A tragic story of ammonium poisoning

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ktha
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Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:36 pm

A tragic story of ammonium poisoning

Post by ktha »

I designed a beautiful new tank (3 gallons), cycled it, and added 12 shrimp (a new order of 10 plus 2 oldies from my other tank). And then my six year old nephew added four (4!) algae wafers to "feed the shrimp". It took me two days to notice, when the strong smell of decaying organic matter caught my nose. I quickly started draining the water to get the shrimp back into the old 0.5 gallon tank, but by that point, I'd already lost 5 of them. I moved the 7 shrimp to the old tank, and at first they seemed okay.
That was yesterday morning. Since then (~24 hours), I've lost 3 more shrimp. (Interestingly, it seems most of the shrimp I've lost are the ones from the new order-- seems like 2 oldies are among the 4 still kicking... Maybe they're hardy since they spent 2 years trapped in an ecosphere :?: )
The last 4 shrimp seem okay, but I'm worried I might lose them, too. Is there anything I can do to help them survive, or is it just a waiting game, now?
Vorteil
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Re: A tragic story of ammonium poisoning

Post by Vorteil »

Time will tell. Just a waiting game now.
ssdarling
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Re: A tragic story of ammonium poisoning

Post by ssdarling »

How are your guys doing now?

I would make sure that the tank is out of reach or has a hard to remove lid.
ktha
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Re: A tragic story of ammonium poisoning

Post by ktha »

We have 3 happy survivors living in the half gallon. I cleaned out and re-started the cycling process on the 3 gallon about a week ago. Waiting on a new order of shrimp. And yes-- I built a locking lid!
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