The Puffer Forum

Hi All

I just got home from work and majority of all my shrimp are belly up still moving legs but its not looking good

before i did a water change amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 this is a heavily planted 20 gallon..i have about 80 shrmip and 10 ramshorn snails...the snails are fine tho..im wondering if its the plant fertilizer i just started to use which was put in last night (TRopica Plant nutrition) but all was well when i left for work today ...i also brought some new plants hairgrass and lilaeopsis brasiliensis from a vvery reputable online plant shop called Java and im wondering if the plants were heavy fertilized hence the shrimp massacre..

i was going to put those new plants in with my fahaka but im afraid to now.

the shrimps look like they are trying to move but when they do get to move the body its like they having a spasm attack.

I have no idea but does the new fertilizer contain copper? I guess there's no way to know what's on the other plants.

Good luck!

The fertilizer i use doesnt say if it contains copper but it does say it doesnt contain nitrogen or phos.

im watching the shrimp now and some are coming back alive whilst some look like they are not gonna make it as the body has turned pink

in all my life of fishkeeping this is the worst and saddest thing ive ever seen..the shrimp that have come back alive look like they are trying to revive the others ..ive put another airstone in the tank...i think its the plants that i put in before leaving for work..ive emailed the company to ask them if they fertilize their plants before sending out and if so if it contains copper..
even tho the shrimp will be food for my puffers i didnt expect this

you don't have a 10 gal handy to QT them? If it is copper, then wouldn't that also injure the puffers if they eat enough of the shrimp?

Do you not have a container that you can move them to?

Are you sure they're trying to revive them or are they eating them?

It looks to me they are reviving them as im watching really closely and the alive shrimp kinda nudge the ones that are belly up and the belly up ones try to move..the snails are trying to eat them but i have removed them...now majority of the shrimp are trying to move..they are moving their legs whilst as before they werent moving at all...i thinki have lost about 30 the ones that have turned pink whilst the others are still fighting for life.

ive used the same fert in the tank my fahaka and congo is in and they are fine...thats why i suspect the new plants...and no im not feeding the dead shrimp to the puffers.

I moved all the shrimp to a 10 gallon last night, all are dead
Recieved email back from plant company and they said they do use copper based fertilizer and their plants are not reccommended for shrimps...they said they will refund me if i take the plants out immediatly...those plants are binned!!

I asked them why there is no warning of that on their site whatsoever

Now my question is if i need to dump all my other plants that were with those new ones?

The snails are all alive though which is strange

I checked for seachem flourish and that contains copper but only a minimal amount but people have used it with no problems although this isnt the brand that the company used.

thats too bad. Sorry to hear that

I don't think you need to scrap the other plants. A few heavy water changes and keeping up with carbon filtration should help.

I'm not sure but isn't there a product out that that is supposed to remove heavy metals from the water?

Thx Jp...apart from carbon i dont know what else..

Other than buying copper test strips, I'm not sure. Maybe run the some of the old water through a brita filter? Maybe just replace as much as possible?

Keep an eye on that PH, GH, KH.

Just some copper quotes:
"High levels will turn blonde hair green" http://www.water-treatment.org.uk/swimm ... water.html

"Copper, is a metal which is commonly found in drinking water. Small amounts are generally not a problem. However, copper levels above 1ppm can cause jaundice, pancreatitis, poisoning of the red blood cells, gastrointestinal problems and anemia. The presence of copper also affects water's taste and may stain your porcelain toilets and sinks." http://www.prolabinc.com/products.asp?kit=waterquality

This is what they just sent me

Dear Wendy,
 
We are sorry to hear that, we have no mention of this because plants should not go in aquariums with shrimps,  as you would not put live plants in Marine tanks, or garden ponds.  If we were to list every eventuality on the site it would take up about 2 pages.  In this instance we would as a one off be prepared to refund you on the plants you have ordered.
 
Kind regards
 
Mark

take the money

What website did you order from BTW?

Plants shouldn't go in tanks with shrimp?! My... rear end.

That's just ridiculous. What losers. What site did you order from?