How do you introduce them to the tank? did you do proper acclimatation?
I have a planted tank with fishes. The tank has some green algae on the wall and rocks so I bought some otos and yamato shrimp to clean it up.
Problem is once I introduced the oto or shrimp into the tank, they swim around like crazy, try to jump the tank and then just turn over and die. All these within 30 minutes of putting them into the tank.
Is it because of lack of oxygen? Or high ammonia/nitrate in the water? I don't have use an aerator, relying instead on the plants to produce oxygen. So far my 50 tetras and 3 loaches are doing fine. I have a 3 foot tank and an external filter.
Please advise.
How do you introduce them to the tank? did you do proper acclimatation?
Next time you introduce sensitive fauna like shrimps, you can try this method at http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=14740
Good luck!
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Both oto and shrimps are known to be "more" sensitive than your usual fauna and if you introduce them the same way as you did for your tetras, they will sadly die.
Arrgh, this morning both the SAE that I bought same time as the Yamato shrimp last night also die. I thought it might be low oxygen since I don't use an aerator but leave it to my plants to produce oxygen. However when I put in an air stone to "rescue" them, they also die. So I am suspecting maybe the water condition is the problem.
how old is your setup?
Did you plant any new plants just before introducing the shrimps and fishes?
SAE and most type of shrimps are prone to ph problem
well, most like water condtion my be poor also can result in fatality
I recently use volcanic sand ( crush from volcanic rock - from jakarta)
and it works very well especially cherry shrimp as thir colour remains red througout
I had the same problem after setting up my tank.
the first fauna I dropped in were otos and yamato shrimps which swam around in agony before dropping dead an hour later. Managed to save 2 yamatos and 4 otos before they died. Put them in fresh "aged dechlorinated water" which restored them to normal behaviour in minutes
I'm not so sure what was the definitve problem but I can tell you what I did
One problem was the C02 was turned up pretty high - that can drop ph to 5.0 in unbuffered water. Tetras live in acidic waters so they might tolerate it better. Shrimps are from alkaline waters mostly.
I also measured ammonia levels which were present but not high and nitrite levels were negligible.
I turned down the C02 a little, changed water about 25% and floated a bag with the shrimp and otos in the tank to allow them to acclimatise to temperature. (fold down the top of the bag to make a life buoy type )
Bubbling on the plants slowed down.
I dribbled in water in 10-20 mls amounts every hour into the bag. After a while when tank water went in the animals didn't react much which told me they were acclimatised or my water quality was better...
Introduced the animals without incident about 3 -4 days later
Thanks. I will check for pH and Nitrite/Ammonia. I turned off the CO2 the day before but introduced new plants.
So maybe need to slowly acclimatize the fauna over 1-2 days.
I would suggest using the following AQ format, it is difficult to provide definite solutions for indefinite scenerios.
Liquid fertilisers Used: Seachem Excel and Comprehensive
Fertilization regime:
Other fertilisers : Ferka (root fert cannot remember name, use all 10 capsules)
Other additives: None
Type of Filter: Fuval 304 canister
When was the filter last washed : Yesterday
Filter media used : Bio-ring, Biohome, Glass ring.
When was the media last changed : All new media
What was changed :Nothing.
Age of setup : 1 month +
Water change frequency : 2 weeks ago
Amount changed :100%
Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) :gentle
Tank Temperature :25C
Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
KH (dKH): 0
GH (dGH):
pH :6~6.5
NH4 (ppm):Not measure
NO2 (ppm):0.5ppm
NO3 (ppm):0
PO4 (ppm):Not measure
Fe (ppm):Not measure
Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants) Mostly moss, DW and Ferns. One oto and 20 shrimp.
I drip-acclimatize my local-bought otos at least overnight. Same treatment for imported killifishes (when I was obsessed with them) for two days.
Your casualties more likely a case of TDS* than pH shock.
*a 3-times difference is usually lethal. They will jump as if in hot soup and then do 'torpedo spins' before dying within the hour.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
From the look of it... all you need is proper acclimatization
Just did a check...
GH is 120 ppm
KH is 0 ppm
pH is 6.5
Nitrite is 0 ppm
Nitrate is 160 ppm, guess time to change water...
160 ppm Nitrate? how do you get that high? did you over dose your fertelizer?
i had the same problem. its due to the high nitrate from your soil. you did not cycle your soil enough therefore, the release of nitrate causes ammonia poisoning for the
more sensitive shrimps. try to add in more plants and wait for a week or two, at the same time increase the flow rate of your filter.
160ppm, you got to be kidding. How heavily planted is your tank to uptake this nutrients ? Since riltz have highlighted, how long have you been cycling your tank?
I have been planting new plants and adding pellet minerals to the substrate. Probably disturbing the substrate has stirred up the nitrates in the soil.
The plants have started to take root and grow, will they remove the nitrates over 1-2 days if I maintain a high light and CO2 regime?
The tank/filter has been running for about 6 months and I added a pinch of Biozyme and 2 spoonfulls of bacteria on a monthly basis to the tank.
BTW, does dosing with mineral pellets add nitrates? I thought the pellets should have everything except phosphate and nitrates? My ignorance.
Better to have a quick water change yah?
Bookmarks