Cray fish (cpo)is giving me a heart attack 🥴

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katw1986

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 30, 2024
Messages
26
Location
Barrie ontario
Have had this little one since the end of December. He has been so chill and now all of a sudden today he is trying to climb up and escape. He is my sons pet and my son said he was on the heater earlier. We think he may have climbed the (fake) plant and then jumped onto the heater. I have since moved the plant to the other side.

The plants are tall and he climbs to the very top. Should I get shorter plants?

He is also trying to climb up the silicone on the inside of the tank. What the heck am I going to do when he figures out how to do that? It is a plastic lid

I am still having slightly elevated ammonia (.25) and I tested nitrite as well and that was also .25. Do you think that's why he's trying to escape, or is this normal cpo behavior? I did a 25% water change today because of the nitrite. I will check levels again tomorrow. It's hard to tell if he's just exploring or actually trying to get out because he's bothered by the levels


Sorry for the millions of questions, this little guy is really important to my son 🥹
Pic is of him all the way at the top of the plant
 

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I'd do a 30% water change and see how he's doing. He could be hungry, you can try some food. They need food after molting when they start back towards eating normally. He could be stressed from the water quality, or just exploring. But yes our little friends do cause stress at times.
Do you know anyone with a healthy tank who would be able to share some good BB filled sponges or ceramic chunks?
 
I tried giving him food earlier he wasn't interested 😕 my mom has an established tank with tetras
Could I take some of her water and put it in mine?
 
The water isn't where the BB grow.

They colonize on things like ceramic media and the sponges, and a notable but smaller amount on rocks and decor. So if she has a chunk of sponge or some of the ceramic pellets or circles or star shaped media you could swap out an amount of yours with hers and she might just want to keep check on her water parameters for a few weeks and make sure to not over feed.

Say she has a 10G, she won't have a huge amount of sponge or media to share. Or if, in the past few weeks she threw out her filter cartridge and started new, it won't help. Since it takes about 6 weeks to get a colony going and about 8 to probably have a good amount. Some times it takes longer. But by then you'd have enough to begin to stay stable on water parameters. Just my experience.

Also do not take out and throw away your filter cartridge or sponge or media. And, if in the future, it is degrading enough to maybe change out, add in a new one a month or 2 before you throw out all your BB on the pads. That way it has time to grow in and establish in the new one(s).
 
Hmm I'd have to ask my mom if she has any of those. She gave me the plastic plants and the big rock in the middle

Thanks so much!

I appreciate the info 🙏🙏
 
Also, since the ammonia and nitrite was slightly elevated yesterday, I did a water change last evening. How long should I wait before testing the water again?
 
Ammonia and nitrite both at .25 today

I had to change my charcoal filter cartridge yesterday 😭😭😭 i was trying to see if i could lay the old one on top of the new one in the filter, but theres no room 😔it was completely clogged and water was not going through at all. I think it got clogged because of the overfeeding I did in the beginning when I got him. Is that going to make cycling longer?

Still adding Stability for now
 
What filter do you have? There are better ways to set them up than how the manufacturer tells you to with cartridges. Everytime you change your cartridge you set your cycle back, removing the cartridge altogether and filling the filter with sponge and filter media is a better way to go long term.
 
Aqueon Quietflow? Take a read through this.

 
Hmm mine looks different
It just has a spot to put in a carbon filter and that's it
 

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As well as all that, they do love to climb and explore. They have crazy active periods and then retreat to hang out in bed (their cave) for awhile. So if you've explored all the above actions and it's all checking out, consider that he's just happy and doing what they do. Making sure the lid isn't left open and plugging any holes big enough for escape will take care of it. Don't worry, they're not Herculean enough to lift the lid off and make a prison escape :)
 
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