Dying RCS....

1045 Views 14 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Nubster, Oct 14, 2012

dougolasjr

Discussion Starter · Sep 8, 2012 (Edited)

Over the past week I have had 2 RCS die. I did a water change looked the readings everything seemed okay. Woke up this morning and saw a RCS sitting on one of the sponge filters. Thought it was weird just sitting there doing nothing. Took some Readings. Left for a few hours and he is still sitting there. Looks like he is on his way out. Should I do another water change? Could it be Low GH? I have pieces of cuttlebone in the tank.

PH: Between 6.6-7
Amn:0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
KH: Last time I tested was 2 or 3 I think
GH: Arounnd 3-4 drops
Temp: 75 ish
TDS: 124
Heavily Planted tank

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Bananariot

· #2 · Sep 8, 2012

Gh is low you should probably be 6 or above

dougolasjr

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 8, 2012

How should I go about raising the GH.

cantsay39

· #4 · Sep 8, 2012

try to leave out the heater. i did mine with no heater breeding like rabbits..

cantsay39

· #5 · Sep 8, 2012

the sponge filter is it newly in place? looks like my sponge filter i first use em..

pejerrey

· #6 · Sep 8, 2012

Squeeze the sponges to get the air out.
GH seems low. 6+ seems to be the common thing.

Good luck, I hope is not a bacteria or similar.

dougolasjr

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 8, 2012 (Edited)

cantsay39 said:
try to leave out the heater. i did mine with no heater breeding like rabbits..

I like to keep my apt around 68-70 degrees. I have two of the same sponge filters running.

rodcuda

· #8 · Sep 9, 2012

The only thing questionable to me is the gh and tds are low. Get some gh booster and get it up to 6. The temp is ok and should not be killing them. Low gh will kill them though.

dubels

· #9 · Sep 9, 2012

I don't think the heater is your issue if the temp stays around that range, but leaving it off can help with energy bills. I leave my heater off in all but one tank until winter. I keep my house in the same range as yours and the tanks even with the AC on range in the low 70s never dipping below that.

dougolasjr

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 14, 2012

Also something that I have noticed is that all the deaths happen during the night. I have yet to come home from work and have a dead shrimp. During the week I usually leave around 640am and return 540pm or 820pm and come home to a problem free tank.

acitydweller

· #11 · Sep 14, 2012

dougolasjr said:
How should I go about raising the GH.

Calcium carbonate and Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate) can be used to raise both gH and kH

Calcium chloride will increase GH and not KH

Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) is a cheap alternative

dougolasjr said:
Also something that I have noticed is that all the deaths happen during the night. I have yet to come home from work and have a dead shrimp. During the week I usually leave around 640am and return 540pm or 820pm and come home to a problem free tank.

Please test the PH between the night/day ph to check for swings. If you are really concerned, adding a air bubbler to run at night wouldnt hurt. Does this tank have any mechanical filtration?

dougolasjr

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 14, 2012

I have got the GH up to 6-7 drops since tuesday.

notropis

· #13 · Oct 14, 2012

How did you go about raising the gH?

dougolasjr

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 14, 2012

I got calcium montmorillonite clay off of amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Microbe-Lift-Calicium-Montmorillonite-MLKKB4/dp/B000TZ1R7Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1350189758&sr=8-5&keywords=calcium+montmorillonite+clay

Nubster

· #15 · Oct 14, 2012

The pH swing shouldn't be that great if you are not using CO2, and even so, it shouldn't be killing the shrimp. I had RCS in a high tech tank and the pH would be mid 6 during the day and at night go back up to mid 7, never had deaths contributed to the swing. Non-CO2 the swing would be much less, if there was one at all. Couldn't hurt to test the pH just to be absolutely sure, test it as close to lights on as you can and again just before lights out.

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