Inverts & Water Quality

[Superman]

Since I relocated over a year ago, every time I try and introduce shrimp to my tank, they die within a week of introduction. This includes Cherry Shrimp and CRS.

I go through a lengthy introduction process by drip acclimatising them before they go into the tank.

Originally, I thought it was because I was dosing high levels of Easy Carbo so decided to go pressurised co2. However, that didn't solve the problem.

I would like to think it has something to do with water quality as I've moved 2 hours drive within the UK. The water company stats are as follows:

Element New | Old
-------------------------------------|--------
Turbidity (NTU)............... 0.057 | 0.149
Arsenic (ug/l)................ 0.378 | 0.2075
Copper (mg/l)................ 0.006 | 0.0075
Iron (ug/l)................. 14.026 | 25.29
Nitrate (mg/l).............. 21.700 | 2.0632
Selenium (ug/l).............. 0.276 | 0.3
Sodium (mg/l)............... 34.125 | 8.82
Total Trihalomethanes (ug/l) 36.888 | 44.625
Total Pesticide (ug/l)....... 0.010 | 0.05
Sulphate (mg/l)............. 60.188 | 30.225
Total Organic Carbon (mg/l).. 2.153 | 1.658

Now, I notice that in my new house, Nitrate is rather high and I generally dose a good amount through EI. I have made the following mix...

I get in 100mls for 1ml dose per day to my 14 litre tank
KNO3 12g
K2SO4 6g
KH2PO4 6g
MgSO4 3g
Trace 1.5g

Would the high level of Nitrate be causing the problem or will it be CO2 or O2 related?

I'd love to keep shrimp but I don't want to keep killing them. Many people I know seem to keep shrimp without a problem, so I'm thinking that I'm doing something fundamentally wrong.

Any ideas, experience or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Philosophos]

Your nitrate out of the tap is high enough that you shouldn't bother with KNO3 under most circumstances.

I figured your dosing to around 37ppm in your 14L tank, which with your tap providing 21.7ppm. One weeks dosing pushes you up to 58.7ppm. If you aren't doing 50% water changes weekly, I could easily see your aquarium running into toxic NO3 levels after a while.

If you are doing 50% weekly water changes, then you've got a maximum level of something around 116ppm of NO3 which is where you'll find low end LC 50's for some species. Probably not enough to kill, but still needlessly excessive. Try dosing for more likee 10ppm NO3/wk, somewhere around 3.24g of KNO3 in your solution rather than 12g. Go maybe as high as 6g depending on how your plants respond, and how NO3 levels in your water may change throughout the year.

I'm not saying its nitrate killing your shrimp, but questions need to be asked, and getting it into more typical parameters will control an outlying variable.

Can you give some tank history? Maintainance routines? Have you done NH4/NO2 tests?

-Philosophos

 

[Superman]

Thanks for your reply, I was thinking of reducing the KNO3 dosing but needed someone to confirm what I was thinking.

The tank has been setup since March and change more than 50% each week due to the fact that I have a good siphon of the tank.

I've not tested for NH4/NO2 since the tank was cycled, only algae is the brown stuff on the glass but that's slowly going down with an Otto being in there.

Everything is growing healthy with all plants pearling nicely.

Full specifics are....

Tank: Opti White 12"x10"x8"
Filtration: Fluval 105
Lighting: 11w Dennerle Overtank Nano Light
Substrate: Aquasoil Amazonia powder
Ferts: DIY EI Mix (as above)
CO2: Dennerle Pressurised Kit with diffuser under filter intake.
Hardscape: Mini Landscape rocks
Flora: Hemianthus micranthemoides, Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba', Eleocharis parvula, Myriophyllum Mezianum, Weeping Moss
Fauna: 6 Sundadanio Axelrodi sp. blue and an Otto

 

[DaBub]

Not expert, but it is not nitrates, I have similar tap.

For some reason the nitrates out of the tap are not enoigh so I also use kno3.

Water change keeps toxic levels down.

seems more like amonoia, like aquarium is cylcling or some source.

 

[DaBub]

meant to say 'brown stuff' is sort of like 'new tank' syndrome.

 

[Superman]

meant to say 'brown stuff' is sort of like 'new tank' syndrome.

Yes, that puzzles me greatly.
This has been setup for the last 6 months but there's the usual brown algae which starts at the substrate on the glass.
I'd love to get rid of it but would of thought this should of cured itself by now?

 

[Philosophos]

Low lights and aquasoil powder? Sounds like a possible recipe for brown, fluffy diatoms.

Try the NH4/NO2 tests.

You could also try keeping some shrimp in another tank that doesn't get dosed, has an inert bottom, and a stable cycle. From there you can add variables back in to see what's killing shrimp. Add a new shrimp for every new variable, if a shrimp dies, remove the variable and repeat the test a couple times to confirm.

-Philosophos

 

[Superman]

Low lights and aquasoil powder? Sounds like a possible recipe for brown, fluffy diatoms.

Do you class 11W over a 14 litre tank as "low light"?
What wattage would you consider to be decent light levels for this tank?

 

[Philosophos]

Oh, 11L. I'm used to looking at things in gals on forums. High light. Still, that fine clay substrate may contain silicates that are more easily suspended than in its compacted, granule form.

-Philosophos

 

[denialmark]

Aquatic invertebrates live in the bottom parts of our waters. They are also called benthic macroinvertebrates, or benthos, (benthic = bottom, macro = large, invertebrate = animal without a backbone) and make good indicators of watershed health because they:

* live in the water for all or most of their life
* stay in areas suitable for their survival
* are easy to collect
* differ in their tolerance to amount and types of pollution
* are easy to identify in a laboratory
* often live for more than one year
* have limited mobility
* are integrators of environmental condition

 

[LauraHarris]

Water pollution today is very wide. Because of it, species living into it are affected. Hopefully people are aware now on the risks on this situation and they should make steps for a change.

what is water pollution

 

[papequa2]

I have the same problem but I can't get all of the water tech as superman.