Can I put dead white coral in a tank?

[yoster]

Making a new aquarium and was wondering if I could put dead white coral in my tank? I have an open ecosphere and want to create a bigger environment for the shrimp. I also bought some live Aragonite sand and will let it dry out completely, then rinse it off before I use it. Does Aragonite sand affect the shrimp as well?

Read up on it further and I see that the dead white coral should be OK. However, I am not sure about the Aragonite. Should I boil this since it is live sand for saltwater aquariums to kill off whatever is in there?

[Rob in Puyallup]

I have live aragonite sand in two of my brackish opae ula tanks. Used it right out of the bag with no problems.

[yoster]

Thanks will give it a shot and will try and put just one shrimp in there to make sure nothing happens. If all goes well, I will dump the rest in.

[Rob in Puyallup]

I have live aragonite sand in two of my brackish opae ula tanks. Used it right out of the bag with no problems.

...and have opae larvae in both tanks.

[yoster]

Seems like I had some bacteria die off possibly from the live sand. Got 0.25 ammonia levels in the nano tank. I have algae coral rocks cultured from an existing tank that I will be able to put in there sometime this week or next along with tank water from an existing tank as well. As far as the ammonia, will the algae rocks stabilize the ammonia or do I need to do partial water changes? The shrimp are still in their ecosystem and will not be put in until the nano tank is good and ready.

Update: Strangely,tested the water and ammonia is at 0. I did have the 50/50 light on it nonstop since I put the sand into the aquarium on Easter. I turned the light on to kick start the live stuff in the sand since it probably did not see light for a couple days during delivery.

[Mustafa]

It's not that unusual that ammonia would go down as nitrifying bacteria kick in at some point. Plus, it's so hard to read ammonia levels of less than 0.5 that you might as well regard any results you imagine seeing as unreliable. The behavior of the shrimp is a better indicator. So is algae growth. There are usually no algae while a tank is cycling.

[yoster]

Put about eight of the shrimp into the nano tank and seems like something went wrong. Two of the shrimp started to go into seizures after about 30 minutes. I kept the live sand, and the algae coral rocks, removed the sea branch along with the dead white coral. I took out the two shrimp and put them back into the original half gallon system, then proceeded to water change 60% with the only thing on hand, which was the Gerber purified baby water. After about an hour of them just in seizure mode, I went to bed. Woke up the next day and the two shrimp survived. They went clear and have not changed color at all. I did another water change again of about 75% to be on the safe side with the Gerber water. There are now six in the new tank with no deaths. They just seem to just swim around a lot and are not feeding much. I bought one of those saltwater test kits, and seems like the PH is really high at 8.8, while the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate at 0. Tried some pellet food for the shrimp as well, the original tank goes nuts over it, while the new tank, the shrimp seem to just nibble on it. Hopefully the 24 algae coral rocks are the cause of them not eating the pellet.

[Mustafa]

Your tank has clearly not cycled. As you have noticed "going into seizure" is never a good sign for any animal. I would wait until your tank starts growing some algae and/or your shrimp run around acting normally (i.e. picking at things) before feeding anything.

[yoster]

About two days after the water change, they are all doing good. The two that had seizures are still clear with no color changes, but are eating and acting normal. There was something in the water, possibly the original distilled water I used, or maybe the items I took out of the tank. Either way, they are all eating off the algae rocks, and doing a ton of laps around the new tank. I tried some shrimp pellet food which they like to eat off of for about an hour, and then will stop. That is a pretty good indicator that they are eating really well off the algae rocks as my smaller 1/2 gallon open sphere will eat the pellet, and will not stop until gone. The ratio is a lot bigger though with 12 shrimp with only 1 algae rock in the open sphere compared to the 3 gallon nano-tank that has 6 shrimp with 20+ algae rocks.

On a side note, I have been alternating the weekly feedings with the green Spirulina powder, which causes them all to go hyper, and the new pellet food. With the introduction of the pellet food that has a lot of protein, the shrimp have been doing really well as far as growth. I have been seeing a lot of molts in both tanks, and with the smaller tank, they seem to be a lot bigger than when I first got them. I also notice that these shrimp are not as bright solid red as when I got them now as I use a 50/50 bulb in the bigger tank. However, when I put either of my tanks by a window for a day or two, they all go back to the bright solid red with the exception of the two clear ones that had seizures.

[Mustafa]

Glad to read that things are going better. As you noticed, when shrimp have plenty of food growing in their tank, they won't even touch any additional artificial food. If your shrimp can't finish the food you give them, just don't feed them for a few weeks (or month+) and then give them a smaller piece than last time. It takes a little time, but after a while you get the hang of how much to feed them.

[yoster]

Thanks, I have been using these shrimp pellets that are 1.5mm, and they are fantastic. I threw a pellet in the nano-tank, hid it really well, and it has stayed together for three days before I took it out. I bought these specifically so they won't fowl the water easily. With the white live sand I have, I can easily locate and remove anything uneaten. I bought a pound of the stuff for $15, and I won't be running out of this for years so I like throw in 3-5 at a time to let all the shrimp eat before I fish them out.

[Mustafa]

I think it would still be better to experiment with how small a piece you would have to feed for the shrimp to finish within maybe an hour or two instead of feeding more and fishing the pieces out. Although some foods may keep their shape for a long time, that does not mean they are not leeching nutrients into the water.