Robertshrimpguy Posted March 12, 2019 Report Share Posted March 12, 2019 Hi everyone. I recently rescaped my shrimp tank and added a Matten filter. The Matten filter is made from black reticulated foam with a PPI of 30, there is no flame retardant treatment applied to this foam, some clean PVC and an airstone. I drained out the tank while keeping my shrimp in a bucket with a heater and an air stone along with my old sponge filter. I re-scape the tank and installed a Matten filter. I refilled the tank back up with the old tank water plus 30% new RO water. I took the heater out of the bucket and put it back in the tank and started to re-add all of my shrimp to the tank. I put my sponge filter back into the tank so there would still be a lot of beneficial bacteria. The next morning I woke up and all 6 of my otocinculus catfish have died. Over the next few days I am slowly losing all of my shrimp friends and it's breaking my heart. They're stressed, moving slowly and sparingly, and not eating much at all. I have no idea what I've done wrong. I regret it so much. I thought it would be fun to update my tank and filter as ive learned so much since I've started. However all I've done is kill all of my friends. Does anyone have any advice? What did I do wrong? Why is the tank now killing them when there's nothing new in the tank besides a sponge Matten filter? Is there anything I can do to the save the rest? All water tests come back perfectly clean. Even with zero nitrate as I siphoned the substrate after they were placed in the bucket. PLEASE HELP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimp Life Posted March 12, 2019 Report Share Posted March 12, 2019 You changed 30% of the water, moved things around, did a deep clean on your gravel, that could easily disrupt your shrimp and kill them. Plus you said you use a heater, did the new water you added have a dramatically diff temp? Instead of Matten I'd just stick with sponge filters and not mess much with established tanks that are doing well. Sounds like you did alot all at once. Sorry to see this happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimporama Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 Robert. I am so sorry you have had this experience. Did you remineralize the RO water prior to adding? It makes me curious why Oto’s Died overnight. Did you retest the water? I’m thinking ammonia spike or big pH swing. Can you put in a bag of chemipure or Purigen? This will absorb toxins that may have been released from substrate. Shrimp really require stability. What are your current tank parameters: TDS, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, temp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OblongShrimp Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Sounds like moving the gravel around must have caused a change in water parameters, probably ammonia. Did your tank end up stabilize? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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