MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hi. I have had a tank set up for approximately the last 6 months, it was housing 4 king Kong and 10 f1 hybrids. Over the last 10 days I have lost 2 KK and 1 f1. The first thing I did was to check parameters each time and absolutely nothing has been showing wrong. 2 of my f1 are currently carrying eggs ( although one seems to have dropped all but 1 of them in the first 2 days) I'm a little worried as its the first time I've had any losses since they were introduced 4 months ago! Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Ph 5.8 Kh 0 Gh 5 Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all 0 Tds 162 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Both Nits at 0? You sure about that? Also, what temp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Ammonia and nitrite definitely. Had a slight issue with nitrate about a month ago, reading somewhere between 0 and 5ppm but api test kit now says 0 (bright yellow). Temperature 22.6C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Have you changed anything in the tank recently? Anything added or removed, a water change, new products remineralizer anything new at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 The last water change was around 3 weeks ago and onlyh around 10%. 1 filter was cleaned in old tank water as flow had slowed down but no media changed (I run 2 HOB and 1 sponge). Truth be told, I'm a little scared to tinker with the tank at all! Regular top offs done using pure RO every 3 - 4 days and I actually drip it in overnight so as not to upset anything. The odd dead leafs are removed using tweezers etc and I use SS remineraliser if required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Huh sounds like it could be random deaths? That is wierd, you said you were having a nitrate problem about a month ago? What were your nitrate readings and what did you do to remedy it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Going by the colour chart it was somewhere 0 and 5ppm. As far as remedying it the only thing I did was to add some floaters from my other tank, within a week I was reading zero. Oooh....I also added a tiny bit of purigen to one of my HOBs. I hope this wouldn't haven't caused any problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
35ppt Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 What's the history on the purigen? Has it ever been recharged? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Never been recharged, I'd prefer to just buy as and when required Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 That sounds unrelated nitrates at 5 should not be any concern and the Purigen for sure would not have had any adverse effect. I use Purigen in all my shrimp tanks and recharge them regularly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I know there have some been some issues with people having funky purigen when opened and they had to rinse it. But I'm just grabbing at straws now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I always rinse anything I use in a bit of old tank water before hand. I'm wondering if it's possibly a molting issue, it's fairly rare that I see many skins lying around although the tank is planted quite a bit. If it was a failed molt would it be obvious to spot, and is there anything I can do to help them along? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Returned home from work to find another f1 lying on its back this evening! Again, all my parameters seem fine.......don't know what to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 What substrate are you using? Look's like akadama, if it is I have heard after about 6 months it starts messing with GH and could cause molting issues. Has any type of spays like air freshener/cleaning aerosols been used in the area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 It is akadama yes, my Gh seems to be ok and following the calculations works out at 5.56. As far as cleaning products, we only ever use a steam cleaner in the living room. I've always had open top tanks and I'm sad to say I learnt pretty quick from previous mistakes not to use aerosol and disinfectants etc. This is why I'm really puzzled as to what's happening Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
35ppt Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 I can't think of anything obvious.How do you generate and store your RO? Could it possibly be contaminated? I imagine you keep a close eye on the tank. No planaria or hydra? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Ro is purchased from local store and has a tds of around 005ppm, it's stored in a white plastic container with lid and lasts around 2wks. I check the tds each time before use and it maybe rises to around 007ppm by the time I'm due to collect more. As far as hydra/planaria are concerned I'm 99% sure there is none in there. I checked the tank before work this morning, lights off and it was pretty busy. KK were out and looked happy, so I'll have to check when I get home to see if anything else has happened. Fingers crossed it's all good! Thanks for your replys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miwu Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 What has your regular water change schedule been for the past four months? I will almost always start seeing dead shrimps in my tanks once it hits the three weeks mark without a water change. I know some people recommend not changing the water at all, but this has been the case for me, so I thought I would make this suggestion. I do want to know what the schedule has been like though. Also, if it's a bad molt, sometime you can see loose molt attached to the dead shrimps. You can also sometimes see more of a yellow color around the mouth/face/front legs area, which is likely loose shell. This is however only obvious on freshly dead shrimps. If they are having molting issues, I'd recommend slowly dropping the GH/TDS (and this may take care of the water change too). Keep us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Every third Sunday is my routine at around 15 - 20%, with just regular top offs due to evaporation in between. This schedule is only because I've also read not to mess too much if everything is happy. When I have had planted fish tanks it was actually twice weekly changes due to ferts etc, so I initially found it hard to not do the same with shrimp! Even now, my parameters seem to rarely change during those 3wks but I feel a water change is a must. If I were to lower my Gh/TDS over the next week or so, to what values would you suggest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 I think minerals are some how depleting from the tank or diluted to the point the shrimp cant make use of them, I would suggest weekly10% wc with fresh re mineralizer and maybe a mineral rock/old sea mud. A product like bt-9 may help also, when I do a wc I replace minerals both macro/micro I also add beneficial bacteria, microbes and enzymes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets82 Posted February 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 That sounds worth a try thanks, it's something I haven't actually thought about but it stands to reason that if I'm constantly adding fresh ro then things will be getting diluted over the course of time. I have placed a few mineral balls into the tank but I know that these release very slowly over time. I'll be getting something ordered later on this evening. Again, thanks very much for all the suggestions, help and advice is pretty hard to come by in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Not only do we need to feed our shrimp, we need to feed the environment the shrimp live in. I hope it works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evabug1 Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hey MoP, Hope things get sorted with your shrimp. There's a great UK forum on Facebook called All Things Shrimp. It's always nice to have local connections as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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