Planted Tank rebirth!

[Flare]

Hi friendz,

I used to be a planted tank 'freak' several years ago. However, National Service ruined everything. Stopped ever since then. I guess thats normal. Anyway, I got married...got a house...recalled the good old days of pumping co2 from presurrised systems and gettin scolded from bubbling yeasts concortions by my mom......damn...that was good! Now i'm back...with a hope of creating my very own dream planted tank.

I got myself a 50 gallon from Nature Aquarium...a new co2 tank...substrates and lightings...planned for a week...and finally assembled everything on 13 dec 03. I allowed the tank to undergo the 'cycling' process for 2 weeks before adding plants. My past tank was heavily planted...and algae covered all of the plants with broad leaves..so I intended, this time round, to plant only glosso and riccia. Now...here comes the problem..u ppl must be sick of all my story telling.....

1) 2 weeks after I set up...I got 5 yamatos....put them in...and noticed they kept swimming around frantically and going to the surface to catch their breath. The next day, they were all 'fried'! All died! They turned white and subsequently red. The fishes (10 neons) that I introduced at the same day were doing all ok. No signs of them gasping for air at anytime. I got a bit worked up and bought 20 more shrimps the next day. My wife nagged like mad! And guess what...ya...they perished the next day too. My PH at that time was about 5.5 to 6.0. I'm partially colourblind so I entrusted this task to my wife.Ya..she nagged again.

I guess the PH is crucial for shrimps cause they r more sensitive. A PH anywhere from 6 to 7.5 will be ok.

Anyone encountered the same problem or would like to suggest anything?

[mkt]

First batch of yamatos died too. Had to do a massive water change.
Probably need to watch against a massive PH shock too.
btw - whenever I scrub the tank one or 2 will die too.
don't know why. strange critters

[Kingfisher]

I don't know if I lucky or not, so far have no death for Yamatos but 2 Wood shrimps dead.

[chua]

Hi

By just looking at your PH value is not at all accurate.

I believed your shrimps were dead because of your high CO2 level.

You must get the correct KH/PH/CO2 level.

You can perform a search to find out more information about it.

Anyway, if you have not increase your KH, your KH value directly from the tap water is not even 1. With such KH and PH value, you will have a very high CO2 level. I am quite amazed how your neon tetra survive.
Better get that work out with.

Hope these help.
Thks.

[juggler]

See this piece of information in the Aquatic FAQ http://www.aquaticquotient.com/phpbb...pic.php?t=7971 on how to acclimitise Yamatos.

Flare: Welcome back to planted world!

[victri]

May I ask what you add to the water? Sometimes heavy irons affect shrimps. Stuff like Flourish Excel can be lethal to shrimp in heavier doses.

The way you describe it, possible causes could be too much CO2 or some water problem. Shrimp are usually more sensitive than fish and will very quickly show signs of distress.

[apollo]

Hi Flare

Assume you hv done the right cycling.

Wud think tht you didnt acclimatise the shrimps properly.

My 2 cents worth.

Stephen

[Sleepy_lancs]

From my past experience, mine died because of large water changes. They don't seem to do very well with sudden changes.. Any changes more than 30% of tank water stressed them.

I tried a few ways of climatising them and so far the best way is to keep a pail of aged water (roughly 12 hours aerated with a little filter-no big filters here and something for the prawns to hold onto-plants or driftwood). This is an good recovery step before you introduce your prawns into your tank.

After preparing for your recovery step above, get your prawns from your LFS then float them in your tank for about half hour (without lights please). Open the bag slowly and drip tank water into the bag every 15 mins for about an hour. Then slowly release them into the tank. Usually most will survive. However, stick by your tank and look for potential casualities. They usually will be about to lie on their side. Quickly take them out and put them in that pail of aged water. They usually will recover if you are quick in your action. Then take your time to climatise them by taking tank water to replace water in the pail.

Hope this will help.

[Flare]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advise and tips.

Chua - so far..all of my neons..a siamese fighting fish and 5 otos r doing ok. No signs of stress or whatsoever. Food consumption are all normal. Anyway...will follow your advise and get the correct proportions for all the parameters.

Victri - I've not added any water base soultions except for sera florena and this is also added in minute quantity. Not overdosed.

[victri]

What I do to acclimatize new shrimp is to pour them into a plastic tupperware, together with the water they came with, and float that in my tank. Make sure there's something for them to cling on. LFS should provide a piece of sponge or moss when you buy them. Then I pour a little bit of tankwater into the tupperware every 30mins. Do that a few times and they should be ready to be released. This way, they can slowly adapt to both the water temp and parameters. Observe them well, once they look like they are picking around for food/algae, you can relax.

[jacian]

I can only say that shrimps are very sensitive to water conditions. I wonder if your tank is fully cycled. I noticed that you add the shrimps, fish and plants you cycle the tank. Are you doing fishless cycling?

Anyway, the next time you want to add in the shrimps. try doing a 50% water change before adding the shrimps. It may help.

[Flare]

Thanks guys!

[Aeon]

I have 3 yamatos. just acclimatised by putting the bag in the tank water for like 20+ minutes then used a net to put them in.
They're doing fine now, busily eating algae from my plants.
I don't do PH checks and stuff... maybe I'm lucky?

[kadios]

Hi Flare!

My guess is the shift in water conditions, probably kh or ph or a combo of both. I noticed during some of my water changes, my yamato shrimps will dash around frantically after my water change. Probably bcoz I started my water change during half of my illumination period, where the ph is already more on the acidic side due to CO2 insertion. After adding the fresh water, coupled with addition of Bicarb soda, the kh and ph probably swing, leading to the shrimp's behaviour!

In your case, I guess your ph swing may be more than 1 thereby causing extreme stress to the shrimps resulting in death. U may wanna check on your water parameters during lights on and lights off to confirm the swing, if there's any. Alternatively, increase your kh to provide more buffer against ph swing, taking care to ensure the dosage of bicarb is consistent with your water changes.

This is my 2 cents worth.

Cheers!

[victri]

As a precaution, I only change water during lights off, and I always agitate the water about 15mins before water change. I believe that releases any excess CO2 in the water and, in a way, stabilizes it. Not sure if that actually helps, but my fish and shrimp seem to like playing near the area where I scoop and pour water.