How often are you doing water changes? Are you remineralizing during the changes?
Definitely get a TDS pen to help get a more accurate look at your params.
Definitely get a TDS pen to help get a more accurate look at your params.
random crs deaths
So I came home yesterday to one of my crs trying to molt and dying, today I came home to find 2 berried female crs also dead. I checked my parameters:
nitrates 0
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
gh 4.5
kh 1
ph 6.3
temp 70
looks all good there, i do not have a tds meter, i may need to invest in one i think. It could be a TDS issue since I have no idea what my tds is, I use nothing but R/O water remineralized with fluval shrimp mineral( i only use it once in a while when my gh drops below 4.5, should i use it every time i refill with r.o? I have to top off quite often due to evaporation .5 gallons a day roughly), tanks been running for months (4) with no deaths. I have maybe 30-40 shrimplets from a few days to 1-2 months old, all of them are fine. So far they have been females that have been dying, the 2 that died today only had 1 and 2 eggs attached to them, so they may have both just given birth recently. Dont know what to make of it yet.
nitrates 0
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
gh 4.5
kh 1
ph 6.3
temp 70
looks all good there, i do not have a tds meter, i may need to invest in one i think. It could be a TDS issue since I have no idea what my tds is, I use nothing but R/O water remineralized with fluval shrimp mineral( i only use it once in a while when my gh drops below 4.5, should i use it every time i refill with r.o? I have to top off quite often due to evaporation .5 gallons a day roughly), tanks been running for months (4) with no deaths. I have maybe 30-40 shrimplets from a few days to 1-2 months old, all of them are fine. So far they have been females that have been dying, the 2 that died today only had 1 and 2 eggs attached to them, so they may have both just given birth recently. Dont know what to make of it yet.
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
Every 2 weeks I do maybe 25%, but every other day I top off with a half gallon of fresh ro, i get quite a bit of evaporation every day.
25% in 2 weeks is good. What kind of filtration and what feeding schedule do you have?
Is RO water from your filtration or from the store? Did you ever check for chlorine?
Over here now I have 2,5ppm chlorine in my tap water. I'm running 2 carbon filters inline in order to clear the water before RO unit. What substrate and plants?
Is RO water from your filtration or from the store? Did you ever check for chlorine?
Over here now I have 2,5ppm chlorine in my tap water. I'm running 2 carbon filters inline in order to clear the water before RO unit. What substrate and plants?
Did you do a WC just a few days ago? I know a lot people do 25% WC to no ill effect but that can induce female to molt and it's especially stressful to berried females. If they molt while berried it can be a problem. If your NH3/NO2/NO3 are indeed 0 (I've rarely seen a shrimp tank with 0 NO3 unless it's high light and heavily planted, or with like 3 or 4 canister daisy-chained), then you really don't need the biweekly 25% WC. Try do a 10% WC biweekly and see if it gets better.
I have 2 sponge filters (4 sponges total), 1 aquaclear 30, and 1 2213 canister filter on this tank, filtration isnt an issue, I use lots of purigen, so my nitrates stay near 0 ppm at almost all times, Its planted with lots of moss and some random stems and some random floaters. I did do a wc 2 days ago or so, after that is when I noticed the deaths.
The r/o is from the LFS near me, ive tested it before, its pure r/o, they have a good system.
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edit, more recent shot:
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The r/o is from the LFS near me, ive tested it before, its pure r/o, they have a good system.
edit, more recent shot:
2
try 15% WC you are adding a lot of new water every day .Are you feeding enought boiled veggies?
yeah, blanched spinach, jakes veggie sticks and veggie complete, hikari shrimp, shirakura ebi (baby powder), Its definitely not a nutrition thing, they are all greedy eaters, and every few days i dont feed them. I think im going to try to cut back on the bigger water change for now, maybe go longer between water changes. Ive been topping off fresh r/o for months so that hasn't been an issue up to now.
Probably it is WC. Try 15% every 2 weeks. If you start doing them rarely you will increase stress. Shirakura ebi (baby powder) can spoil substrate and promote bad bacteria grow in it.
Are you remineralizing the water you use during water changes to match the parameters of your tank?
If not, that's a huge part of your problem.
If not, that's a huge part of your problem.
Every 2 weeks I do maybe 25%, but every other day I top off with a half gallon of fresh ro, i get quite a bit of evaporation every day.
This TDS meter works really well:
http://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-4-Dissolved-Solids/dp/B0002T6L5M
http://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-4-Dissolved-Solids/dp/B0002T6L5M
Mythin, definitely get a TDS meter. its an early warning sign for trouble and relatively inexpensive on amazon.com...
i would perform a WC whenever TDS exceeded 200 ppm. You will also notice when remineralizing that TDS increases. just a verification that your water prep work is going the right direction.
consider raising your GH slightly to 5 or 5.5 so it sits squarely in the mid range of their comfort zone. it should likely be a few extra drops of the fluval stuff you are using.
i would perform a WC whenever TDS exceeded 200 ppm. You will also notice when remineralizing that TDS increases. just a verification that your water prep work is going the right direction.
consider raising your GH slightly to 5 or 5.5 so it sits squarely in the mid range of their comfort zone. it should likely be a few extra drops of the fluval stuff you are using.
wow, thats pretty cheap, i think ill order that today, been looking for one anyways. Does this one need a calibration fluid?This TDS meter works really well:
http://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-4-Dissolved-Solids/dp/B0002T6L5M
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
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