So I have an update after the positive response I received from my original post. Plus I figured you all would like to see how it came out! I'm super excited and they are are excited living in their new home. They are so active!
Original post: https://www.petshrimp.com/discussions/v ... =16&t=6473
Here is an update of my shrimp tank:
Close of tank
Tank
Tank
Thank you everyone for your input and much appreciated!
However, just this morning 4 of my shrimps died! I have no idea why. I have not changed anything. I removed the dead shrimps (as I know you should since they release bad toxins). I got my water tested and everything seems to be normal except the hardness. The scale says it's .5, not sure what that means but they recommend to change the water, about 10% of it. Also the other thing that could cause the issue is my moss ball. I saw it turn brown and then back green. I think they may have ingested it and then got poisoned because of the bacteria? Not sure what other reason it could be. Any thoughts?
Here is the test results of the water taken from Petsmart:
Ammonia- 0
Nitrate- 20
Nitrite- .5
Total Hardness- 300
Total Chlorine- 0
Total Alkalinity- 40
ph- 7.2
Temperature: 78F
Salinity: 1.015
Sorry to hear that! It's usually something that got in the water recently that could be causing havoc. Did you paint or use cleaning product near the tank? You don't have a heater right?
The tank has a lid so I don't think anything got into it but either way I wasn't cleaning or anything around the tank that particles would drop.
And I just recently checked, 2 more died! :'(. I do have a heater. I decided to check the temp to make sure that it's still at 78F and it's not! It's at 81F so it could be because of the that. I just unplugged the heater.
I doubt it was the temperature (unless some parts got much higher than the 81 degrees you mentioned), but either way the heater is unnecessary to have in the tank. Something is definitely wrong though, and I'd do a larger water change. 10% is not going to cut it if something in the water is toxic enough to kill that many shrimp so quickly.
Varanus wrote: ↑Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:39 am
I doubt it was the temperature (unless some parts got much higher than the 81 degrees you mentioned), but either way the heater is unnecessary to have in the tank. Something is definitely wrong though, and I'd do a larger water change. 10% is not going to cut it if something in the water is toxic enough to kill that many shrimp so quickly.
Yeah, I'm not sure whats going on but they are dropping like flies! 5 more died. I did a water change, 50% so hopefully that will resolve the issue.
I'm not sure if it's normal but it does have a strong scent, can't tell what it is those but it's strong. The lid has a small opening where you can put fish food in and so I lift that open to air it out.
What kind of scent? Chemical scent or organism scent? If it stinks, too much ammonia is a possibility. Do you have large snails in there? Do you feed them?
i<3Opae wrote: ↑Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:59 pm
What kind of scent? Chemical scent or organism scent? If it stinks, too much ammonia is a possibility. Do you have large snails in there? Do you feed them?
Taking the heater out is a good idea anyways!
I believe it's more of salt smell. Although, i'm not positive as I am not familiar with the scent. Either way, after the water change I have not seen any dead shrimps (knock on wood)!
SuperProofer wrote: ↑Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:40 pm
Does it smell like a log ride at an amusement park? 'Cause that's what mine makes me think of. And I think that's normal.
No, it just smells like saltiness. So I think it's normal.
I'm glad the water change helped. Before the water change your pH and alkalinity were *way* too low anyway. Usually the pH should be around 8.1-8.2 and alkalinity around 140 or so after mixing up your brackish water. 7.2 and 40 means something "acidified" the water. The water change probably fixed that.
