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r0ck0 posted:GH/KH is more important than pH. Yes RO/DI water should be neutral with a pH of 7 but it is usually higher. Two effective ways to lower pH, reverse osmosis filtration or peat moss. Adding acids to "buffer" the water is only going to cause temporary swings in pH. Since I'm using RO for all my tanks anyway I've ordered a GH/KH test kit and I'm going to try the scientific remineralization method rather than just mixing some dechorinated tapwater back in and hoping for the best. I had a read and I think maybe I've been lucky more than anything that my pH isn't crashing all the time since I've had no real idea what my hardness is, just assumed some reasonable amount of hardness, enough that the tapwater leaves watermarks on things. In my main tank the sand is probably working as a buffer but the other tank's silica sand would be inert and not helping. I'm not really interested in chasing pH, I just want to know that it's going to be stable and that it's low enough to not harm the fish - even if the pH itself doesn't hurt them, I'm pretty sure it makes any nitrogen waste build up a lot worse for them to deal with. So keeping it a bit lower just makes things a bit safer. On republicant's glowing review I'm going to try some Purigen too, bought enough for a baggie for each tank that can fit one - I think sticking one in the very bottom hole of the Fluval media chamber will work - and then one spare so I can swap it in while regenerating a worn out one. I've not been running carbon in the tanks since I don't want plant nutrients to be stripped out and I think Purigen sounds like a good alternative.
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Sep 15, 2015 20:38
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Stoca Zola posted:NO GH TEST KIT? I can't believe you don't have a GH/KH test kit. I also use purigen in my fluval specV, I placed it under the foam section on the ledge, not at the bottom since you have to force water through it. I also used thin sheets of plastic to block the water by-pass slots and raise the overflow level, I did this to prevent water from taking the path of least resistance going around the purigen. I put ceramic bio media in the sponge cut out sections and do not use any carbon.
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Sep 15, 2015 20:49
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RE test kit, the local store doesn't stock hardness tests and I've been meaning to order one next time I did an online order. But I've been putting it off for too long and waiting until I was getting enough stuff to make the shipping worth it. Turns out this time I ordered enough to qualify for free shipping, yay! I've been pretty much looking at TDS only without knowing any detail. Fluval spec: I'd like to shrimp proof the filter inlet comb but haven't worked out how, I think a shrimplet would go through insect mesh but I've yet to check at the hardware store to see what they have. I've got a bit of sponge wedged in the low slot to force water to go over rather than under the sponge. So that bit should be shrimp safe. I found a guppy fry that got sucked in there before I blocked it, it had been living somehow in that chamber under the sponge for weeks, I guess just eating whatever gunge ended up down there. I think a shrimp would not do so well. Didn't block the slot in the divider between the two chambers though, the sponge seems like it gets enough flow even with that slot open. I've put two lots of ceramic in the sponge holes too and it seems to do the job okay. I do have some wide mesh I can stick in the bottom to stop the purigen falling down too far so that might work.
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Sep 15, 2015 21:22
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I am still considering what my next fish should be. Currently have a 29 gallon tank filtered by an aquaclear 70, heavily planted, and with a flourite/gravel substrate. Currently stocked with 7 neon tetras, a pair of assassin snails, an apple snail, one oto, and one female guppy. The female guppy hitched a ride with the tetras. I want something somewhat large that can thrive in 29 gallon and won't destroy my plants. Color is nice too. Gouramis interested me for a bit but I have since read that to be happy, they really like low current which I do not have. Having happy fish is above all else.
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Sep 16, 2015 11:48
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So I got a new vampire shrimp (filter feeder) last week and after the first day I couldn't find him at all in the tank. So yesterday I went looking for him. I took out the little cave that I had in the tank and I found him hiding in the little pedestal that attaches to the cave. See below pic. So I took the cave out and now he's just hiding in the back. I crushed up an algae tablet and put it in the tank so I know there are particles floating around. Should I be concerned that he seems very skittish at this point? He's been in the tank 5 days now and I haven't observed him trying to filter feed yet. Is there something I need to do? I really like this guy and I don't want to accidentally kill him.  He's just hiding along the back wall behind the plants. Also: a random RCS photobombing. 
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Sep 16, 2015 15:25
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astrollinthepork posted:I am still considering what my next fish should be. Currently have a 29 gallon tank filtered by an aquaclear 70, heavily planted, and with a flourite/gravel substrate. Currently stocked with 7 neon tetras, a pair of assassin snails, an apple snail, one oto, and one female guppy. The female guppy hitched a ride with the tetras. Have you considered an angelfish? I think they look really nice in planted tanks, and a single one should do well in a 29g.
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Sep 16, 2015 17:25
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Enos Cabell posted:Have you considered an angelfish? I think they look really nice in planted tanks, and a single one should do well in a 29g. Angelfish look really nice, but they can get territorial after they've been in the tank for a while (they are 4 years old at this point and quite big). The in-laws have a pair of angelfish in their 55g tank and if they introduce any new fish to the tank the angels will kill them. They don't bother their current tank mates, though (a couple gouramis, a rainbow shark, chinese algae eater, and a bristle nose pleco).
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Sep 16, 2015 17:33
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One of my beacon tetras is sick again. The wonky one who months ago spent some time swimming at a bit of an angle is now again having drastic swimming problems. She's unable to hang in the water at all and mostly when she tries she just swims around erratically at an almost vertical angle. I thought it could just be swim bladder issues, isolated her and had her fasting and she improved enough after a few days that I put her back in the main tank so that she wouldn't get stressed from being away from her school. But it's well beyond that now, she's back in isolation and utterly unable to stay buoyant. I'm starting to see a bit of a curve in her spine too now, but only when she swims. I had the timeline mixed up and thought this could be camallanus damage related, but last time she was wonky it was well before the worms were discovered. If this is a repeat of a previous illness, we can't really blame the worms and the curve makes me suspect a latent infection that is flaring up again and is affecting her muscles as well as her swim bladder. I've been feeling bad all night since I don't have clove oil and I have trouble imagining that she's going to get better, and I don't want her to suffer. But every time I check on her she's still breathing fine, even if she's laying flat on her side on the bottom of the tank. And she still swims quite well when she wants to dart away from the torchlight that is being shone on her, even if she lays down flat straight away afterwards, and her colour is still good, scales flat and glossy. Maybe she will come good with rest? But her abdomen looks tinged with pink in places, suggesting bacterial infection. I just don't know. I feel horrible at the idea of killing her when she might get well, but I also feel horrible at letting her possibly rot away from the inside until she's gone. But she looks so intact from the outside! I've heard that dying fish often seem to rebound right before the end so maybe she will be gone by the morning. I thought she would die last time too, she did a lot of sitting on the bottom but came good after a few days. But last time at least she could sit upright and didn't have to lay flat. It doesn't look good. Realistically, I have 30+ fish now and all of them will die one day. Some of them will most likely get sick before they die. I really should work out some humane way to deal with this because it will happen again regardless of the outcome for the current sick fish. Clove oil still seems like the best bet, I've never seen it for sale anywhere but not surprising since I've never looked before.
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Sep 16, 2015 17:47
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SynthOrange posted:How many shrimp did you start with, and when was the last time there was any new blood added into the tank? WELL, we got them along with a tank we bought off a guy on craigslist. He estimated ~400 but honestly I don't know how you could know. There were "a lot", like you could constantly see them everywhere in the 70G - definitely several hundred though. We lost some shortly after due to dumb reasons ( he left them in a stagnant bucket with no water movement/filtration before we picked them up, put a plant in the new tank that obviously had something on it we couldn't wash off ), so after the initial die-offs I'd estimate we probably had a healthy population of at least 200 for several months before the mystery of the disappearing/dying shrimps started. No new shrimp added, the existing population seemed large enough and constantly pregnant enough that adding more didn't seem necessary. Do you think it's possible that they're just all inbred/genetically inferior due to lack of new blood? I don't know how often the previous guy added new shrimp, so maybe the original colony of 400 were all inbred as gently caress and weak?
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Sep 16, 2015 19:48
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TollTheHounds posted:WELL, we got them along with a tank we bought off a guy on craigslist. He estimated ~400 but honestly I don't know how you could know. There were "a lot", like you could constantly see them everywhere in the 70G - definitely several hundred though. I've heard they will inbreed themselves sterile but I haven't had mine long enough to have that. How often should you add new blood? Any experienced shrimpers here?
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Sep 16, 2015 20:27
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My 55 is going on three years now with no new infusion. Granted I never added them to begin with.. they hitched a ride on some moss from my 20L and there are still hundreds in there.
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Sep 17, 2015 01:15
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Do all puffers need to be introduced to saltwater eventually? I'm falling in love here.
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Sep 18, 2015 20:23
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astrollinthepork posted:Do all puffers need to be introduced to saltwater eventually? I'm falling in love here. Figure 8s stay brackish, GSPs apparently migrate to a more marine as they grow, and the full marine puffers are obviously full marine. The amazon dwarf and pea puffers might stay freshwater? And I'm not sure about the tetraodon Mbu but those are huge anyhow.
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Sep 19, 2015 00:47
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Everything I've ever read about Indian pea puffers has said that they stay freshwater their whole lives, but I'm anything but an expert about it. Any thoughts about Celestial Pearl Danios? I'm thinking about buying a school of 6. I remember reading about people making some kind of fuss about them but I don't remember if it was because they were hard to take care of, or easy to take care of, or rare, or just cool looking, or what it was. My tank water is decidedly on the warm, hard, and alkaline side but everything seems to say that water cleanliness is way more important than specific parameters. I may look into changing some things around to provide a tank that's better suited to them if it is crucial. I've read that they nip fins a bit, can they be kept with a betta? Anyone have experience with them? I'm also buying mystery snails, a dozen pink ramshorns and three giant Sulawesi rabbit snails. I love aquatic snails enough as it is and when they come in bright pretty colors I can't resist. For the mysteries I really can't decide, the seller has a variety 6 pack with jade/gold/ivory/blue/purple/peppermint but I kind of just want to buy three purple and three peppermint, they're so beautiful. I have a really adorable mini rabbit snail so I'm really excited about getting the giant ones. Snail tank! republicant fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Sep 19, 2015 |
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Sep 19, 2015 03:17
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I had a school of 8 and over four years sadly I am now down to three.. they are nice little fish though but the bigger the school the better. Not hard to care for or demanding at all but they prefer the larger school with less aggressive fish. Granted if your s/o shows up with a freaking miracle freshwater octopus the guy at the lfs found then all bets are off and you are screwed along with the CPD's.
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Sep 19, 2015 03:52
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Oh I completely forgot to tell you guys that he came home the other day with a new 20 long setup and a baby redtail catfish... He realizes that there's no possible way he can keep it so I don't know why he even bothered. I couldn't stand getting attached to an animal and having to get rid of it immediately but it's his business I guess.
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Sep 19, 2015 04:30
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republicant posted:Everything I've ever read about Indian pea puffers has said that they stay freshwater their whole lives, but I'm anything but an expert about it. Slugworth fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Sep 19, 2015 |
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Sep 19, 2015 04:31
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republicant posted:Oh I completely forgot to tell you guys that he came home the other day with a new 20 long setup and a baby redtail catfish... He realizes that there's no possible way he can keep it so I don't know why he even bothered. I couldn't stand getting attached to an animal and having to get rid of it immediately but it's his business I guess. He needs to stop Jesus christ
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Sep 19, 2015 05:14
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What the gently caress
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Sep 19, 2015 05:19
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republicant posted:Oh I completely forgot to tell you guys that he came home the other day with a new 20 long setup and a baby redtail catfish... He realizes that there's no possible way he can keep it so I don't know why he even bothered. I couldn't stand getting attached to an animal and having to get rid of it immediately but it's his business I guess. Serious this guy needs to be stopped. I'm just a lurker here but my god. If you know you can't take care of something and get it anyway you have a problem.
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Sep 19, 2015 05:27
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It's a shame because it is a very cute little fish, it's just going to grow an inch a week and be unbelievably massive... Ah well, he's giving the fish back to Pet Store Guy and now we have a new tank that I'm going to stock with my new Celestial Pearl Danios and kuhli loaches that I just bought, my cories and some rasboras I'm going to get in the future. My cories are currently in a tank with my betta and there's a slight temperature conflict going on there, so I'm going to move the cories out to this new coolwater tank, put my Sulawesi snails in with my betta and warm it up to 80°. I bought some black Tahitian Moon Sand to bring out the colors of the fish, and I'm excited. I'm really impressed with the (US) seller I ordered my new fish and snails from. Breather bags are used standard with all fish and they actually put Purigen in the bags with the fish to detoxify waste, they refuse to sell small quantities of schooling fish, they won't even carry super advanced fish like redtail catfish (ugh) and every single one of their tanks has its own water supply; they have never had a confirmed case of disease or parasite infecting a customer. The first guy I bought 50 cherry shrimp kind of sucked in retrospect since like 10 of them died, so if this order goes well then this place has a new loyal customer. republicant fucked around with this message at 08:58 on Sep 19, 2015 |
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Sep 19, 2015 07:33
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Who did you buy them from?
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Sep 19, 2015 17:34
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Time for another trim
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Sep 19, 2015 20:18
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What's happening to my plants? Everything else in the tank is thriving, but not this one. 
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Sep 19, 2015 23:26
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Fejsze posted:What's happening to my plants? Everything else in the tank is thriving, but not this one. Do you add any ferts? Has it done better in the past and recently turned bad? Has anything changed recently?
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Sep 20, 2015 00:02
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r0ck0 posted:Do you add any ferts? Has it done better in the past and recently turned bad? Has anything changed recently? I moved them from a smaller tank about 3 months ago. I put a tab of fert in the substrate when it was planted, but haven't done anything to the tank since. Bioload hasn't changed, same lighting, and the 3 other types of plants (+java moss) have been growing like mad. This one just decided to go all weird on me in the last week. I'm thinking of trimming off all the leaves and see if it continues to grow the small buds that are poking out. I've had plants "molt" before, but this has been submerged for close to a year total.
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Sep 20, 2015 01:19
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Rallos posted:Who did you buy them from? Aquatic Arts. http://www.aquaticarts.com I haven't actually gotten the animals yet and I'm interested to see how stressed/not stressed or alive/not alive they are, but everything I've read about them has been impressive. They have a 100% live arrival guarantee even with USPS Priority Mail and not $50 overnight shipping. I was surprised at how few sellers there actually are on the internet, I'd thought there would be tons.
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Sep 20, 2015 03:15
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6SNUr-WPb8
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Sep 20, 2015 03:17
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republicant posted:Aquatic Arts. http://www.aquaticarts.com I haven't actually gotten the animals yet and I'm interested to see how stressed/not stressed or alive/not alive they are, but everything I've read about them has been impressive. They have a 100% live arrival guarantee even with USPS Priority Mail and not $50 overnight shipping. I was surprised at how few sellers there actually are on the internet, I'd thought there would be tons. They sell shoaling fish in groups! Why doesn't everyone do that?! So smart but so stupidly simple. I'm probably going to buy fish online soonish, before winter hits anyway.
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Sep 20, 2015 04:19
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Good point, I guess now is probably the best possible time to order any fish you're going to get, while the weather isn't extreme. I'm not even going to try to get anything once the weather gets cold, it's not worth risking turning them into fish-cicles. When I ordered from them I had to agree to a set of terms and conditions that included promising to research the animals I was buying and make sure that I could care for them properly and knowledgeably. It really is a nice touch. I bid on a couple of auctions on Aquabid for the first time and I really hope I win them. I have no idea if it's like eBay where people swoop in at the last fraction of a second and outbid you but I really want my cheap pretty snails. 
republicant fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Sep 20, 2015 |
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Sep 20, 2015 07:27
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Hello, thread! I swear I read the OPs and have talked to an aquarium store person for awhile to try to get some baseline knowledge. I recently moved into a new apartment, and inherited a freshwater aquarium from god knows how many original owners removed. As a general pet/animal lover, I didn't want the fish to just bite it, and I figured inheriting a bunch of aquarium stuff seemed like not a bad deal for the hopefully low overhead of taking care of them. I've casually wanted one for awhile anyway, so why not? So, what I know: It looks to be 55 gallons (48 x 13 x 20). I haven't been able to to take a super accurate census of the tank, but it seems to be about 12 fish. I will try to take photos tonight for more accurate inventory, but there appear to be: - 2x 4"-ish bigger dudes. One is more yellowy and seems to have some patchy scale pattern (I hope this is normal for this fish), and one is more orangey and has smooth scales. They are the more active guys in the tank and seem to want to eat food as soon as I drop it in the tank. They also seem to suck up some gravel and spit it back out. They don't LOOK like catfish, and I have no real idea what these guys are. I've looked at photos of freshwater fish on sites and can't see much that looks like them at all. - 2x red male bettas that seem pretty chill. - 1-2x panda cory cats. I think I should increase this population because they are a school fish, yes? Also it would help with algae and cleaning, I figure. - Some number of angel fish - I should have taken photos before I made this post because I'm at a loss. Some other number of random small fish that are cool dudes just living.\ - Also in the tank is a fairly large plant bedded down in the gravel which isn't exactly pretty, but I assume good for the tank ecosystem. So the current state of the aquarium upon my arrival was water about 2" from the filter output, active fish, and a decent growth of algae on the back of the tank and on the decorative items inside the tank. Also there is algae on the filter drop-rod which I'm concerned is blocking flow somehow. There is a light that runs the length of the tank, an older looking Tetra Whisper EX70 filter, some kind of pump pumping away that I need to get my bearings with, and 2 kinda old pieces of plexiglass that make the lid in front of the light. Right now the water isn't super clear and there are a lot of particulates in the water. Either that's algae, waste, or the filter isn't keeping up right now. I want to remedy this. My initial goals are to: - get accurate inventory of fish in tank - clean/kill algae off of walls and decorative items - do a steady change of water by siphoning from gravel (also cleaning gravel out) - replace filter system with something newer and better - replace the bulb with a known-fresh bulb (maybe DIY LED?) - overall, make tank super clean and nice looking again, giving the fish a good home So I purchased water conditioner, a de-algaeing solution, a siphon tool, and high quality flake food (if there is such a thing. It's a brand the fish dude said was totally fine). I topped off the tank with conditioned water and added de-algaeing solution to try to kill off the algae lining the walls and decorative items in the tank. The bottle says to do this every 3 days or so until algae is controlled. After algae is starting to die off, I suspect it will fall to the bottom of the tank (???) so then I will begin doing the siphoning from the bottom of 20% of the water in the tank and then replace with conditioned water. I'm guessing I might need to get a good scraper for all of the walls to return them to original condition. There is some powerful magnetic scraper on the front of tank right now that seems to work fine. So this was a long-rear end post that is essentially me saying "Am I doing this right so far?" I basically want to get the algae off the back wall and all the decorative items in there, get the water clear, and have nice clear water for the fish to hang out in. Then I want to make sure the fish balance and numbers are right for optimal happiness and ecosystem (like do I need more algae eaters). And then I want to add fish I think look cool if they will work in it. Thanks for any advice or guidance.
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Sep 21, 2015 17:28
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I honestly want to edit my previous post, but due to various work firewalls the post/edit buttons don't appear and I have to reply to it... I'm looking at this filter: http://www.amazon.com/AquaClear-70-Power-Filter-Listed/dp/B000260FUW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442848698&sr=8-1&keywords=aquarium+filter+70 and this bulb: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-43460...D+T8+4000k+4%27 I have no idea what bulb is correct to get, but this seems to match the stats of the one in there now.
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Sep 21, 2015 17:33
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Really need some pics so we can help ID those fish. Sounds like you have a pretty heavy bioload, depending on the number of angels and ID of the other fish. Aquaclear are good filters, but I'd suggest stepping up to the 110 instead. I think you'll need the extra filtration. You should probably hold off on buying any equipment though until we get a better idea of what you are working with.
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Sep 21, 2015 18:08
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Some Purigen in the filter will probably clear the water right up. Definitely get an API master test kit if you don't have any water testing supplies. Envious of you inheriting a well established tank!
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Sep 21, 2015 18:13
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Whatever you do, do not outright replace the old filter! A grungy looking filter has all the right bacteria in it to help break down waste (biological filtration) and a brand new filter has none of that. If you're new to fish, read about the nitrogen cycle. I wonder if you could run the new and old filters at the same time for a while to allow the new one to become adequately colonised. You probably don't want to clean the gravel too hard, just do a little bit at a time without stirring it up too much. You want to get the gunk and build up out of it but you don't want to release all that nicely settled crap into your water. If there's only one plant you might be able to add some more for additional water quality benefits! Watch out for snails though, unless you want them to help you clean up your algae. Algae could be a problem due to excessive lighting or an old light not putting out the right wavelengths, some algae can use a wider range of light than the plant can use and it can out compete the plant for nutrients. If you get the wavelength right for plants and not algae, the opposite can happen and the algae is starved out by the plant (depending on the plant, fast growing stem plants are better at this). Or you might actually have Cyanobacteria not algae, are you seeing green threads, or black fluff, powdery looking green stuff, what's the algae like? Another thing I thought of is that corydoras are omnivores, they aren't algae cleaners and they need both meaty and plant based foods. They won't clean your tank (that's your job with the gravel vac) although they will probably eat fallen food before it becomes old mouldy food, as long as they can get to it in the gravel. This shouldn't be their only source of food, especially if they are competing with bigger bottom feeding fish - I wonder if they are some kind of barb? What sized gravel do you have, and is it smooth or kind of rough looking? Cories can be a bit fussy about schooling only with their own kind so try to get the same species if you can, and they prefer sand or small smooth gravel so as not to injure their barbels. Good luck with your new tank and please post pictures! Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 18:59
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Stoca Zola posted:Whatever you do, do not outright replace the old filter! A grungy looking filter has all the right bacteria in it to help break down waste (biological filtration) and a brand new filter has none of that. If you're new to fish, read about the nitrogen cycle. I wonder if you could run the new and old filters at the same time for a while to allow the new one to become adequately colonised. I'll take photos with my nice digital camera tonight. I'm a bit embarrassed by the current state of things, but I guess I shouldn't be, since it's not really my work that got things how they are (which isn't BAD, really, just not as clean as I want). That will answer a number of questions. The algae I'm seeing looks like a dense, short, green coating primarily on the back walls and ornamental objects in the tank. I haven't noticed threads or anything. I was told not to replace the filter outright, and to run them simultaneously for awhile for it to build up the bacteria as needed. I guess I'll just drop the extra $18 for the 110 for extra filtration power. For the current filter, I was planning on replacing the charcoal filter media and NOT the bacterial filter as soon as possible, and then getting some of that Purigen in there somewhere as well to assist in a rapid cleaning of the water.
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Sep 21, 2015 19:10
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Having a nice long drop on a hang on filter water outlet into the tank allows the water to get more highly oxygenated than if the level was higher or the water flowed smoothly into the tank. I wonder if the level was a bit low intentionally to ensure turbulence or oxygenation? Just thinking as that is what I've done for one of my shrimp tanks that needed a lot more water movement.
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Sep 21, 2015 19:18
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Stoca Zola posted:Having a nice long drop on a hang on filter water outlet into the tank allows the water to get more highly oxygenated than if the level was higher or the water flowed smoothly into the tank. I wonder if the level was a bit low intentionally to ensure turbulence or oxygenation? Just thinking as that is what I've done for one of my shrimp tanks that needed a lot more water movement. I can't really rely on anything being correct, since the previous caretaker wasn't even the person who originally set it up. He was the landlord living there temporarily, who seemed to like the fish but I don't think had any idea what was best for the fish. I'd really like to not have a long drop to the water below, because it makes it very loud.
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Sep 21, 2015 19:22
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I forgot, I came here to post that my sick fish hasn't died yet. She's just lost all buoyancy and isn't eating. For a while she was on her side on the bottom of the hospital tank and the skin on the bottom side started to look quite nasty but I've propped some plastic in there that she leans against now and the nasty patch is looking better now that she's not on it all the time. I tried pipetting a small amount of food directly to her in case she was hungry but not able to chase the food, but she isn't interested at all. She still swims fast enough to scare me that she's going to leap out of the hospital tank when she gets agitated, ie when I was cleaning, but mostly she has given up trying to stay oriented in the water and just rests on the bottom. I've been able to hold a light up against her and see all the way through her, her body cavity looks a bit discoloured so I am still thinking she has some internal infection. I can't see her swim bladder at all! I've seen her with a light shine through her before since that is how to tell male from female based on the swim bladder shape so it's definitely not the same as it used to be. I just wish I'd gotten some medicine into her while she was still eating because I think that would have been the only chance to really make a difference. But she wasn't really acting sick then. Fish medicine is hard!
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Sep 21, 2015 19:30
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Rallos posted:I've heard they will inbreed themselves sterile but I haven't had mine long enough to have that. How often should you add new blood? Any experienced shrimpers here? I'm not an expert but.....these are red cherries, right? I have some in all my tanks, and over time if I don't cull, I end up with a tank of brown shrimp. But when I kept yellows (a color strain of cherries) they did great....for a while. Despite adding new blood, after a year all of them were dead. I tried blue velvets. Same story. Some shrimp that are bred for certain colors seem weaker genetically. The dude I got the blue velvets from ordered them online from a guy who had what he said was a pure strain, but all of those died off too. Nothing wrong with the water, no copper, just weak animals. It happens. That said if yours are cherries, they shouldn't drop dead so easily. What else is in their tank? Have you tested for heavy metals, like copper?
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Sep 21, 2015 23:03
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