Re: Wondergro Fertilizers for shrimp tank

[Cross]

Hi all, wondering if any one is using the wondergro series of fertilizers for their planted shrimp tanks and encountered any issues?
I have been dozing wondergro's macro and micro for some time now, without any problems. Recently i added the root + and the next few day my crs shrimplets started to become sashimi!
My initial thought was there was something wrong with the water, maybe too much Cu from the fert?
Wonder if any bros out there have similar encounters, as i trying to eliminate the causes of death.

Tank parameters:
tank: standard 1.5ft tank
substrate : gex soil
Lighting: 2x 18w PL 6 hrs daily
co2 dosing : Excel ( been dozing excel as main form of carbon input no reported deaths so far)
Plants : mini jap hg, japonica , HM

Partial water change done twice a week 20% each time

[barmby]

You may want to recall. Did you do something different this time? Did you stir up the substrate too much during the course of inserting the root +. It is the minute diference that resulted in death because it is a 1.5 ft tank. It is less forgiving.

[Cross]

You may want to recall. Did you do something different this time? Did you stir up the substrate too much during the course of inserting the root +. It is the minute diference that resulted in death because it is a 1.5 ft tank. It is less forgiving.

Thanks for the pointer barmby, perhaps i might have stirred the substrate abit when i was inserting the root + . Did small water changes over the last few days, the shrimps seem to be doing well, but still having 1 or 2 deaths every other day. Wondering if the effects of Cu in their system takes a few days to act up?

[barmby]

You are welcome. It may not be Cu. For example, general fertilizer can kill them in higher dose. You will get worse off if there is NH3 and NH4 released from the substrate/soil

[medicineman]

Perhaps it is due to sudden release of excessive ammonia. Red crystal is far more sensitive to sudden spike of contaminant.

How old is the setup?
Are the shrimp left to die and pollute the water?
How many tablets did you approximately use, and did you push them deep into the substrate?

1.5ft tank is quite small as barmby suggest, and it is generally less forgiving.
Upon normal use, the tablet is very much relatively safe, even when used in sensitive red crystal tank.