All My Cherrys Died Overnight

[dem0nz]

hey!

yesterday i finaly recived a delivery of plants i had been waiting for
i moved my betta into a new tank last week and in my main tank was 4 endlers and 2 shimps
there was originaly
1 betta-now in his own tank
5 endlers-betta killed 1 of them
and 3 cherrys shrimp-1 disappeared

so anyway now i had a tank with just endlers and shrimp i decided to do some major tank mainanance of changing substarate to sand,heavily planting the tank and making a "garden out of slate chips and moss
my plans were to increase the shrips and endlers numbers

the slate was from my garden but had been cleaned intensivly and i did the viniger test

so anyways,i did all that yesterday and turned my tank lights on this morning to find both of my cherrys curled up and quite dead lying on the slate/moss garden

i currently have no water stats available
the tank has been set up for over 6 months now

any ideas of what could have happened?

-monz x

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I can only suggest it was a problem with the slate----there shouldnt be a need to do a vinegar test with pure slate. Did you boil the slate? Anyhow if you want endlers and millions of cherry shrimps i'm your man.

 

[Esfa]

You put new plant sin there, yeah?

Some places use copper to kill snails and other beasites on the plants... sadly, this kills shrimp too.

 

[dem0nz]

i will e mail the seller on ebay and see if he uses any copper based treatments for his plants,hopefully he wont get abusive about it as i would like to use him again lol

should i take the slate out and boil it or if i leave it a few months will the copper (if there is any on the slate) disappear in water changes?

piltdown paul-i know that right now isnt the best time to be adding more shrimps,but i am building up a list of possable people i can buy endlers from and i could consider getting more shrimps sometime in the future after this problem is sorted out
if u you are interested in selling some endlers and (later) some shrimps would you be able to pm me some pics and prices
either endlers or guppie/endler hybrids are cool with me,i love the colours!

i am jus so gutted,my tank looks bloody awesome now and i was really proud of how cool it was
then this morning i found them both curled up

anybody got any sugestions on what else it could be or how i can get rd of copper if thats what is wrong?

 

[Wolfenrook]

Aaarggghhh, poor things!

Two possible causes jump out at me here. As Esfa said many plant sellers (and growers, as in the source that the sellers often buy from) use copper treatments to kill snails, and this also kills shrimp and other invertebrates, hence the need for very thorough rinsing of any new plants. Another possible cause though could well be the disturbance to the substrate. It could well be that all the work that you did disturbed the bacteria present in your tank and sparked a 'mini cycle', which would mean increased ammonia and nitrite levels and even low levels of ammonia will kill shrimp.

As to removing copper you can get filter media to do this but it's expensive. Frequent and large water changes should do the job, even if it takes longer.

Ade

 

[TylerFerretLord]

It's not that expensive, though. My LFS sells copper-removing filter media for ~15$.

 

[Esfa]

It's not that expensive, though. My LFS sells copper-removing filter media for ~15$.

It probably is in the uk.
Everything is.

 

[tangokitty]

I vote it was stress from the rearranging of gravel and stuff.

 

[dem0nz]

i will pick up some copper neutralizer stuff 2moz if i see any

on an API water tester can you test for copper?
i really need to buy a tester kit anyway
also i can check to see if a mini cycle has started

i have emailed the guy on ebay asking if he uses any copper based stuff on plants,hopefully he wont think i am accusing him of anything

 

[5teady_2012]

what a bummer that is, sorry u lost em all

 

[Mikaila31]

Water changes should remove the copper just as well.

Did you rinse the plants before adding them?

I know what it feels like, I've killed lots and lots of cherry shrimp before .

 

[Wolfenrook]

Copper tests aren't accurate enough usually to make them worth the bother.

Tyler, when you go from the US to the UK prices don't usually get adjusted by the exchange rate. Ie $15 usually becomes £15 when it comes to be sold over here. When you consider that £15 is about $30 it becomes a bit more expensive. Even our McDonalds are more expensive.

Ade

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Wow.

That really, really, really sucks.

 

[~T~]

I have had the same thing happen when adding new plants.

 

[dem0nz]

ah well,i guess sh*t happens
i am takin the water change route to get rid of the copper then maybe in a few months try shrimp again

its a shame but i guess i will have to be more carefull net time