Cherry Shrimp Epilogue and Potpourri

[TKD]

Hi all,

This is a rap up of what happened on this thread.
viewtopic.php?t=693

The Rap up

My dad contacted the pet shop for me and no dice in getting a refund.
He said that they were in good health when they left the store so no refund.
He did say the same thing about copper in the pipes.
(I don’t blame him either)

I went to my LSF (Creatures Great and Small), and got my water tested.
There were no trace amounts of iron in the water and the copper tested at about 0.21/0.22 ppm.
The pet store guy said that would be enough to kill shrimp (and the Japanese Trap Door Snails that I had bought and ended up with similar results)

He suggested that I change the zeocarb aquaclear insert more frequently and (like Mustafa said) use cold water to do water changes.

Any comments on the above part?
And any other ideas as to how to get copper out of my water before it goes into the tank?

Now for the potpourri part…

He was saying that one of there biggest customers has bought all of is shrimp and plants from AZ and has had NO problem… most of the press (if not all of it) that I have heard about them on this forum has been bad.

As any one had GOOD luck with them? (Not going to buy anything from them just courious)

(Disclaimer I’m only repeating what the guy said)

We also talked about the Iodine thing (Mustafa will crucify me this next bit… ) He said that shrimp need Iodine in Victoria water. This is because we have a new treatment plant and the only chemicals that come from our water are fluoride, chlorine and chloramines, that’s it. They had really bad luck with shrimp in the past and since they had started using Iodine they have had fewer deaths, shrimp are bigger and healthier.

Would the reason as to why some don’t need to ad Iodine to there shrimp tank be because it is all ready in there water?

Has there been any comparative studies on it?

They finally had some more reasonably priced shrimp…
They have both Green and Black shrimp for sale at 5$.

Now what is a Black shrimp? They had some there that are 1.5 times the size of Amanos. And some that looked like cherries (in size), just Black (more dark brown).

Sorry about the novel, just a lot of stuff happening

TKD

[Janis]

Hi TKD,

I'm in Vancouver and I know that our water has absolutely nothing in it (other than chlorine) and I don't add any iodine to my tanks. I have to increase the hardness with some crushed coral in order to prevent a pH crash, but other than that I don't add anything. Your water may be a little different, but I don't think it's necessary for you to start adding iodine, I would deal with the copper problem first.

As far as I know the copper comes from the pipes in your house. There is an excellent article about it in the Vancouver Aquatic Hobbyists Club Newsletter, March 2003. Here is the link:
http://www.fishopolis.com/vahc/newsletter_archive.cfm

About AZ Gardens... I ordered from them a while back (before there was all this bad press on the internet) and it wasn't a pleasant experience. The first shipment of shrimp I got was about 90% dead and the bags just reeked of ammonia, and this was after being in the bags for less than 24 hours! The replacement shrimp did better (because I requested that they only put 3 shrimp per bag), but I had quite a few deaths in the first 2 months. I ordered about 20 shrimp and a year later only had about 3 left. Not the best survival rate. That being said, I also got some fish and they all did really well, no problems at all. I think the problem with the shrimp is that they aren't very healthy to start with and then they scoop them out of a pond with a bunch of pond gunk and toss them into a bag. It's just not the best shipping method.

Anyway, I hope this helps and that you're more successful with your next batch of shrimp. Good luck!

Janis

[TKD]

Hi Janis,

Thanks for your reply.
I'm in an appartment so the article will not help me.

Oh right, the petstore guys jugested that I try and use bottled water.

TKD

[frugalfish]

Being one of those that has criticized AZ Gardens, I should share my experience. I have only one order with them for live plants and shrimp. The plants were mixed. Some were absolutely perfect and others were garbage. Came out about 60/40. As for the shrimp...when they arrived (which was in under 24 hours and only a state away) four were dead in the bag and when I opened it it smelled really bad. They did give me in-house credit for the DOA's and were polite on the phone. As for the bad
plants...nothing. I have since purchased shrimp and plants from Mustafa and all have been perfect, no problems. It's amazing that Mustafa can pack his shrimp so professionally and have them travel for three days with no DOA's for less. My frogbit has over doubled in mass in two weeks and the shrimp are growing like crazy. They are also in the same tank as the shrimp from AZ. I may order from AZ again, but it will not be for shrimp.

[TKD]

I realy don't want this to turn into another AZ bashing thread...

I would however like comments on the rest of what I posted like the Black shrimp and the Iodine (I Know, I know) questions.

TKD

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi TKD, thanks for the update - too bad you couldn't get store credit, but at least you tried. It sounds like you might find some other shrimp though?!

Just throwing out more possibly weird ideas in an effort to work around your water quality problem. If the copper problem has to do with your building alone, then could it possibly help to get a willing neighbor or friend's water tested (in another building) and if it doesn't have the high copper problem, possibly use their water instead? Just an idea. It might be more trouble than you originally intended but on the other hand, for instance, I see SW tank people going to the LFS all the time with jugs to pick up their "Catalina" water.

I was also noticing my package of Brita filter said it reduces heavy metals including copper. Now DON'T use it without knowing more; search or get other's opinion. I'm just mentioning this, wondering if anyone ever uses it for aquarium water and if there are any merits. I was noticing it said it reduces water hardness too, which may or may not be a good thing.

About iodine, remember it's something that needs to be ingested (at least that's what I recall). So if you really feel the need, I think it's in things like seaweed and other type of stuff; point being, look for it in terms of fish food.

-GunmetalBlue