it was not repeated/continued when I watched. It'll be curious to see how long that lone ranger survives... meanwhile I am now setting up a new 10G tank, following more closely the Matt Owens book An Alternative Aquarium: A robust habitat. It is going to be the new residence for my now 2 year old betta, and my 5 gallon is going to become an invert refugium.

[rogierfvv]

as of right now, I think my reading of 0.25 ppm ammonia was wrong - misreading my API test. My Seachem alert keeps saying safe, and my last API ammo test, which I now do weekly seemed to say 0. All in all this tank is doing very well, with just some amanos, a betta, and my last remaining pygmy cory. Readings yesterday came out to ammo 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 ppm...
The plants are clearly starting to take care of the nitrates. Here's the list of plants:

Amazon Swords
Marimo Balls
Wisteria
Flame Moss
Micro Swords
Java Fern
Java Moss
Corkscrew val
Soft (Tropical) Hornwort
Crypt Wendtii

Of which only the Java Moss seems to have a hard time catching on, the rest are doing OK. Still in no hurry to add more fish, but at some point I will for this is becoming a very healthy tank. However, I first want to create a permanent residence for my betta in my new 10G tank, and then I want to add a more interesting variety of fish to this tank.