[jbrady33]

Getting to be that I don't want to clean my shrimp tank anymore! Maybe I should lose the filter completely and treat it like a bowl.

Have had some Speedie yellow neo's and some PFR shrimp in the 3 gallon in my sig. Been in there happily for months. Took the HOB filter off, dumped out the water in it, rinse the sponge in tank water, swap out the Purigen for a fresh one.

2 hours later - my most-red PRF and biggest yellow with a fantastic racing stripe down his back are twitching and finally stop moving completely Dammit! what good is the filter doing me if something dies every time I mess with it?

Just had to vent.

 

[sevenportsOFFICE]

That is odd...this has happened to you before? Did you rinse all the new filter parts before adding it? Did you prime the HOB with tap water?

 

[jbrady33]

no tap water, used the same re-mineralized water that I use in the tank for everything.

It really is weird, and has happened more than once.

 

[Sergeant Dude]

Its possible the purigen is the culprit. There is a thread somewhere on the forums where some guy would lose a couple perfectly healthy fish every time he put purigen in his tank. If I remember correctly it happened to him 4 or 5 times before he just stopped using purigen.

Dwarf shrimp are also very sensitive to ammonia so its possible you just rinsed your media a little too much. Try testing you water and see if anything is off

 

[mayphly]

How often are you cleaning your hob filter? I only rinse the sponge if the flow has significantly slowed down. I find the less I mess with it the better off the shrimps are.

 

[jbrady33]

I didn't rinse the ceramics at all, but I could have disturbed a pocket of decay/ammonia or something.

The purigen could be a problem to, it does great things in my big tank but I probably don need it in a shrimp & plants only 3 gallon! I should just stick another sponge in that spot

 

[sevenportsOFFICE]

Its possible the purigen is the culprit. There is a thread somewhere on the forums where some guy would lose a couple perfectly healthy fish every time he put purigen in his tank. If I remember correctly it happened to him 4 or 5 times before he just stopped using purigen.

Dwarf shrimp are also very sensitive to ammonia so its possible you just rinsed your media a little too much. Try testing you water and see if anything is off

I was actually thinking it may be that as well with the Purigen.

But as for the Ammonia...well he saw the change only two hours after so I don't think that it is a problem with ammonia because that you would see after a day or so as the bacteria is not established enough to process it.

 

[H2Ogal]

Kind of a long shot ... But I'm thinking contamination of some kind. Do you use the same containers, siphons, nets, etc. for WCs with all your tanks? If so, could there be residue of a medication or something that was used in one tank which is being accidentally introduced into the shrimp tank? Or maybe a biological contaminant? Have you had any issues with fish/shrimp health in the other tanks?

 

[ravensgate]

Swapped purigen out for a fresh one...hmmmm...did you rinse the fresh one first? Was it new or reginerated? I keep purigen on all my tanks, even my 3 gallons and don't have issues. I would hesitate to blame the purigen personally. Hmmmm....

 

[pink4miss]

i also use purigen in my shrimp tanks in HOB filters. ( also 3 gallon tanks) but i use other filtration media also with it. i never change them all at once. replacement is on rotation.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

How often are you cleaning your hob filter? I only rinse the sponge if the flow has significantly slowed down. I find the less I mess with it the better off the shrimps are.

I have to agree with this from experience. Very rarely do I ever clean all the sponges as once. I have a double air in my 10g's and only do one at a time, then wait for 2 weeks to clean the other if needed.

 

[saltykisses]

Lost my sixline today can't find cause .. My Halloween crab had devoured half of him by the time I got back from work .. Can hair algae kill your fish???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jbrady33]

I don't clean the whole filter at once, and the ceramics never get cleaned or even rinsed really. I think I disturbed a wad of organics in the bottom of the HOB (was a good bit of mulm/scum in there) and caused a simple ammonia spike. Maybe I should take the whole HOB to the sink for a good rinsing from now on (the case, not the media)

The tools for the tank are only used on this tank (little tank on my desk in the office)

The purigen is regen-ed, do it all the time. 1 or 2 day soak in bleach/water, rinse, soak in prime water for 2 days, a second soak in prime water. Seal in ziplock bag for a couple of months until needed again. Never had an issue on the bigger tank at home, but that is fish (not shrimp)

 

[HUNTER]

I had a situation with regenerated purigen in my saltwater at one time. After just replaced the purigen and nothing else, all the soft corals just shriveled. I removed the purigen with water change, they revived instantly., its probably the leftover bleach. I always have 2 purigen, one in service, and one left under sunlight for a day or two after regenerated just to have the bleach completely dissipate.

 

[starlett]

I doubt is due to cleaning of filter. I cleaned mine and usually messed the tank with filter debris whenever I lift it up and when I turned it on again. But didn't cause any deaths.
Similarly, I rinsed the sponges with water from my tank too.
Likely due to purigen that others say.

 

[plamski]

It is the purigen. I have the same problem in my Cardinal tanks and in my neos tank. After replacing Purigen in my 10 gal Cardinal tank PH drops from 8.2 to 7.1 in 2 min. I had to add a lot of backing soda in order to “fix” it. In your 3 gal tank probably PH went under 7.
Before adding new purigen rinse it in dechlorinated tap water .