Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) I have decided that there is something wrong with my bowl that I can’t test for - a chemical, heavy metal, some bug that I just can’t get to or treat. I just killed 2 bladder snails and 3 ramshorns and the bowl Looks super healthy! I’ve tried a lot of different things. Look at that lush green algae, the colors and the textures! here’s the history of the bowl: What to do? I’ve got 3 ideas 💡 1) scrap the whole idea of a Caridina bowl and do Opae ula shrimp instead - get a piece of glass for the top, use aragonite sand and crushed coral, huge pile of lava rocks and obsidian, and raise up some cheeto algae in there. 2) try again on the Caridina tiger tank - buy new Fluval stratum, clean the rocks, use a whole different set of plants, and just start from the beginning. ive really appreciated all the support on here for this doomed project. Ugh painful. Edited July 13, 2021 by Beardedbillygoat1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betsy Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 I think your sad bowl is so beautiful!! I really want shrimpies to work for you - part of me is just like...let it sit and be! And...part of me is like...stick a nerite buddy in it so you can get some 💩 action, and maybe a dash of bottled bacteria...and let it roll for a few months. I'm excited to see what you do - it really is very pretty...in all of its iterations!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 I really is strange that animals keep dying. I’m not sure what the problem is but I like @Betsy’s idea of letting it sit for while and see if you can keep some snails alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 @BetsyThanks so much. Im trying to get over killing those 5 snails, I’d tried a week ago and the same thing happened with 2 of them before I treated with the Maracyn. I’m so frustrated not sure I’ve ever got this beautiful of algae growth on my rocks. The ludwigia colors are popping. I certainly could try again in a month. Never had a tank that I couldn’t keep snails alive in especially bladder snails - thought they were indestructible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 @Patrick_G and @Betsythanks for talking me off the ledge I suppose. I’ll keep up weekly water changes, wait 4 weeks, add beneficial bacteria, and see what happens. If it kills the snails I’ll execute order 66 and do one of the above. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Love the sad bowl. No clue on what could be killing the things though. I know snails are super sensitive to copper. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 @sudofish The rocks in there are inert other than iron which is the red in the mahogany obsidian. Under the Fluval Stratum is laterite from Brightwell. There’s some osmocote + and I use easy green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Doesn’t Osmocote have copper in it? That might be killing the inverts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 That is such a beautiful sad bowl. Sorry about all the trouble you’re having! Sometimes things seem to work so perfectly and then other times they just won’t work. 😖 I haven’t read your other threads in detail, but my bet as to what’s killing the snails would be the iron. Iron phosphate is a snail and slug pesticide and I imagine it harms aquatic snails similarly to land snails: https://www.fdacs.gov/content/download/23830/file/Iron-Phosphate-QA.pdf I believe there are iron test kits out there if you want to be able to rule that out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) I also vote for wait a month. Let it sit there and be pretty. Take a step back. The best things that happen in a tank, happen slow. Edited July 13, 2021 by Odd Duck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 On 7/12/2021 at 8:41 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said: I have decided that there is something wrong with my bowl that I can’t test for - a chemical, heavy metal, some bug that I just can’t get to or treat. I just killed 2 bladder snails and 3 ramshorns and the bowl Looks super healthy! I’ve tried a lot of different things. Look at that lush green algae, the colors and the textures! here’s the history of the bowl: What to do? I’ve got 3 ideas 💡 1) scrap the whole idea of a Caridina bowl and do Opae ula shrimp instead - get a piece of glass for the top, use aragonite sand and crushed coral, huge pile of lava rocks and obsidian, and raise up some cheeto algae in there. 2) try again on the Caridina tiger tank - buy new Fluval stratum, clean the rocks, use a whole different set of plants, and just start from the beginning. ive really appreciated all the support on here for this doomed project. Ugh painful. I know bladders did not survive when I tried one tank with stratum. I raise bladders and never have trouble until stratum. Same unaltered water source. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expectorating_Aubergine Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 There's nothing wrong with just plants. That being said I say go with the brackish shrimp, but don't do cheeto algae. Get you some caulerpa macro algae. Some of that stuff looks like cool mini ferns.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) I've had bladders, ramshorns and mystery snails on fluval stratum without issues so I don't think it would be the substrate. I've read up on the osmocote and from what I can tell the copper content is like .005% by weight not by ppm. People say that means the amount isn't enough to cause an issue with invertebrates. I'm not an expert by any means, this is just what I came up with researching it a little. edit: Forgot to vote. I think I'll go with team wait a month. Edited July 13, 2021 by sudofish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) @Patrick_Gthe one hole in your theory- and I appreciate the thought you put into your response and it’s a great theory by the by- is that I have this same stone in multiple tanks without any issues with inverts including my flex 15 this includes bladder, ramshorns and even some mystery and nerites. Not sure where this leaves me in all honesty. I think I’ll hang tight for another month and see what happens. @Expectorating_Auberginethanks for the macro algae help, saw cheeto in one of Mark’s Shrimps Opae ula and liked the idea. I’ll take a look at the info on that one. @sudofishthat was my understanding as well On osmocote + and similar products. So the consensus is wait and I guess I often coach patience at work, with my kids and my fish keeping so I need to heed that advice! Edited July 13, 2021 by Beardedbillygoat1975 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 @Beardedbillygoat1975 did you mean to tag me about the iron? 😄 (I don’t want @Patrick_G to get pinned with my debunked theory 😉) I’m glad the stone’s working in your other tanks. It’s very pretty! I assume the other tanks have similar flow, pH, etc? Maybe something’s causing the iron to dissolve faster in here? Just throwing out some thoughts. It’s so hard to diagnose these things. I’m glad you’re going to wait a month and give it another go. If nothing else, you have a gorgeous aquatic garden. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 Yeah pH is lower as is the kh basically 0 in the bowl due to the Stratum but yes otherwise all the same gh, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate but only if I dose the heck out of it with ferts. Thanks for all the help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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