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Is your tank newly setup?
Just purchsed some Neon Tetra, Otos, SAE and Rummy Nose together with some Bee shrimps, Yamato shripms and Malayan shrimps.
After one day, one Neon Tetra died and almost entire shrimps population wiped out.
Why are shrimps so weak? All the Bee shrimps are dead and the Yamato shrimps too.
Is it something to do with the water? Or the CO2 level?
The other fishes are ok so far, but why the shrimps?
Regards,
Is your tank newly setup?
... always look at the bright side of life
Yup, the tank was setup on the 14th, its already 2 weeks.
So I think the water should not be too hard.
But I may be wrong.
Is the death of the shrimp having something to do with the setup??
how about provide us with more information on yr water parameter and tank details?
I'm no expert but as one newbie to another, let me tell you... it's quite easy for fishes/shrimps to die in the initial few weeks. In my case, my fishes/shrimps died a few each day for almost 3 months. Very demoralising. Fortunately, everything is stabilised now.
In my case, if you ask me what did I do to stop the deaths, the only significant event I can point to is the use of sodium bicarbonate to raise the KH of the water. So my only explanation for the deaths is PH crash because I was injecting CO2 into my tank.
Thanks for the info.
I guess the KH in my tank is a little on the high side.
This is how I perform the test:
1. take 5ml tank water
2. pour in KH test kit, drop by drop since instruction said to stop test solution drop once water turns from blue->green->yellow.
3. I drop 2 drops, and water turns yellow, I don't see any blue->green->yellow effect
So I guess the water KH is 2.
I may be wrong since I am so new to this hobby.
A kH of 2 is ok and will not kill the shrimps or fishes. Coorect me if I am wrongWhat's your pH reading?
... always look at the bright side of life
PH tested last evening, PH=7
pH=7, Kh=2 implies CO2 is on the low side. So CO2 poisoning can be ruled out.
... always look at the bright side of life
You should see blue in your KH test...if not I doubt your KH is more than 1...probably less than 1. Did you add baking soda or KH plus stuff to your tap water?
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Usually first 2 drops will turn the water blue. After that, it should turn a slight shade of green and then goes to yellow.
... always look at the bright side of life
The KH test kit shows yellow with the first drop. The first time when I use the test kit, I dropped at least eleven drops not knowing the KH is usually so low.
The water turns yellow with the first drop. But very light yellow, the second drop makes the yellow colour more obvious. So I guess, the correct KH should be 1 or even less.
Does baking powder help to raise the KH??
This means your kH is very low, 1 or less. Can use those crushed coral chips in your filter to raise the kH.
... always look at the bright side of life
yep, I've the same problem. KH was less than 1. I know coral chips can be used to raise KH but I suggest you use baking soda instead. First few months when I was using coral chips to raise the KH, fish death persisted. Maybe it's my inexperience. Could also be because coral chips and CO2 don't get along well together. No idea. anyway...
if you want to try what worked for me. Here's the steps.
Buy a bottle of baking soda, add in a bit a day (my tank is about 300l) and I added about 1/2 a teaspoon a day (LFS owner told me if I raise the KH too fast, fish may die). Suggest you test after 6 hours or so since I found that if I tested within an hour, the KH tends to read higher (e.g. it could take 5 drops to change from blue to yellow after one hour but only 4 drops after 6 hours). Guess this is because the baking soda is still not properly mixed yet.
In the meantime, while raising your KH, what you could do is turn off your CO2(if you're using that) and use an airstone to aereate the tank. That's what I did.
Hope this works.
shrimp - low temp, sensative to ammonia, nitrates, nitrites. yours is a 2 week old tank, the question is: Is it cycled?
Using the questionaire (see the top most topic), try to provide the info we need to analyze your problem. My guess is the tank is not fully cycled. Another thing is you add too many fish/shrimps too fast. Your filter may be able to readjust to the load.
Another possibilty is that it could be poor acclamatization or another possibilty would be transport shock.
Could be anything... can't tell you which one without more info.
like loup said, most prob your tank isn't cycled completely. 2 weeks is really a very short time UNLESS you have already added in fishes right from the start to provide a source of ammonia for the cycling to work on. but if you just start your tank and wait 2 weeks and expect it to be cycled, that's not realistic. you really really don't need to go into factors like ph, kh, etc besides I really doubt if kh will kill anything except maybe affect molting.
and just cuz your fishes are fine doesn't mean your shrimps should be too. your shrimps are obviously more fragile than your fishes. and anyhow the fact that one tetra died itself is significant. is your acclimatization rite? is your transportation not too stressful? is your cycling complete? I suggest you put in the fishes a few at a time, like say 5 fishes at 2 weeks, next week another 5 etc till your idea fish load. constantly monitor, if fish deaths are high then stop adding. after that wait a few weeks till you're sure your tank is stable, no more deaths, fishes are healthy, plants are healthy. ONLY then add your shrimps.
Gee, I guess you guys are right that the tank is not fully cycle. I am very new in this hobby and all those louhan that I kept before are all so hardy. Simply buy and add water. Planted aqaurium is packed with knowledge. So much to explore.
Here's the info of my tank:
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Tank Dimensions : 3ft x 18 inches x 18 inches
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 100 watts
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : FL
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 0.5bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : Tank
Substrate Used : Can't remember brand, comes in a small white colour pail. Pungent free.
Liquid Fertilizers Used : Floravit and Iron pills
Frequency of fertilization : not yet
Tank Temperature : 28 DegC
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : Canister
Filter media used : Top level - Bioballs + cparse Wool, 2nd level - Ceramics Rings + Fine Wool.
Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
---------------------------------------
Carbonate Hardness (kh): <= 1
Total Hardness (gH): ?
PH : 7
NH4 (ppm): ?
NO2 (ppm): ?
NO3 (ppm): ?
PO4 (ppm): ?
Fe (ppm): ?
Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)
------------------------------
Some long-kang shrimps, meant to be food for louhan but out them in the tank to test out hardness. Most died after a day. Still a few stronger one survive.
Some Bee shrimps, Yamato and brownish shrimps bought at $1 each at a LFS was put into the tank after the long-kang shrimps stayed in the tank for 4 days. This batch was purchased together with the fishes.
16 Neon tetra, 1 died on the next day
5 Rummy Nose
4 Otos
2 SAE
Plants:
Moss - Xmas, all tied to drift wood
1 Nuphar Japanico
Red colour lily
Green colour mini water-lily, the leaves float on the surface.
eel grass, Vallisneria americana
Micranthemum umbrosum, I think so too...... but lighter green in colour
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, I think..... for the lawn
Lilaeopsis mauritiana, I think so too ...... not sure if thisis the correct type. Got the name off Tropica website
Hydrocotyle leucocephala, look like water-crest
Are injecting the CO2 24/7 (non stop). I'm guessing that you're not using a solenoid since the co2 bps is so low. If it's a solenoid, increase injection to 2 bps. Reason being that your plants may not be producing enough O2 for you fishes.
If no solenoid used, you can try what Tom Barr has described using a powerhead or you could use an air pump. Check the relevant thread for more info.
It's also could be due to your tank is not cycled properly, I can deduct that it is cos you do not have a tester to test NH4/NO2/NO3. What you could do is you can get a NO3 test kit (can be used later if you have algae problems) and ceck if you have traces of it in the water. This would give you a rough idea if the tank has been cycled or not.
Hope this helps.
Sorry for my ignorance, what is a power-head?
I read that thread but was too embarass to ask since the discussion had escalated to a pro level. Amature like me totally lost after reading the postings.
Apologies to those kind people who posted to my questions. but I am really ignorant in this hobby. Acronynm and jargon is a blur in my dictionary.
Hey, every greenhorn has his days......
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