Soothing Shrimp Posted November 25, 2014 Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 "Don't they eat fresh spinach and other vegetables?" I'm not arguing, merely thinking aloud. The spinach leaves have been severed from a plant, so are in the process of dying, no? In addition, many of us boil/freeze them, which rupture cell membranes and this makes them in the process of melting/decaying. So I guess all precut leaves that are put into the tank are not in the best of shape anymore- so fair game for shrimp. heh You may be correct that the shrimp are eating a healthy plant, however it would be one of the first times I have heard of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasshalffull Posted November 25, 2014 Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 I had the same thing happen with mine as well what I noticed on mine was that the roots were coming from like half way up the plant the bottom part of the stem had died and that's what my shrimp were eating not saying that's what happened with yours just my observation in my tank they ate the bottom dead but left the live top part alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 "Don't they eat fresh spinach and other vegetables?" I'm not arguing, merely thinking aloud. The spinach leaves have been severed from a plant, so are in the process of dying, no? In addition, many of us boil/freeze them, which rupture cell membranes and this makes them in the process of melting/decaying. So I guess all precut leaves that are put into the tank are not in the best of shape anymore- so fair game for shrimp. heh You may be correct that the shrimp are eating a healthy plant, however it would be one of the first times I have heard of this. Okay, I guess that makes sense. I've started to dose Flourish Excel about two weeks ago thinking that the plants can use it as a source of carbon, but I just read that anacharis (and other plants) are very sensitive to it (and can die from it), and that plants really can't use the type of carbon in Flourish Excel. I was dosing under the recommended amount every few days, but maybe my anacharis were affected by this anyway. I'm going to stop dosing this thing and hope I don't do any more damage to my tanks. I'll just stick to root tabs from now on. >.< I had the same thing happen with mine as well what I noticed on mine was that the roots were coming from like half way up the plant the bottom part of the stem had died and that's what my shrimp were eating not saying that's what happened with yours just my observation in my tank they ate the bottom dead but left the live top part alone I have the complete opposite in my tank. They were not eating the roots or leaves near the roots. They were eating closer to the top where new leaves and stems were growing. The bottom halves of the plants were still intact. =( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted December 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 OK. Quick update. Everything is doing really well, except I've got nitrates at 40 ppm (after a 25% water change). I also haven't done a water change in about 2 weeks, so that may be it. I do have Purigen, so how do you recommend dosing that in a 7.9G tank? Can it go into a little bag inside the filter? In the meantime, I'll be doing several small water changes over the next week to get those nitrates down. For now, here is the tank in all its planted glory... Anubias is doing fantastic! New leaves unfurling every week or so. Buce (Icarus Velvet) is planted directly into the substrate. Still going strong. Just added 3 MK-Breed life balls into the tank today. We'll see how they do. Dwarf Sagittaria has runners EVERYWHERE! They look so cute! ^^ Amazon Sword is bright green and happy! Moss balls are moss balls. I don't really notice them and almost forgot I had them. They have grown quite a lot since I've put them in the tank, but since they are more toward the back, they get ignored. Lol. Mini Pellia is starting to attach itself to the rocks. The ones that fell into the substrate look okay too. Water Sprite has been doing great. I have SO many baby water sprites now, so I'm thinking of replacing the mother plant with one or a few of these babies. Water Sprite view from the side. The shrimp love to graze on their long roots. =) Many of the shrimp have been huddled near the filter intake for quite some time now. Not sure what that's about. Here's a baby from Mama Bear's first batch. They have gotten SO big! I totally forgot they used to be little specks until I went through older pictures of them! Mama Bear and crew feasting on MK-Breed White Crystal. They converged on it as soon as I dropped it into the tank. Little beasties. And then there's this gal. I found her mating with a male this morning while the lights were off. I had to explain to my little sister that they weren't fighting and that she shouldn't turn the lights on to see them because she could scare them. We went out to breakfast and came back to her berried! How exciting, right?! WRONG. I left for work and came back home and she had already dropped all of her eggs. It was her first batch, which was to be expected, but still sad nonetheless. Better luck next time, I guess! ANBU 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metageologist Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 Nice looking tank. Yes just hang the Purigen in the filter. Just a work of warning regarding your alge balls. It has been my experience that is they can't roll around they will develop hair alge and GBA. Just my 2 cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted December 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 Nice looking tank. Yes just hang the Purigen in the filter. Just a work of warning regarding your alge balls. It has been my experience that is they can't roll around they will develop hair alge and GBA. Just my 2 centsSo do you recommend having these in the tank at all? Am I supposed to regularly roll them around or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metageologist Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 So do you recommend having these in the tank at all? Am I supposed to regularly roll them around or something?I personally will never have them again they collect everything in them and ender them but to each there own. As far as keeping them long term you should roll them over on a regular basis or provide a open layout so they can move with the current. I would roll them every other day so they don't fill with ditrius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted January 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 Help! I've had 3 deaths in this tank in the last 24 hours. I think it may be due to my boyfriend spraying pesticide/anticide a couple of days ago all around my tank and not cleaning it up for hours. I shined a flashlight on the glass and could see splatter marks from the spray all around the tank. I've already done several 25% water changes since Friday. Should I just take the water down to 10% and slowly drip acclimate 90% new water? I'm at a loss here and not really sure what to do. The newborns seem fine. They are active and swimming and so are the Royal Blues Tigers I acclimated into the tank yesterday. (The first death occurred before the Royal Blues were introduced into the tank, but I just chalked it up to a molting issue.) I've already wiped down the surfaces of the tank. I don't know what else I can do to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 1, 2015 Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 Problems with pesticides are that they are meant to kill insects, and shrimp are not too far off from being underwater "bugs." If you've done more than (4) 25% changes, you've basically changes almost all your water out already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R. Posted January 1, 2015 Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 I've already done several 25% water changes since Friday. Should I just take the water down to 10% and slowly drip acclimate 90% new water? The 10% + 90% water chane is a good idea in my opinion. With the four 25% water changes you still have have 31% of your original water in your tank. If you now replace 90% you only keep 3% of the original water. Insecticides can be tethal to shrimps in very small concentrations. Using them in a shrimp room is a big "no-no". If you have an ant problem you can use solid ant baits. In spring when the temperatures cool down after several warm days, ants come into my basement to seek refuge from the cold temperatures. They once even build nests under the hanging filters. Putting ant baits close to where I suspected the ants to enter got rid of the problem and I did not notice any shrimp deaths. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 1, 2015 Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 I'd listen to Steve on the math, as I've always been bad at that. I know from experience water resets work, but I am a little concerned about stressing your royals since they are so new. Steve R. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R. Posted January 1, 2015 Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 I agree with Soothing about the stress. You want to match the water parameters (including temperature) of the new water as close as possible to the ones you have in your tank and slowly add the new water. You can use the same water to spray your plants if you are concerned they might get too dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted January 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 Ok. I'll go ahead and do that. I'm just afraid some of the baby shrimp clinging to the java moss won't go down with the water level. I've had a couple of smaller Opae'Ula get stuck in the java moss when I was re-doing the tank and didn't realize they were stuck until I was rinsing everything under tap water. After the bucket with the plants was overflowing with freezing cold water for awhile, I noticed one shrimp in the bucket not moving. I took it out and put it into the water with the other shrimp, and it immediately came back to life. The other one I found when I was rinsing off the java moss and found it tangled inside. I had to carefully pull the java moss apart to get the shrimp out and put it in the tank with its buddies. That's my only concern right now is baby shrimp dying because they're stuck in the moss with no water. =( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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