Martin

Just came home from work and seeing a very strange sight... My RCS tank is a 20 gallon long, but a HUGE number of my shrimp are gathered around 2 marimo balls. What in the world...

Usually yes, small water changes of about 20-25%. In this particular case, no. I did about a 50% to make planting the new plants a little easier. In such a case, I would understand losses from the initial shock, I just don't get why they are continuing to drop 2-3 days later.

Welp, I'm really at a loss at this point. Every time I check the tank, I see another few that keeled over. I really don't get it and I'm trying to retrace everything I've done. I put in new plants from ACO and I put in a new Manzanita branch that was soaked for days and boiled. For good measure, I followed up my testing with a master kit rather than test strips. The only anomaly I found was the pH being about 8.2, which is a hair above the baseline. I put in some pH neutralizer to get it down a hair, but I there's really nothing I can think of that would have bumped it up like that. If it's not that and, given the speed of how this all happened, I really don't think it is anything infectious. A contaminant is possible, but from where? I'm really wondering if I need to consider pulling the shrimp out into my other tanks, but that in and of itself carries risk.

Thanks @Chick-In-Of-TheSea, How often do you feed them the Repashy? It doesn't seem like a daily kind of feeding. Also, how do you fortify the food with calcium carbonate? Is there a mix?

Thanks Jetts, I've removed the shell. Though I am wondering in the back of my mind, with a colony of 100+ shrimp, why am I seeing so few molts? Eh, I'm probably straying from my own topic. I'll investigate that later I suppose.

Thanks nabokov, The GH is 120ppm, KH is 240ppm, which is standard for my water out here. pH is roughly 7.5, again standard. Most of the shrimp appear to have resumed their regular activity, including grazing behaviors. I'm just not entirely clear as to why some are just dropping. Of course, I cannot differentiate if the ones that are dropping are ones that previously resumed "normal behavior". As far as feeding is concerned, I usually use ACO fish fry food. It says calcium is included, though admittedly, I don't know exactly how much shrimp should be getting. They've been eating it for quite some time, so I figured we were good with that. I stuck with the ACO fry food since it is practically dust-like and you can disperse it evenly throughout the tank with very little thinking this would make it easier for the shrimp find it. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. I'm really hoping its not a contaminant as I'm afraid doing serial water changes, etc. would stress them further.

Typically, the temp out of the tap is only 2-3 degrees different, if even that. I don't suspect the temp to the the stressor, but my norm in terms of water changes for these guys is usually 20-25% PWC. I usually use a colander-like cup to change my water so there's practically zero turbulence for the shrimp during the process. I assume it may have been the volume combined with me messing with their scape as I planted new plants and moved some large pieces around. At this time, most of the shrimp have returned to their routines, though I've lost an estimated 8-10 shrimp between yesterday and today. =/ I'm not really sure if this holds any significance, but I did notice one of the dead shrimp had a "white ring of death" that I understand to be typically secondary to molting issues. It was the only one but that made me think back to the last time I recall seeing a molt and it has been a while. I was rather puzzled by that as our area typically is known for hard water, so I always assumed molting wouldn't issues wouldn't present a problem. I placed a small Wonder Shell into the tank so hopefully that will help with both any molting issues and also help to reduce some of the stress. I suspect I'm going to lose a few more before this is all said and done.

No worries, it is reassuring for sure. I'm not terribly worried about anything unusual regarding the water quality as the odds of that are pretty darn low. I figured it was going to be a waiting game. Good to know that is the likely path.

So I'm looking for some advice (if any) to help with shrimp stress. I got my shipment of new plants to place in the tank. Since it was in need of a water change anyway, I estimate I did about a 50% change to make planting easier. It wasn't long before my shrimpies went catatonic. They were literally just sitting there... almost all 120+ of them. Water parameters are at baseline without any anomalies. A few of them have started to snap out of it and are resuming behavior, but its pretty slow. While many are still just sitting there now, many have at least resumed their "grazing motions"/constant shoveling of material into their mouths. Is there anything I can do to help the situation or am I just gonna have to wait it out? Thanks all.

@Gamegurl I can't wait to see how that vine grows out! I like to keep a somewhat tidy tank, so using stuff like the various mosses and susswassertang can drive me nuts due to all the "shedding" they do, but I love their look so much!

Thanks everyone! I guess I had an incorrect impression from heavy root feeders such as Amazon swords that some plants NEEDED to planted in order to thrive.

Hey gang! I know there are a lot of stem plants out there that can also serve as a floating plant. When I hear this, I interpret from it that the plant can feed directly from the water column. If this is the case, can I get away with planting such plants in a relatively nutrition-less substrate such as sand or gravel and get by just dosing with EZ Green? I want to add some more plants to my RCS tank but I really would like to avoid adding more maintenance that would disturb the substrate if I can. Thanks in advance!

There are a few options: 1. Tie it to some other decor such as wood and let it grow. 2. Make a moss wall or "lawn" by using a nylon mesh that it can grown on. 3. I make vines out of susswassertang, but java moss should work out just fine as well. If you follow this tutorial, it should work like a charm:

Lol I ordered some from you when I saw them on the available plant listing. Been waiting forever to add some to my RCS tank. 1. Not a lot of negatives. They literally just sit there. Their only real care criteria is to roll them every so often so the bottom portion of the ball gets light. 2. They are a VERY slow growing plant, so no, they don't consume much nutrients at all. 3. In my experience, no my shrimp and snails do not eat them. 4. Stuff like sand and other particles can land in and get stuck to the moss ball, but all it really requires is a quick shake and everything comes out.

Yeah, that sounds like something I would do!

Just stopped by ACO website to restock on supplies and I see marimo available for purchase! Did the ban get lifted @CoreyC!?

Lol. In the back of my mind, I knew it was duckweed. I've never had it before, but I said to myself, "Hmm... it's growing pretty quick and I can see it being an absolute pain in my ass later... it's probably duckweed." 🤣 Thank you guys!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone. I dosed the hell out of that tank with EZgreen and it looks like the rot has stopped. I got hit with BBA in the past so I'm skittish about imbalance, guess I was starving the poor things.

Hey gang! I purchased a few floating plants online and got something... extra! The plant is super small; leaflets about 1mm long. For those of you who have grown Amazon frogbit before, it looks exactly like their offspring, however I've been watching them for a while now and they are not growing like frogbit would. They appear to stay that small size and multiply. Fortunately, I have the plants isolated so I can pick them out if needed. Can anyone ID this guy?

Thank you guys! I'm kind of in the middle of an observation phase. I purchased some supplemental nitrogen and am observing for the results as I also have a pretty heavily planted tank and I think at least one of the problems was a nitrogen deficiency. I'll look into that one next. It's very strange to me, a houseplant dies and I'm like, "Doh." A plant in the tank dies and it's "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thanks @Theplatymaster, admittedly, I've never tried to just dose for nitrates. What product do you use? I have some Fritz's ammonia for cycling purposes. Can that be used? I just read up on potassium nitrate, but I don't have any on hand, so was curious if Fritz's is a viable route. EDIT: Revised questions as Google answered a few of them.

Good morning gang! I used to have a lot of success with windelov java ferns to the point that they would thrive with little effort and grow large and full in my previous tank. However, once I upgraded to a 20g, I've had a lot of difficulties. The rhizomes are not buried but are secured to rocks loosely with thread, but leaves always slowly turn brown/black and ultimately resulting in the plant rotting away. I've tried light at various levels as my previous "successful" tank had higher light and resulted in BBA, so I dialed it back. I always though java ferns were low light anyway, so I figured that wasn't the issue. In terms of parameters and habits (which are pretty much the same as how the previous tank was cared for): Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: <20ppm pH: 7.0-7.5 KH: 180ppm GH: 30ppm 20g long with 25-30% water changes every 2 weeks, dosed with ACO EZ Green as directed, low light for 6 hours daily (all plants are low light plants). Thanks in advance!

You guys are the most smartest folks of all. You all win best prize!

Hey all, I am planning on scaping a new tank and I recall seeing old photos of folks that have used a plastic grid in lieu of a canopy so they can place plants such as pothos ivies on top through the holes, but I don't know what it is called or if it is even a "real" product (versus self-made and/or modified). The closest thing I have found is in the photo below, but it goes on the bottom of the aquarium as a filter of sorts. I can't really search for what I need because I don't know the name lol. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Or is it actually this item below that people rig up themselves? Somebody help this idiot, he doesn't have it together. 😐

Oh God, I saw the chart and knew I was in over my head. Looks like I'm just going to use the 24/7 function until I have a better grasp!