Shrimp Update
Jun. 7th, 2022 23:25![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tayastormSo basically I've discovered that I'm the worst person.
When I collected the shrimp out of the old filter, I put them in a jug with the ceramic filter bits, and stuck a bunch of plants on top for filtration. Figured since I was using water from the tank along with the ceramic, and making sure to do water changes with cycled water, it'd be fine. And the shrimp I did see seemed active enough, and plenty of snails, so I wasn't too worried.
Turns out the ammonia was through the roof. Seriously I don't know how anything survived in that, it was awful. And then because it was convenient I've been using the jug water to raise the new tank water level, so that's got ammonia in it. Much less, but not none, so too much.
What followed was about three hours of moving things between jug and tank and bucket, trying to move the shrimp without the foul water and having no way of knowing if I'd got them all because of visibility issues.
But at the end of it I have:
a) a bucket of possibly-no-ammonia that might have shrimp left in it, with lace fern trimmings (because that needed some serious pruning anyway, it's a nightmare to keep under control) and the colander part of the jug with the ceramic bits and whatever might be caught up in those,
and b) a tank with very-low-but-not-no-ammonia, the plants that had been in the jug, and an estimated 10 adult/juvenile shrimp and 1 baby.
Both have heaters, the tank has a filter, and I'll try to do big water changes twice a day until I've got things sorted out.
I'm also picking through the ceramic pieces one by one and moving them to media bag that's currently being stored in the 40L tank (tied around the base of the light so it won't make a mess of the plants). They'll be useful, and there might still be shrimp hiding in them that I can rescue, and given that I only have 10 shrimp so far I want to try to save whatever else I can.
So that was a shitty way to end an already miserable weekend, and entirely my own fault.
And the whole thing has reminded me that I need to set up the other 60L tank and stand, move the tetras to that, then rebuild the current 60L and move the ember tetras to that, and then possibly work on the 120L tank although that is a lot harder because it is a Bit Big.
When I collected the shrimp out of the old filter, I put them in a jug with the ceramic filter bits, and stuck a bunch of plants on top for filtration. Figured since I was using water from the tank along with the ceramic, and making sure to do water changes with cycled water, it'd be fine. And the shrimp I did see seemed active enough, and plenty of snails, so I wasn't too worried.
Turns out the ammonia was through the roof. Seriously I don't know how anything survived in that, it was awful. And then because it was convenient I've been using the jug water to raise the new tank water level, so that's got ammonia in it. Much less, but not none, so too much.
What followed was about three hours of moving things between jug and tank and bucket, trying to move the shrimp without the foul water and having no way of knowing if I'd got them all because of visibility issues.
But at the end of it I have:
a) a bucket of possibly-no-ammonia that might have shrimp left in it, with lace fern trimmings (because that needed some serious pruning anyway, it's a nightmare to keep under control) and the colander part of the jug with the ceramic bits and whatever might be caught up in those,
and b) a tank with very-low-but-not-no-ammonia, the plants that had been in the jug, and an estimated 10 adult/juvenile shrimp and 1 baby.
Both have heaters, the tank has a filter, and I'll try to do big water changes twice a day until I've got things sorted out.
I'm also picking through the ceramic pieces one by one and moving them to media bag that's currently being stored in the 40L tank (tied around the base of the light so it won't make a mess of the plants). They'll be useful, and there might still be shrimp hiding in them that I can rescue, and given that I only have 10 shrimp so far I want to try to save whatever else I can.
So that was a shitty way to end an already miserable weekend, and entirely my own fault.
And the whole thing has reminded me that I need to set up the other 60L tank and stand, move the tetras to that, then rebuild the current 60L and move the ember tetras to that, and then possibly work on the 120L tank although that is a lot harder because it is a Bit Big.