Duff0712 Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 I'm having some baby shrimp issues and was hoping for a brain storm. Long story short, I see lots of babies, then a week later no babies. Disappearing? Dying? I have no idea whats going on. Tank has been set up for 8 months now. 2 months of cycling. My shrimp have been doing well in the tank, breeding a lot and I actually just moved 70 CBS/Michlings to another tank and have several others that have grown from babies. But recently I have noticed I have had less and less babies lasting in the tank. What I have been doing. Usually feed once a day (I rotate every other day baby shrimp food and another pellet shrimp food). I was doing some plant fertilizers (Seachem: Excel/Trace/Potassium/Iron/Synthesis/Activate). I stopped the Synthesis just so I wasn't adding any extra waste levels and my plants seemed fine. I have heard mixed feeling with Excel and I will admit I was seeing some deaths when I was doing the recommended amount of Excel and went with half dosing and deaths seemed to lighten to almost none. I have sense stopped dosing in that tank (mainly laziness), but I haven't been doing anything really different. I am for now assuming it is something from the dosing or possibly my TDS, but anyone else have any ideas? Tank Params: 12g Long Temp 72F PH: (<=6) TDS: 190 (I usually have between 150-200, a bit of evaporation this test) Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate: unknown atm, going to do a test tomorrow (I highly doubt I have levels of any of these though) RO/DI with shrimpy GH+ (haven't added much shrimpy GH+ in awhile) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChadO Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Do you have a GH test to measure your water? I would be a bit nervous that it might be off balance. Another possibility might be the residual concentration from the dosing is still having an affect. I would probably first test for my GH to get that value known, then I'd do like a 20% water change or so with your usual SS GH+ level that you used in the past. Duff0712 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Do you have a GH test to measure your water? I would be a bit nervous that it might be off balance. Another possibility might be the residual concentration from the dosing is still having an affect. I would probably first test for my GH to get that value known, then I'd do like a 20% water change or so with your usual SS GH+ level that you used in the past. Not sure what my GH is and I might have a test at work. I'll have to see. What gh should I be going for, with TBs -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 I'm going to go with failure to molt due to high GH is causing deaths. Not sure what my GH is and I might have a test at work. I'll have to see. What gh should I be going for, with TBs A GH of 4 to 6 is ideal for TB. Duff0712 and RyeGuy411 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 I'm going to go with failure to molt due to high GH is causing deaths. A GH of 4 to 6 is ideal for TB. What test do you recommend? I only have access to the API GH test kit. I've heard that it isn't very accurate, but its what I have at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 API GH kit is fine its what most of us use. Some more experienced keepers use TDS to gauge GH for instance a TDS of 120 = GH of 4 to 5 . You said you read a TDS of 190 to 200 witch could equate to a GH of 8 to 9 and could cause failure to molt in baby/juvenile TB shrimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 Ok, I forgot my water sample but I'll get a water test going tonight and try to get that down. Probably the lack of changes just increased the TDS over time. -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wot_fan Posted May 11, 2015 Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 Shrimpy Daddy has an article on his site that you might want to check out. LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted May 11, 2015 Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 I have dealt with this exact same issue in my TB tank since February. I have had four batches of babies born and all die or dissappear around the one week mark. After seriously looking at what has changed in my tank since my first very successful batch of babies I have pinpointed it was a hardness issue. I have been on the Shrimpy Daddy regime and found out the hard way I need to extremely careful and precise with dosing because of my very small tank. What I did to remedy the situation was emptied 3L of water from the tank and added 3L of pure RO on a drip. The next day I emptied 3L from the tank and added 3L of remineralized RO at half strength so around 3 gH. And voila deaths stopped my last batch of awesome babies was born just over a week ago and I am seeing them more and more instead of less. Dendrobatez, fishcrazy, ChadO and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 Tried the GH test and idk wtf is going on with that test haha. Just sounds like I need to lower my TDS/GH tho so I'll just be doing small changes throughout the week to get it down. Thanks for the tips guys! -Duffy RyeGuy411 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 Just to make sure I'm not crazy. When I did the api GH test kit it was coming out at 0. I did a change last night and haven't been able to check it again, but was curious if that was possible? For more info; I hadn't done a water change in 1-2 mo (top offs don't count). When I would do a change it would be just RO because my TDS would be higher than I'd want. Since I wasn't using shrimpy GH could my something have used up my GH? Or is my test shot -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChadO Posted May 12, 2015 Report Share Posted May 12, 2015 It seems unlikely that your GH would be 0. That wouldn't be unusual for KH, but I would think if your GH were really zero, you'd have more issues than with just the babies in the tank. For the GH test, you're watching the test water change from basically orange to green (with the API test). When it "flips" in color, it may be somewhat subtle, but will be noticeable. I would maybe try testing your tank water again, and then maybe a sample of your tap water. The odds are probably decent that they should be different, but if your test kit didn't show a difference in testing, then you might be on to something with a bad test kit. Just trying to come up with ways that you can test different water samples to see how the test kit responds. Duff0712 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted May 12, 2015 Report Share Posted May 12, 2015 A couple tips. If you look straight down in the test tube it is easier to see the color, and people sometimes have had extremely high gh and give up after the 8th drop or more thinking something is wrong. LOL I once had a tank that was gh of 35! Duff0712 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2015 A couple tips. If you look straight down in the test tube it is easier to see the color, and people sometimes have had extremely high gh and give up after the 8th drop or more thinking something is wrong. LOL I once had a tank that was gh of 35! Yeah I put in the drops and it just always looks yellow/orange -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted May 12, 2015 Report Share Posted May 12, 2015 I was having the same issue - Metageologist fixed it for me with the following tip: "Ok, a common mistake with these kits at no fault of the owner is that you don't shake the bottle long enough initially and then don't shake the test tube violently enough after each drop. Run the tests again after shaking the bottles for 5 minutes. Then shake the vials for one minute between each drop this should be sufficient." The instructions that come with the kit don't mention any of this, but it made a huge difference in my results. Duff0712 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimple minded Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Yeah I put in the drops and it just always looks yellow/orange -Duffy Then you haven't reached the endpoint of the titration (test). 5. The test is completed when the water in the test tube, after having been shaken, turns from orange to green. If you have difficulty discerning the color after the first drop of test solution is added, remove the cap from the test tube and, while holding it over a white background, look down through the tube. 6. The GH value is determined by the number of drops of reagent that must be added to turn the water in the test tube green. See GH & KH Conversion Chart at end of instruction leaflet http://www.apifishcare.com/pdf/GH_and_KH_Test_Kit_and_KH_Test_Kit_58-59_Insert-3.pdf Soothing Shrimp and Duff0712 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Then you haven't reached the endpoint of the titration (test). 5. The test is completed when the water in the test tube, after having been shaken, turns from orange to green. If you have difficulty discerning the color after the first drop of test solution is added, remove the cap from the test tube and, while holding it over a white background, look down through the tube. 6. The GH value is determined by the number of drops of reagent that must be added to turn the water in the test tube green. See GH & KH Conversion Chart at end of instruction leaflet http://www.apifishcare.com/pdf/GH_and_KH_Test_Kit_and_KH_Test_Kit_58-59_Insert-3.pdf Woooooooowwwwwww, I thought it was green to orange. I read good. High5's 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Just did a dummy test from a tank at work and got a GH of 9-10. IT TURNED GREEN YAY. Thanks for all of the advice and help guys. I need to pay more attention to instructions too. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 So I did another water change and my TDS is now at ~160 and my GH seemed to be at 6-6.5. (TDS current/GH before change) -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Sounds like you are about there. Duff0712 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted May 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 Just an update; TDS: 140 GH: ~5 will stop there and go back to doing weekly/biweekly (not month/bimonthly) 20% water changes at 125-135 TDS to keep my GH stable. Have a berried female so I will see baby survival rates here soon hopefully. Thanks again for all the advice guys! Hopefully this will fix my problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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