Dwarf Shrimp Dying - Ph issue?

I have a 6 gallon shrimp tank. I'll mix it up in a shot glass and use that method. Thank you Emma and tjander!

Emma – no ‘death’ pattern I can see - I cut the PWC to once per week. No more dead ones - maybe that was a fluke? The Ph seems to be up not to between 7.0 and 7.5 so that is hopeful.

Question for you Emma regarding Otos - I have a 10 gallon tank with no issues - been running for almost 4 years - all parameters are good. I recently bought a group of 4 otos and they are super cute! However, they are not eating any of the brown algae (diatoms) and I am worried they will starve. I have tried blanched zucchinI and spinach and also lettuce and cucumber and they won't go near it. I can't use algae wafers because my panda corys eat them up. Will the Bacter AE be good for them? Its 10 gallons and I have 4 panda corys, 2 bumblebee gobies and one male betta along with the Otos. Please let me know - thanks!!!

 

Hi!

I'm SO pleased that it really does look like the shrimps are all sorted!!

Onto the otos, I'm sure you'll know all about how people say how difficult to keep alive they are. While I've lost a couple when I've initially added them, I've a few tips to help you on the road to success!

Firstly, regarding the Bacter, I started feeding that in my fish tank (Honey Gourami, Harlequin Rasboras and otos) a couple of months ago-they absolutely love it!! My thinking was to 'feed' it to create biofilm for them, but they actually pounce on it as soon as it's in the tank!

I also pop a tiny pinch of the Repashy Supergreen powder into my Bacter 'soup' which they seem to enjoy too.

Now, another thing that I've noticed, and you'll read recommended is to get a few more. I initially had 6 and they seemed happy enough, then there was a special offer on at Pets at Home so I bought 12 more (!) I've only got a 110 litre (26? gallon) tank but had had the inspiration about 'feeding' with the Bacter/Supergreen. What a difference! They were bolder, more 'all over' the tank, just seemed a lot more comfortable. So, if it's possible at the moment where you are, I'd definitely suggest to get a few more and actively feed with the Bacter.

Re the vegetables, when I first put bits of veg into the tank, like yours, they ignored it, now they swoop on it as soon as it hits the water! I think that the trick is to keep putting it in the same place and change it daily. Mine love the courgette (zucchini) I don't blanch it, just wash really carefully then cut a little chunk off, gouge out any seeds and hang in the tank. Red pepper is another favourite. That's also sweet potato in one of the pics. (I was doing a little experiment with food-they don't usually have so much choice!)




So, my tips would be, try the Bacter soup, shooting it around the tank as I mentioned before and, when it's possible, get a couple more. I'm sure you know, but I'll just add how sensitive they are (worse than shrimp I think!!) so you need to acclimate them really, really slowly. I took about 5 hours to do mine!

Keep trying with a chunk of fresh veg-and-sort of echoing where we started with your shrimp-keep the water super clean, weekly PWC, gravel vac etc

Hope these tips help! Let me know how the Bacter feeding goes, it might kick start them into eating in general, they are notoriously sensitive when first added, but once they get established in a bigger group, they're absolutely great!

All the best

Emma

 

I have a 6 gallon shrimp tank. I'll mix it up in a shot glass and use that method. Thank you Emma and tjander!

Question for you Emma regarding Otos - I have a 10 gallon tank with no issues - been running for almost 4 years - all parameters are good. I recently bought a group of 4 otos and they are super cute! However, they are not eating any of the brown algae (diatoms) and I am worried they will starve. I have tried blanched zucchinI and spinach and also lettuce and cucumber and they won't go near it. I can't use algae wafers because my panda corys eat them up. Will the Bacter AE be good for them? Its 10 gallons and I have 4 panda corys, 2 bumblebee gobies and one male betta along with the Otos. Please let me know - thanks!!!

Hi, I'm not Emma, but here's my exprience anyway. I have 2 otos in my 150 litre / 40 gallon tank. They never come to eat anything I offer, including Repashy Soilent green that all my other fish (excluding betta) seems to love. My bristle nose pleco actually chases goldfishes away from it at times so she can eat her share first. However, my tank has loads of biofilm and algae growing (I never clean back glass of tank just for this reason), and their bellies are always full. I know they would be happier if there would be more of them and twise I have bought more, but they have always died on me, no idea why. I use my excellent LFS to get my fish.

So what I'm trying to say is that you never might see them eat anything special, just hanging around on glass, but if they have nice, round bellies, they are eating well. There is usually enough biofilm if you have stable, mature tank. Just a thought, does anyone know how live plants affect to biofilm?

 

HI MrsP,
I'm not absolutely sure, but I think that the live plants just mean a larger surface area for the biofilm to grow on. I know that my otos are equally happy to graze on the biofilm on the leaves, glass, even the airline tubing.

Re the Repashy, have you tried just mixing a bit with tank water and adding that to settle on the leaves? Mine have never been interested in the Supergreen when I've made it into the gel blocks (they sort of just drift over it) but it gets eaten when I use it like that. Might be worth a try!

All the best,

Emma

 

Hello again! I have my settings marked to email me when I receive a reply but it still doesn’t work all the time – UGH.



Anyway thanks so much for the advice on the Otos - I’m glad I asked. Truth be told I bought a school of 6 and three died in the first month and I was worried I might lose the remaining 3. The veggie clip worked! I put a fresh piece of cucumber in the tank and replaced it each day. On the 3rd day I saw two of them eating off of it. Does that green powder create a lot of algae in the tank? My water in that tank has always been crystal clear and I’d like to keep it that way. But I also want the Otos to have something to eat. Perhaps just Bacter AE which creates biofilm is enough? Plus the supplement of veggies? Also, my Otos stay clear of each other. They’re never together schooling and are on complete opposite sides of the tank. I was told you have to keep them in groups so I was just wondering.

And a quick update on the shrimps – I’ve only lost one over the past five days so that is promising. I’ve also found 3 shed/molted exo-skeletons which is also good. Maybe it was a calcium issue? The eggshells seem to be helping with that at least.

Thank you again!

 

HI again!

Great to hear that things are going well! It really does seem like the shrimp problem is resolved, maybe calcium was a factor. Anyhow, the main thing is, whatever it was that wasn't happening now obviously IS happening! Whether it's eggshells, water changes, vacuuming (or a combination of all three!) just keep doing what you're doing!

I'm so glad that your otos discovered the cucumber, it takes them a while to cotton onto food and now that they know the location, you can try different things and see what is popular/rejected. My tips would be to gradually reduce portion size once they know where to look as you don't want excess vegetable hanging around in the water. And always change daily, I left a bit of cucumber once by accident for a second day-wow-what a horrible, slimy thing it was!

How are they and the shrimps reacting to the Bacter? And finally on food, no the Repashy Supergreen doesn't create algae at all, I use so little that it just disappears but it's not at all necessary. I use it purely because, after having bought it, the fish, shrimps and otos were never really keen on it in the traditional gel form so I adapted how to use it so as not to waste it!

I think that covers everything, my otos, don't really have a pattern of social/antI social behaviour, sometimes they pair up or congregate in a group, other times, they're all just in their own bits of the tank doing their own thing. That's otos for you!!

All the best,

Emma