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Post by missdiane on Jul 16, 2013 13:59:30 GMT -5
thanks for the well-wishes! The new AC is in & I haven't lost any more pets. I now have the one female RCS who survived in the 5 gl. tank & amazingly 1 little male appeared in the 20 gl. Now they are together in the small, peaceful tank - keep your fingers crossed. next I'm looking at a possible relocation which would involve a 3 hour car trip. Not sure yet, but researching....
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Post by Carl on Jul 16, 2013 16:22:18 GMT -5
Carl
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Post by missdiane on Jul 17, 2013 10:38:19 GMT -5
Hi Carl! Of course with a possible move, I've now read MANY articles about moving. Of course I choose to use your method! Three questions - will the Methylne Blue harm invertebrates? Also, I'm not using ANY of the old tank water in the new set up, correct? Last, I've read about harmful gasses stirred up in the substrate. How do I prevent this? Should I vacumn gravel prior to removal? Thanks! As I said I don't know about the move yet, but have applied for a job at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in UT - if it's meant to be I suppose I'll be hired & head that way!
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jul 17, 2013 11:49:20 GMT -5
Hi there,
Methylene Blue can be harmful in higher doses. Even at the recommended treatment dose, it can be. At smaller doses, there should not be any problems. Carl has used a medicated wonder shells in tanks with shrimps and had no problem. They have a lower dose in them. Caution should still be used. I can't remember if you had a disease in your tank you are trying to completely get ride of. If you are looking to completely start your tank over, you wouldn't use the same water. If there is a disease you are looking to get rid of, starting with new water would be a good idea, but then you have to recycle the tank. If you are just changing water, after you vacuum out the water, put about half back in and half new water. Same if you are moving tanks. Remove about half the water and put have old water and half new water back in when we arrive at your new place. You can do a tank clean first with a vacuum and rinse the substrate with tap water. This would kill off any bad bacteria. This is if you are completely wanting to start over. If not, only clean and rinse about 1/3 of the substrate at a time. This is to maintain the nitrogen cycle of the tank.
Hope this helps.
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Post by missdiane on Aug 21, 2013 13:12:27 GMT -5
....well I've given up on the shrimp keeping. After treating with Kordon fungas , constantly verifying that the water parameters are perfect, got new AC in the apartment > temps consistent. A nice guy at the pet store gave me 10 RCS because he felt bad for my loss. After 1 week - ALL DEAD! All I can figure is that ferts. & flourish excel DO harm shrimp. This is the only thing I've added 7 only a very small amount > below the amount suggested on the botle. I added a little Excel on Thursday, a little Flourish on Saturday - on Sunday i had 2 very happy mystery snails & no shrimp.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Aug 21, 2013 17:35:41 GMT -5
Man, sorry to hear that. I guess I can understand it though. Depending on the Ferts and the amount used, it can adjust parameters. I wonder if that happened. Im going to talk to Carl when he gets back from vacation and see if we cant put some information together on the proper way to care for shrimp. There's got to be a trick we don't know about.
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Post by parker002 on Aug 22, 2013 10:52:32 GMT -5
Sorry to hear that you've given up. Not to sound crass but I'm honestly not surprised. My experience with shrimp was similar to yours - very frustrating.
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Post by missdiane on Aug 22, 2013 13:34:07 GMT -5
absolutely frustrating & sad. I had on RCS survivor when the AC died. Once I received the gift of 10 shrimp, it seemed like a fresh start. They were all lively, eating well, exploring for one week. Seemed odd that they all died in one day. Sure would like to have some info here on shrimp tanks. I've researched all over the net & can't find the answer
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Aug 23, 2013 11:42:55 GMT -5
Even more reason for us to put some information together!
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Post by missdiane on Aug 23, 2013 22:39:18 GMT -5
yep - these shrimp are not cheap & really I don't think they are as easy to keep as folks say.
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Post by Carl on Aug 26, 2013 11:45:56 GMT -5
I am far from a shrimp expert, rather I know more about aquatic chemistry, medication use, etc. for fish in particular What I do know is that the aldehydes present in Flourish Excel can be harmful to shrimp, although I have not performed actual controlled studies as I have with fish as per the affects of certain chemicals there on. An observation with the shrimp I kept which were primarily just ghost shrimp was that they were not a difficult "creature" to keep as long as water parameters were good, aldehydes & other chemicals were limited, etc., but I think RCS are more sensitive than ghost shrimp too. I would also note that even with ghost shrimp, some medications that are safe with inverts such as snails, are not safe with shrimp. An example would be Nitrofurazone (Furan 2) which I found out the "hard way" three decades ago when I used it in a tank with shrimp and most of the shrimp lost their legs and disintegrated. Carl
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Post by Suzie Q (Lori) on Aug 26, 2013 11:51:06 GMT -5
Hey guys...Started a new job and can't stay on my forums like I used to ((Thanks Carl for the email)). The ferts do hurt the shrimp. I have too had to start over with my shrimp, but due to poor care on my part (stress at the office my boss and I were at...we have now moved and I'm MUCH better ). I don't fert my shrimp tank, but if/when I do, I only use 1/2 the dose and use prime to remove the metals (Excel has copper? ). As far as the move...bag the shrimp up with something for them to hold on too. Vacuum the substrate very well, but make sure and leave enough water for the bacteria in the substrate not to die, but just enough not to splash out. Also make sure to keep the filter media wet. This will help to keep the tank from cycling again. I've shipped shrimp using 3 day priority and they were fine (of course I used special bags for that long of a trip). Your 3 hour drive, they will be fine in a regular bag. Hope this helps Lori
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Post by Suzie Q (Lori) on Aug 26, 2013 14:21:36 GMT -5
Hi Folks - wondering if someone can answer a question. I'm starting my first shrimp tank. It's been cycling & the new kids will arrive this week. Much research tells me that i should get a sponge filter & I plan to do this ASAP. However, to start I will have to use the whisper internal filter that came with the 5 gallon tank. There is no intake tube on this filter. It sits in the tank (HOB) and the water is taken up through the bottom. Will the shrimplets be sucked up in this as with other filters? Will it suffice to put a nylon stocking over the bottom? Help please. I've overspent already & can't buy another filter at this time. Thanks! Totally missed the beginning of this thread... What I did was use an old green net and cut it apart. Used it around the intake and tied it on with fishing line. Works great to keep the shrimp fry from being sucked up, but allowed most of the yuckies to get sucked through.
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Post by saw on Aug 26, 2013 16:10:36 GMT -5
One thing I read online not too long ago is that Seachem Reef Iodide can be used for shrimp that are having trouble shedding. It is necessary for the shrimp to shed when growing, if the shrimp is unable to shed its exoskeleton it will most likely die. I have not tested this out for myself, so I don't know how well this method works.
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Post by missdiane on Sept 1, 2013 16:26:26 GMT -5
CAN ANYONE FIGURE THIS OUT!!! I put 6 ghost shrimp in this tank to see what would happen. As u see above all shrimp have died here three different batches! Anyway, the same day I placed 3 ghost shrimp with 'Chance' the Betta (see other post Chance needs medical advice) Chances's tank is 2.5 gallon & is still running high on ammonia. ALL 3 GHOST SHRIMP ARE THRIVING. The 6 shrimp I put in my 'shrimp' tank' died after one day. the tank is 5 gallon, gravel bottom, various mosses, java fern, mopani wood, indian almond leaf, 2 mystery snails, 1 tiny nerite snail. Parameter have been the same for 3 months : 7.4 PH, 76 degrees, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, ,5 nitrate > really baffling!
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Post by Carl on Sept 1, 2013 18:55:41 GMT -5
One thought is these were weak or sick shrimp to begin with
Another is what were your GH and KH readings?
Carl
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Post by missdiane on Sept 1, 2013 23:23:19 GMT -5
sorry Carl! I'm out of test strips for that but I do recall that you answered me on an e-mail a while back - at that time, I had the gh & kh & you felt it was in a very good place. Originally I bought 20 RCS on aquabid > they were active & healthy in my 20 gallon. unfortunately my dojo loach kept eating them. that's when i started cycling the 5 gal. > when the water was perfect, I bought 10 orange-eyed blue tiger shrimp from an online company that is supposed to be well known for quality. Two days after adding them, I couldn't see many, then none. I moved 6 RCS to the 5 gal, along with 3 ghost shrimp who had lived a long while in the 20 gl. > all happy for 2 weeks, then the AC died and all but one RCS in the 20 gl died. I moved the survivor to the 5 gl. (so the dojo wouldn't eat her), planned to get more & start over when i had $. She lived happily for about 3 weeks when a guy I met gave me 10 of his RCS. All active & happy for 1 week, then all, including the survivor died in the same day. I waited another week & added the 6 ghost shrimp a few days ago to see what would happen. I added 3 from the same batch to my 2.5 gl. where I've got 'Chance', the Betta. After only a few dyas the shrimp in the 5 gl have all died in one day. the 5 gl. shrimp are happy & active. Apparantly, there is something wrong in the 5 gl. but I can't for the life of me figure it out.
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Post by Carl on Sept 2, 2013 10:16:52 GMT -5
While GH & KH likely are not the problem, it is important to know all current parameters when attempting to figure out a problem, as these might have been OK in the past but are not now. This is correct scientific method. A good check might be running a full water parameter test panel for both the 5 and 2.5 gallon aquariums. I can only guess at this time, but a good possibility is some pathogen was introduced to the 5 gallon tank, and since half the batch of Ghost Shrimp never were added to the larger aquarium, add some more credence to this observation I would recommend a full coarse of treatment with Kordon Ich/Fungus Attack (this is safe for shrimp). see: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Quickcure.html#herbalCarl
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Post by babygeige on Sept 11, 2013 21:32:06 GMT -5
I know I'm coming in on this kind of late, but are you certain the 5 gallon has been completely cycled and stable? Shrimp can be very sensitive to water quality and fluctuations in parameters.
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Post by missdiane on Sept 13, 2013 19:36:32 GMT -5
yes - all cycled and stable for a month before adding any shrimp
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