Invert chat, <3 spineless critters.

[MABJ]

Pygmy sunfish do. Along with most other micro hunters, like badis/dario.

 

[Coursair]

I think I'm losing last of my Red Cherries
For a last few hours she's going round and round in the tank, won't stop for a second; all the way across and around the tank.

Last time I've seen something like that - next day I took the dead shrimp out of the tank...

Any ideas of what might've cause this? I know I have a Nitrates a bit high at a level just above 20ppm, but all the others are zeroes, and pH is 7.6 . . .

Shrimp do NOT tolerate high Nitrates !! They are very sensitive to them and it can kill them.
20ppm isn't high, but it could be enough to kill RCS.

The main thing is STABLE conditions. Spikes of Ammonia or Nitrates can kill them.

Don't do all your tank chores in one day, don't clean prefilter and main filter on same day. Don't whack ALL your plants on same day, spread out your trimming if you can.

TDS is another thing that can be an issue. You can use part R/O or Distilled and part Tap if needed.

Sorry about your Shrimp.

 

[Coursair]

To kill Planaria without killing inverts
http://www.ehow.com/how_8721850_kill-planaria-aquarium.html

 

[Coursair]

I called four independent fish stores in the North Denver area and no one had any shrimp. Uuggh! One said they just sold their last Blueberry ones last week. $1.99, sounded really reasonable, but of course, I don't have any, so that doesn't matter. We don't have a LFS so its 45 min to 1 hr 15 min or more depending on traffic either North or South of me.

Richie1RCS - Please share all the details of the Blue Tiger shrimp when you get them.

MABJ- Do you already have the Edge, mine is really my daughters, I am borrowing the 6.6 I would go bigger than this but if it's just shrimp especially really special ones, it would be good, they really look like a show piece. The larger one might be better to keep more in it, after all more IS more. haha

Join The Planted Tank and check there for Shrimp. Some of my club members sell on TPT. Or APC. Or check here.
I will never pay retail for Shrimp if I can avoid it

FYI the less expensive or hardier Blue colored Shrimp may not be that blue. The stunning Blue Bolts are sensitive and very pricy. The colors should improve and the Shrimp should get easier and cheaper as the breeders improve the strains.

Blues are extremely variable.

Blue Tigers are still tricky to breed true but cool.
http://www.planetinverts.com/Blue Tiger Shrimp.html

 

[jetajockey]

I've used fenbendazole (safeguard) with good success to deworm a tank, although I've not noticed a significant issue with shrimp production, I just nuked them because they are unsightly.

 

[Austin.b]

Hi guys . My wormer treatment should arrive soon for my dwarf puffers ( dps) it is called kusuri wormer it's safe for snails but no mention of inverts will it be ok with my amano shrimp or should I move it ? Has any one used this before ?

If it is ok for snails (invert) than chances are it will be ok for other inverts like shimp you can also check the back of the chemical. If it contains a high amount of copper, don't use it.

 

[Autumnsky]

Hey we have been having some questions on the black blasting sand, from two other threads about sand. Someone just read, it comes as a by product, copper slag, wouldn't that be dangerous to inverts? Black Diamond BS- anybody here know for sure what this is? Silica sand? byproduct, and of what?

**************CAUTION*****************

Please do not breath sand dust, it causes inflammation and in sensitive people, worst Silicosis (horrible thing) with extended use mainly, but is is bad for you. Do not breath the dust, wash off from yourself and clothing, use a little mask, be safe, breath well. This goes for kid's play sand, PFS, beach sand, silica gel cat crystals/pearls, DUST.

Green blasting sand is made from super sharp angled crystals, so no no for fish.



dust=bad news

 

[Sake]

dust=bad news

Yeah you have to remember the people generally using this are shooting it at high speeds at hard objects, creates alot of dust. Also they more than likely use it on a regular basis. Breathing a bit of the dust isn't going to be lethal or give you silicosis unless you do it day in and day out. Nothing to worry about using it to set up a fish tank. Everything has silicosis warnings these days, from the tile mortar I use, to grinding concrete, to shot blasting, it's just a way for the company to cover their behinds.

Black diamond is coal slag pretty much completely harmless here is a link I found when I was researching it. Coal Slag Explained
Coal Slag products are Low- Free Silica in nature and are THE safer alternative to silica sand and other crystalline silica-rich materials.

 

[Autumnsky]

Sake can I copy these for the other thread (from you), or would you post them?

 

[Sake]

You're more than welcome to.

 

[senemedar]

Shrimp do NOT tolerate high Nitrates !! They are very sensitive to them and it can kill them.
20ppm isn't high, but it could be enough to kill RCS.

The main thing is STABLE conditions. Spikes of Ammonia or Nitrates can kill them.

Don't do all your tank chores in one day, don't clean prefilter and main filter on same day. Don't whack ALL your plants on same day, spread out your trimming if you can.

TDS is another thing that can be an issue. You can use part R/O or Distilled and part Tap if needed.

Sorry about your Shrimp.

I haven't seen my shrimp since ;(

I didn't know about all the things you said-- looks like after over a year "in business" I'm still learning
I check my Ammonia periodically an it's always at 0ppm, the Nitrates are always around 20 though (+\- 5) even after 50% water change, so I just left it at that, since I have quite a few live plants.
What is TDS and R/O ?

SIDENOTE:
Thread is getting too ... crowded? It's hard to find a post addressed to you now

 

[Austin.b]

I haven't seen my shrimp since ;(

I didn't know about all the things you said-- looks like after over a year "in business" I'm still learning
I check my Ammonia periodically an it's always at 0ppm, the Nitrates are always around 20 though (+\- 5) even after 50% water change, so I just left it at that, since I have quite a few live plants.
What is TDS and R/O ?

SIDENOTE:
Thread is getting too ... crowded? It's hard to find a post addressed to you now

Aww, I sorry to hear about your shrimp

Like coursair stated, that's a pretty high amount of nitrate for shrimp. Is the tank appropriately stocked? (overstocked?) those 50% water changes could be killing the shrimp itself. Do you use prime? Some nitrate absorbers are floating plants, and fast growing plants. Some GREAT floating plants are water lettuce, dwarf water lettuce, Salvinia, frogbit, and duckweed. Duckweed works the best at sucking up nitrates, but can be quite annoying because of it's small size and fast reproductive rate (doubles in 48 hours) Some fast growing plants that are nitrate sponges are hornwort. Cabomba, and pennywort a dirty filter can also cause nitrates.

TDS stands for total dissolved solids. If this is too high, it can kill off shrimp. Tap water usually has a high TDS, not good for picky shrimp. IMHO you don't really have to monitor this for easy Shrimp such as RCS, but monitoring TDS becomes a MUST when having picky shrimp like CRS.

RO means reverse osmosis water.
RO/DI means Reverse Osmosis De-Ionization If I remember correctly. You use a RO or RO/DI unit to get this kind of water. RO and RO/DI water is softer, and has a lower pH because it is so thoroughly filtered through an RO or RO/DI unit. This kind of water is used for saltwater tanks to prevent algea blooms

Yeah, I agree!! I really really hope they give us an invert subforum and soon!

Hope I helped out a bit!

 

[MABJ]

Nice info, Sake! I love that people can come here to ask their invert questions.

I'll say that I'm pretty into this thread and I know there's a lot of people, but I feel like people are pretty good at responding right away.

 

[Sake]

Okay so my addiction is really bad right now, I just went and bought more RCS from the LFS lol. I asked for 5 the guy gave me at least 9, 1 is berried. Also seen MABJ's moss ball and had to get one of them for myself haha. Oh and that place also sells crystal red's so....I'm sure soon enough I'll be getting some of those >.<

 

[MABJ]

Okay so my addiction is really bad right now, I just went and bought more RCS from the LFS lol. I asked for 5 the guy gave me at least 9, 1 is berried. Also seen MABJ's moss ball and had to get one of them for myself haha. Oh and that place also sells crystal red's so....I'm sure soon enough I'll be getting some of those >.<

I'm completely jealous you have a decent LFS. I don't really. She's nice, but doesn't carry inverts. Her salt water is nice, fresh water isn't great though. She got in the RCS for the first time and nearly sold out. I got the last two, but I'm ok with it.

These are the test run shrimp. I have not get attached lol.

Edit* about your CRS, they require pristine water conditions. If you don't match the parameters they were bred off of, you probably won't get babies.

 

[Sake]

Oh I won't be getting the crystals for some time. Here are a few pics of the new ones, lil buggers won't stay still, so I'm sorry if they are blurry.

 

[LyndaB]

I love the shape of those shells......

 

[Coursair]

I haven't seen my shrimp since ;(

I didn't know about all the things you said-- looks like after over a year "in business" I'm still learning
I check my Ammonia periodically an it's always at 0ppm, the Nitrates are always around 20 though (+\- 5) even after 50% water change, so I just left it at that, since I have quite a few live plants.
What is TDS and R/O ?

SIDENOTE:
Thread is getting too ... crowded? It's hard to find a post addressed to you now

If you can't get nitrates down, I would use 1/2 Tap and 1/2 Distilled water with Prime and that should help both TDS and Nitrates. If you still want to try Shrimp ?

 

[Austin.b]

If you can't get nitrates down, I would use 1/2 Tap and 1/2 Distilled water with Prime and that should help both TDS and Nitrates. If you still want to try Shrimp ?

Won't that cause a pH drop because the pH will be lower with the new water, and higher in the tank?

 

[senemedar]

If you can't get nitrates down, I would use 1/2 Tap and 1/2 Distilled water with Prime and that should help both TDS and Nitrates. If you still want to try Shrimp ?

I've tried a few water changes, but I think I'll try more 50% day-after-day for a few days in a row; I also got a Nitrate reducing sponge (there's a thread about that, but can't paste the link on my phone) and a few fast-growers; I love shrimps and I'm desperate to get them a proper house to live in! Not given up on them yet! There's still few in there left-- three Crystal Red Shrimps (one of them is actually black-and-white), a Tiger Shrimp and Amano, that's now over a year old!!

And I use water conditioner, but not Prime-- after Excel melted a few of my plants I don't really trust Seachem too much