daggaz Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 I've got water fleas and copepods in two different jars, both with an airstone. The other day, I a) added a handful of dead beach leaves to each jar which quickly upped the tannins b) had to remove the airstones for about 12 hours Now most of my critters are dead, floating around on the bottom. There are still a number of survivors, especially the really tiny ones, but most of the adults are dead. What did I do wrong? I'm gonna let it go for now and see how it evolves, I think there are enough survivors to get back to a strong, breeding population again, but I would like to understand what killed them off so I can avoid it in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 On 7/9/2024 at 12:23 PM, daggaz said: I've got water fleas and copepods in two different jars, both with an airstone. The other day, I a) added a handful of dead beach leaves to each jar which quickly upped the tannins b) had to remove the airstones for about 12 hours Now most of my critters are dead, floating around on the bottom. There are still a number of survivors, especially the really tiny ones, but most of the adults are dead. What did I do wrong? I'm gonna let it go for now and see how it evolves, I think there are enough survivors to get back to a strong, breeding population again, but I would like to understand what killed them off so I can avoid it in the future. The scuds must have oxygenated water at all times because of how they were created to breathe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 The scuds seem ok (what few I still had left), its the daphnia and some of the larger swimmy critters that are all dead on the bottom, now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 Where did you get the leaves from? In my experience, daphnia are really good at dying. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 From a forest. No pesticides or anything like that. I'm kind of leaning towards its the lack of oxygen that did them in, though honestly I am a bit surprised that the jars could get deprived so quickly, there's nothing big in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 On 7/9/2024 at 2:29 PM, daggaz said: From a forest Any Idea what type of tree. Thinking of defensive chemicals like juglone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 The two things that changed are the removal of the air and the addition of tannins (which bring down the pH, dependent on the starting KH, I guess). If you get both cultures restarted, maybe try one variable in one culture and keep the other one however you were running it? On 7/9/2024 at 3:27 PM, Tony s said: Any Idea what type of tree. @daggaz said beach tree but I'm assuming that was a typo for beech tree. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 On 7/9/2024 at 3:52 PM, Rube_Goldfish said: aid beach tree but I'm assuming that was a typo for beech tree. missed it, too busy fighting with machinery. that directly affects my reading skills. and typing apparently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 Yeah it's beech. My water is super hard tho so I doubt the pH swung very much, tho I could try and test that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 On 7/9/2024 at 9:11 PM, daggaz said: Yeah it's beech I’m still wondering if it’s not a toxin in the leaves. Beech contains saponin and oxalic acid. Not dangerous to humans but dangerous to grazing animals. Horses and cows. Possibly small critters as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 I think you need a LOT more of it to be harmful, Tony. The local water ways are choked with beech, most of the water runs like coffee, and its still full of aquatic wildlife. Oxalic acid binds calcium, but the water is completely saturated with leached calcium-carbonate already. The micro-critters were all sourced from natural waterways in the first place, too. Honestly I am just a bit perplexed, but I think I will repeat the experiment once I get the colony up and running again (in separate jars). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Just a thought , what is harmful to livestock isn’t always harmful to micro critters. Sometimes they thrive in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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