Major change in activity...

hollyszoo · Post by **hollyszoo** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:11 am

I bought some driftwood yesterday (already soaked/decomposing) I dropped a piece into the RCS tank and they went CRAZY for the stuff. There is brown RCS excrement all around the driftwood and they have just swarmed it.

I checked on the tank this morning and the shrimp are swimming all over the place. Its like a NASCAR race or something, just zooming from one end of the tank to the other.

Now, is this a *good* thing, or a bad thing?

I was careful about purchasing the driftwood, making sure it hadn't been treated with anything and the tanks hadn't been treated with coppersafe. It was in a tank system with some amano shrimp so I hoped it was probably okay.

I am having a minor planaria issue despite having little substrate and cleaning the tank thoroughly.

I thought possibly giving them the driftwood while not "feeding" them would starve out the planaria. I read other posts about using oak leaves and thought the driftwood might serve the same purpose

I also put some tiny (as in only about 4 days old) guppies in the tank to see if they'd have any interest in the planaria. There are only 5 guppy fry, hitchhikers from one female of a trio I received Tuesday.

So, bestow upon me your mighty knowledge

driftwood = okay?
increased activity = okay?
guppy fry = okay? (temporarily, i know they can eat shrimplets)
tactics for planaria control = okay?

Holly

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:42 am

I would remove the driftwood. Frantic activity for a long time is not normal. They sound like they are trying to get away. Driftwood often has bad stuff in it, no matter what you do.

Guppies are not a good idea as eventually they will be big enough to bother the shrimp. I've kept endlers with mine, and even they would pick off the babies even though the adults were safe. They won't do much for your planaria either.

The safest bet for planaria is kill them as you see them. When they are on the glass you can push hard on them with your finger and slide them up the glass and out of the water. If you push really hard they will stick to your finger and you can wipe them off on something. You can also trap them. Cut off the top of a soda bottle and put some stones and a small piece of liver in it. Put some netting small enough to keep out the cherry shrimp but large enough for the planaria to crawl through. Fill with water and lay it on its side on the bottom at lights out. Check it in a couple of hours and dump out your catch. Put in a fresh piece of liver and repeat.

There is also a product I am trying now called PraziPro. I am using it currently on a tank with cherry shrimp. So far so good. I've used it with dwarf crays (Cajuns) and it did not hurt the crays and nearly eliminated the planaria with the 1st dose. I'm doing a 2nd round now. I'll report back on the effects on cherries. So far no sign of stress.

shrimper Bob · Post by **shrimper Bob** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:51 pm

I had the same thing happen when I added an Indian Almond leaf to my Red Cherry tank, frantic activity. After soaking the tannins out for about 2 weeks in treated water I put it back and all was well.
I would soak the driftwood for a while in clean treated water then try to put it back, like Badflash said frantic activity for that length of time is not good.
I also had an out-break of planaria even though I was feeding very little, at least I thought so. Planaria is a sign of excess food. I starved the tank for a week, now I rarely put any food in, they eat micro-organisms off the leaves and algae. Planaria is gone.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:26 am

Planaria can be a sign of excess food, but not of excess feeding, although excess feeding can cause the planaria population to explode. I have a tank with greens, cherries and amanos that have lots of planaria. I have not fed it in 3 months. The leaf litter I add appears to be enough to keep the planaria going.

hollyszoo · Post by **hollyszoo** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:37 am

i didn't get a chance to remove it, but when i checked on the rcs this morning the activity is back down to normal and all seem fine. It was as if they were just swarming the driftwood. I'll take it out this afternoon and boil it for a few hours and maybe just let it sit in one of my outside ponds for awhile before I put it back in with them.

they did really seem to enjoy it.

i don't see any planaria today, maybe my eyes were just fooling me. i thought i saw white squigglys. I was looking for baby rcs. maybe I was just looking too hard

The guppy fry will be moving to their own tank on Monday when I package up some other guppy fry I sold and I'll have some empty tanks (for a short while, I have several female metals ready to pop.... again) they were only in there temporarily as the only tank I had open was a 10g. and they just seemed lost. The 20L shrimp tank is much more densely planted and is slightly green water so I knew they'd be able to find food in there.

I ordered some ketapang leaves from ebay about a month ago. Coming from Thailand I believe. Haven't gotten them yet but the confirmation email said 4-6 weeks isn't uncommon. I'm impatient. I think my angels will like them as well. I'll be careful to rinse and soak them before I add them to the rcs tank.

thanks guys!