nabokovfan87

Yeah.... I am going to say this is a very rare and extremely odd occurrence. If the tank itself is brand new then I would drain it halfway and take a paper towel and clean off the glass / inside area of the tank for any oils or residue. You can run carbon too for a few weeks and try to filter out anything you can't ultimately test for. I would assume/guess that there is something from the tap or from the tank, if new, that caused the issue that you experienced.

First, my condolences for your issue of what you are going through and the losses that you're experiencing. This is something that a lot of us have experienced and unfortunately it does happen. It does not make it easier to experience or go through, but I just mention it as a means of consoling the feelings and thoughts you're going through. I hope we can try to figure out what went wrong. I don't think peroxide would hard them. It mostly goes after very simple organisms and when it's exposed to air it's a very unstable product, turning back to water fairly easily. Any chance there was soap or something on the towel itself? Was it recently washed and maybe it wasn't fully rinsed or something? Definitely shouldn't be an issue. Especially if you're talking drops. There has to be some sort of contamination or issue preventing them from oxygenating properly for that to happen so quickly. Not using dechlor and having chloramines or major water issues absolutely does kill fish that fast, but as you mentioned I don't think the volumes there makes sense for this to be the cause. Very low level, wouldn't matter and you'd be diluting the salt. If the salt "wasn't just salt" and had a contaminant, that might be at play. Going colder usually is fine and we've all done this with regards to water changes and to the things that just happen when you're going from a stable temp to something you're trying to match as close as you can and things are slightly off. The real difference on those temps would be the oxygenation in the water itself. There would be a slight difference and if you're dramatically shifting or choking out the oxygen levels with stagnant water or something, that could do what you saw. I think whatever happened we would have to basically narrow down to not being from the old tank, not really being from the transfer portal (bucket and drip system), but actually being from the new tank and whatever was going on there. I don't have a gut feeling or anything like that, but I would ask a few questions just to understand the situation better. How long was the new tank setup for? Was it running with a filter? What is new vs used on that tank and is it possible that anything that was new has oils or residue from manufacturing on those products?

Look up "HMA filter" and go from there. It's a step between RO and tap water that is basically what a lot of common filters in appliances use. Zero water is another good one. Seachem sells copper absorbing resins as well. It does! Don't be so hard on yourself, we're all hear to experience, learn, and mentor from one another. 🙂 The RO should remove any issues with copper. RO should be pure water. Yep, the main thing is to just gradually adjust things over months as opposed to a quick jump. KH you can adjust a little bit more frequently and the missing or low GH you can sort of resolve with mineral balls, mineral based foods, seiryu stone, etc.

Mark's shrimp tanks has videos showing this method. You don't need to float the containers in the tank. BEAUTIFUL TANK! Congratulations.

Pheromones in the water! It also could just be that time of day when they are waking up and going bonkers. They also do the same thing if they have highly oxygenated water and the power goes out. One of the most interesting behaviors I hear shrimp do is from the "At Night" series on netflix. They go to the surface and kick/splash to get the water highly oxygenated and then brush that over their gills to recover. I wish I could share a clip of the behavior, but it's the most interesting thing I've ever seen or learned about shrimp!

Alright... There's a LOT going on here and let's break down a few of the fine details. This is simply my outside observations and going along your journey with testing results: YEP! There is actually confusion between so many test kits because one might test for one thing and the other claims to test for another, but it's not quite the same thing. Or, you could simply be working with a scenario of something contaminates one test and the other is more reliable longer term. (Like wet fingertips or moisture in the air and test strips vs. liquid test kits stored properly) The strip goes from 0->10, the liquid is a bit more sensitive in the end. The scale might be a bit difficult to see, but the actual method for viewing the result is where a lot of confusion comes from. what angle are you supposed to view the results? From the Side? From the top down? What kind of light works best, sunlight? And then you have that... is the test tube cleaned or skewing results question. There's all these little tricks that people do, one of them might be having a specific light/area where they view the results. Another thing might be using the tank itself to rinse the tube a few times and remove any remnants that might be in there. It also might not matter at all and the main thing is to ensure the chemical itself is removed and the glass is just thoroughly rinsed. Needless to say, I understand what you're putting down, it's frustrating to read tests. This is why those color meters are of such high utility and value, especially for anyone who normally has difficulty or an eye issue that makes it difficult to distinguish certain colors. I found this a while ago, very helpful. https://www.waterhardness.net/calculator/show?calculator[waterhardness]=60&calculator[unit]=ppm&calculator[_token]=3748fa42abee1fea37daf54a5.mCn5bUQbHfm8FUevhI03rZBx1tMxD0Hc7ii5JrSD22g.83CgKRdIX7_ZZTHl4MpAzP4u5udcUDmd32HqFpnmsh7iQ48iCk1RsP55MA In terms of the other issue of what actually is hard or soft water.... Do you mean GH or KH? 🙂 https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm I blame it on my dyslexia, but I hear someone out loud talk "carbonate hardness" and I can't tell you whether it's GH or KH for the life of me. It's jumbled up in there and I have to just have a test that says GH or KH so I know. I absolutely know which is which, but it's one of the audio conversion things I guess. I also have never, ever been able to tell you what numbers are odd or even. I just cannot get it to stick in my mind. General Hardness (GH) vs. Carbonate Hardness (KH) vs. Alkalinity (pH) This is where I differ. I basically over-filter, ensure proper maintenance. I might test nitrate if I have some sort of a plant growth issue. I test GH/KH only. Nitrate when I need to, Phosphate occasionally when I run into algae issues, but if I ever see ammonia, I use a strip I trust, and nitrite really just doesn't matter as much to me as water changes would. If I see nitrate above a certain value I'm draining 80% of the tank. If I see ammonia, 80% of the tank gets changed. There's these automatic things I just have grown accustomed to. I honestly think that we as hobbyists gain so much value by testing out tap water more than people ever realize. DON'T FORGET THAT TOO! It does change over time. YEP! You almost always end up testing both... and if you're in the 7.0-7.5 range, good luck. Then you use a strip and it's all one shade to me.

Correct, the only difference here if you keep them in the water they are in is that you want to add air + 1-2 drops of dechlorinator into the water to immediately remove ammonia. The dechlor will remove oxygen from the water, so adding air makes it safer for the fish while you drip or acclimate them. This technique above is one you can see from top shrimp sites as well as recommended for very sensitive species.

Might have a screaming deal for you.... I was considering it, but 95% of the food would go to waste for me and my 1 tank. I'll send a DM over. Congratulations on the future vacation and mad props for the dedication and patience to get there. Enjoy it and cherish those moments. They will last a lifetime.

Yeah. Just give them time to settle. Any shrimp ~60 days new are going to still be acclimating and getting used to your routine, feeding, etc.

Saw the title, clicked.... "OH, this will be fun, what's going on!?" 🙂 Common knowledge, sometimes applicable, is that you can restrict outflow and you won't burn out the pump. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but I understand the logic of the setup and what you were trying to do there. I think the main issue here is likely the magnets and coil inside of the pump overheated, that does a lot of bad things when it comes to the actual function of the motor. It changes electric fields and burns things out and that's all bad. I would toss it/recycle it and just work on getting one that is adjustable. That exact same design, there's probably 20-30 of them that are adjustable. https://www.michael-smith-engineers.co.uk/resources/useful-info/magnetic-drive-pumps Sometimes due to pure cost, pumps aren't adjustable and shouldn't be restricted. The only thing you could try to do is replace the impeller itself, which isn't worth it. I would be testing the pump itself in a bucket without anything on the filter except for the actual pump itself. (no sponge, no nothing, JUST the pump so you can see what's going on) If you smell anything like burnt rubber/plastic, it's dead dead.

I got my order from Dan's and ran into some issues, but this would be my advice.... 1. Move the box into the house, out of the heat into a dimly lit room. If you need light to work and open things properly, do so. 2. Dim the lights, let the box acclimate to light for 5-15 minutes. 3. Float each bag in the tank for 15-20 minutes, tank lights off, acclimate to temperature. This is also a great opportunity to check the fish for any sort of damage due to shipping, stress, disease, etc. 4. Take each bag and you'll want to cut the corner and pour the fish into a net. 5. Take the fish and them move that into your tank, preferably a quarantine tank. 6. (optionally) Add an airstone and dechlorinator to the tank. If you have it, also add a little beneficial bacteria due to increasing the bioload. It takes fish sometimes weeks/months to properly acclimate to new water parameters. It isn't something that can be done completely in an hour or over several hours. This is why people often plop+drop the fish. Rasbora will love this. Just make sure you give them decent circulation/air... they love oxygenation.

Hey hey Basically all the white ring actually is, it means the shrimp is growing and the shell has "split" in that section. There's plenty of videos out there of shrimp with the ring molting. I would highly suggest checking out / following Mark's Shrimp Tanks and Chris Lukhaup regarding shrimp care on youtube. There are no better 2 sources out there. Flip aquatics is also wonderful and does helpful streams targeting for beginners as well as advanced topics. I would suggest finding a mineral based shrimp food to feed at least once a week, then we can go ahead and check your water parameters as well via liquid test kits for GH/KH. It's a very affordable test kit and something I think every shrimp keeper needs to have on hand. Have you seen a lot of deaths or just one or two?

Hello! Welcome to the forums. Something to keep in mind is that shrimp are very, very cyclical. An issue on day 0 might not fully cause an issue until day 28-30. They take ~28 days to molt. I don't feel "safe" until they go through 2 or 3 good molts under new surroundings. Moss helps a ton as well as other sort of plants that they can graze on. You feed a fine powder food, the moss catches it (same way that bamboo shrimp do) and then that gives the shrimp things to graze off of. The main thing with any sort of molting issues is to focus on food and you water parameters. Depending what type of food you have, I would recommend grabbing something like shrimp king calcium based foods or some other mineral based foods you can mix into your regiment. This is good for once a week feedings and it's dramatically helped my shrimp with their issues. Some people use mineral balls, eggshells, there are all kinds of methods out there. Beyond that... Water parameters. Your KH is exactly where mine is. (4+ is a bit more stable, which puts your PH in the 6.8-7.0 range, but stable) You GH is a little low. I would like to see it 8+. In the wild in taiwan you're talking a GH in the 12-13 range. Something like GH+ shrimp salts or just a product like seachem equilibrium is recommended to get those parameters up. The next step we would want to focus on is testing you tap water for GH and potentially having to add in GH until you get the tank stable at a slightly more tolerable GH level. Feeding calcium is an absolute must with this GH level and you would want to ensure GH doesn't drop out on you due to the plants using up the minerals. As @Chick-In-Of-TheSea we would always want to check for parasites and that absolutely could be in play here. It's tough to see any sort of detail from the photos, but grab a magnifying glass and spend some time with your shrimp. It's one of my favorite things to do is to just watch them go bonkers in the tank. See what you see and let us know!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea I snagged a photo so I could show it off. Basically, nothing crushed, no clumps, this is after 5 or so days of feeding and it's the last bit I have. Seems to be the go-to and the whole thing is just that some powders/meds don't want to dissolve with cold water. It's entirely based around the container you have, the worlds smallest spoon/spatula, and it works wonders compared to earlier attempts.

SERA is the only "complete" test kit as well as stuff from JBL. In the US those are far and few between. We tend to have to buy things one test at a time or piecemeal in kits of 2-4 tests. As far as what you actually need.... Phosphate GH KH Total Ammonia/Chloramines (strips work well here) Nitrite (strips work well here) Nitrate (strips work well here) (any other test kits you might want to test for regarding specific plant health) If you are doing pressurized CO2, then you also want a PH high/low kit.

This is awesome! Congrats on finally getting the little one back to a herd. 🙂

DEFINITELY a much better experience this time around.

Hello Everyone, I tried a variety of methods as I was not happy simply going off a list of ingredients online without a specific methodology on "how to" make food. Ironically, when you go and check out videos on the topic online you end up with a lot of the same type of things. I went through a few different iterations on the methodology, landing on some inspiration from baking, and I believe the best process for maxing up your medicated food is as follows. Medicated Food Recipe Steps: 1. Locate a small plastic or glass container with a sealing lid. 2. Add in your desired amount of Seachem Garlic Guard to the container, typically 1 capful. 3. Add in a few drops or up to 1/4 tsp of water. 4. Add in your desired medications and mix to fully distribute and try to dissolve the powder in the liquid as best as possible. If your container is a small jar with a lid, shake vigorously until dissolved. Typically this is "1 scoop" of the specific medications being used. 5. Add in your required amount of Seachem Focus and mix into the liquid to fully distribute and dissolve the powder in the liquid as best as possible. Break up any chunks that form as best as possible. Your amount used of Seachem Focus will often match the amount of medication used by volume. Typically this is "1 scoop" of Seachem Focus. 6. Add in your dry food and fold into the wet ingredients. Take care to fully submerge the food and distribute any medication that may have settled to the bottom of the container. This is typically 1 TBSP of dry pellets. 7. Let sit at room temperature for ~15 minutes to absorb the liquid 8. Gently break up the clump of food, take care not to crush them as best as possible. 9. Feed the required tanks your prepared food. 10. Keep refrigerated after use for up to 1 week, feeding daily. Note: If you have finicky eaters who may not be used to eating a specific type of food, you can follow the exact same method and use the garlic guard as an additive to encourage eating. Please feel free to share your experience and ask any questions below!

100% If you haven't, be sure to check out someone like Green Aqua, Filipe Oliveira, and George Farmer. They are very fitting the style and mindset you have towards the hobby! Welcome, and great work on your tank.

What is a lotus jar? They can go dormant. If they are squishy, they are dead. Just a jar with a lotus plant in it! Yeah, I was trying to find them to see. I had the one that the filter keeps kicking all over the tank, lost that one too.

😂It's a mandela effect! I remember a glass of water on a glass table inside the RV?

July! Because of the shark themed things this week I would like to share something related to that species. I actually learned a new shark fact, amazing, and they might be the saviors of the planet (not exaggeration). I already believe they are pretty critical, linked to our own survival as a species, but that's here nor there. 🙂 We all have our own, innate fear of other predators and while normal and natural, I do believe it's a good thing to exercise the ability to view things from another perspective. With that being said I give you this months viewing selection. HBO Max app Walking with Great Whites 2015 I may have seen this before, but I am sitting down to view this and wanted to share. This is what one of the most infamous predators on the planet looks like from the perspective of a photographer/videographer. I think, I can assume, what that perspective is, but I do hope to find some new found beauty or majesty in this short film. Thanks everyone who is following along! Edit: 3 minutes in... I'm on the edge of my seat. Bring on the WASP!

Same exact ingredients, I've tried 2-3 different methods for assembling the food recipe so to speak. Last time I did all the dry first. Next time I'm doing all the wet first. I've also tried to crush the pellets to a smaller size with my mortar and pestle, but they are so hard that's it's very difficult. I don't want to get the big boy out and use it for fish things, so it'll just have to be what it is. I need a lotus jar. I tried looking for the bulbs again, they are running around the tank and hiding from me. 😂

The first week of metroplex + food is finished today and I will make more for next week. I have been contemplating a lot of things down to the details, literally down to the actual method for making medicated food and not struggling to do it. I have a method in mind similar to what is used in baking, and I'm hoping that bears fruit. Speaking of.... I went and pulled out some of the most damaged leaves and other things from the 2 months of meds. I have 3 very big swords in there and as a result of all of that they ended up shooting out plants. I used them for compost, but I'm contemplating replacing the old with new baby swords next time. I had to do something because at the rate they were going I don't think a mass of 8-12 swords is very good for the fish to be able to hide and swim around, 😂 . They shoot out these little spikes, similar exactly to how they do flowers but they are a lot stronger structures. That ends up going to the surface and splays out. At first I thought it was a flower and then you have these plants that formed. It would grow a little more, new plant. I had 4-6 of these spikes and it was fun to watch, but I don't even feel safe donating these things with what's going on in the tank. Clearing out some of the leaves will also help to increase circulation. We'll see how things go. I have to keep in mind that I can't just "play" in the substrate like I do sand. Very tempting, but it's a big mud ball! Working on motivation, time management, and avoiding cuts on my arms in the hot+dry season so I can do more work in the tanks. I have been culling shrimp and the rainbows go after them like some crazy barbs/sharks might. I don't enjoy that process and no matter how carefully I try to hide them or keep them from being exposed, shrimp are a bit dense in understanding what lurks beneath. I hope your tanks are doing well and plants are carpeting. See ya when I see ya next!

Very cool, glad to have another shrimp keeper!