Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

wendyjo

If you do not think it was over feeding.

Was the plant you put in your tank, one that was in a balck plastic container with fiber in it.

If it was, they put Fertalizer in them. For better growth.

Just a Thought
John

I may very well be overfeeding - I'm just saying that if it is then I wasn't aware of it and am not sure how often to feed now cause I thought every other day was good for a new tank.

I honestly can't remember if the plant was bare root or planted since it was a few weeks ago. I do know that at some point in time I did buy a potted plant, but not sure when/which plant it was. I know that I took the potted plant out of the pot, washed the roots and then soaked the whole thing in some salt water for a day or so. I split the plant in 2 and put part in the shrimp tank and part in my betta tank. I noticed "something" on the plants once I saw them under the tank lights - probably eggs of some sort. So I pulled them out about 2 hours after I had planted them. I did not put the plant back in the shrimp tank.

I am still thinking this had something to do with that nasty peice of cuttlebone I took out of the tank last night. I recall seeing the shrimp that died eating from a piece of cuttlebone, which is what prompted me to add a bit more last week.

In my experience, the "nasty cuttlebone" provides a perfect environment for growing the stuff the shrimp love. I keep cuttlebone in all of my tanks, but due to the numbers of shrimp, they never get nasty. There are always 4 or 5 shrimp on a small piece at any time.

But it was black! You're telling me that's how it should look? When I took it out it left ash-type marks on me. And it smelled horrible.

No, what I am saying is I have enough shrimp that they keep it clean. If you only have a few shrimp, only put in a tiny chunk. Mine stay nice & white until they finally dissapear.

wendyjo,

I suspect that the black piece of cuttlebone was not properly washed/bleached/prepared/processed/etc. It sounds like it contained some organic material which has been colonized by bacteria. If this is the case, it could have caused the bacteria to release toxic substances that are not nitrogenous compounds. The stinky description makes me suspect hydrogen sulfide or other compound of sulphur.

Yuccapatrol -

The thing is that this peice came from the same cuttlebone as the other peices. I bought 1 bone last month when I set up the tank, broke a few peices off and put them in the tank, and put the rest of the bone in a zip lock baggie. I then broke another peice off that same bone last week. That is what is so odd.