Dying Shrimp And Melting Plants. 0.0

[AmyStroodle]

Soooooo my tanks been set up for a while with mature media and cycling for a bit over a week.
 
I tested it wednesday night and thursday morning and everything was perfect, so I added 1 fighting fish and 4 cherry shrimp thursday evening. (Didn't feed them or anything)
 
Within 3 hours all the shrimp had died.
 
I retested the tank and found the nitrite level to be a bit higher than it should be everything else was fine.
 
I search the internet and found that cherry shrimp easily die from stress but would they all die that quickly? (My house is only a 10 minute drive from the pet shop)
 
 
Also I spotted one of my plants looking a bit pathetic and shedding all it's leaves everywhere so decided to take it from the tank. When I picked it up it almost instanly turned to mushy green goop in my hands.

Is that normal?

 

[Alasse]

I have cherries and i find them quite hardy. If they died them your water parameters are off. What was in your tank for the week after you added the media? Did the tank just sit there empty and you did nothing with it?
 
Can you give the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate readings. These will help us try to help

 

[techen]

When you say nitrite was higher than it normally should be, What do you mean? You should have Zero ammonia, Zero Nitrite and a small amount of nitrate in a cycled tank.
 
If you put mature media into your filter but left it fishless for a week that mature media will be dead and you'll be back to a uncycled tank.

 

[AmyStroodle]

Decorations, a few plants and log. (Plus the running equipment for the tank.)
Added a bit of food during the week to feed the bacteria on the media. But I tested it before adding the fish and everything was perfect. :[
 
I'll have to test it again. D: (At work atm.)
 
The one that's meant to be light blue was a bit darker blue sorta kinda maybe a more navey blue?

 

[techen]

Shrimps need a fairly mature tank really, I'd be waiting a month or two before putting shrimp into a tank.

 

[AmyStroodle]

Fair enough I shall wait a couple of month before trying them again.
 
Anything about the melting plant? Seemed rather strange to me.

 

[fluttermoth]

A lot of plants aren't grown underwater, but with just their roots immersed. When they go into your tank, they lose those leaves and grow new 'underwater' leaves, so that might be what's happened to your plant.
 
I should also add that, although the raised nitrite level is probably what killed the shrimps, all imported plants are treated with an insecticide that is lethal to shrimps, so you shouldn't add shrimps to a tank with new plants (they'll be safe after a couple of weeks) or new plants to tanks with shrimps, unless you know where the plants have come from and that they haven't been treated.

 

[AmyStroodle]

A lot of plants aren't grown underwater, but with just their roots immersed. When they go into your tank, they lose those leaves and grow new 'underwater' leaves, so that might be what's happened to your plant.
 
I should also add that, although the raised nitrite level is probably what killed the shrimps, all imported plants are treated with an insecticide that is lethal to shrimps, so you shouldn't add shrimps to a tank with new plants (they'll be safe after a couple of weeks) or new plants to tanks with shrimps, unless you know where the plants have come from and that they haven't been treated.

 
Oh god. 0.0 Will my fighting fish be ok?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, your fighter will be fine; it only affects inverts, like shrimps.
 
Later, when your tank is stable and you add more shrimps, it's best to buy any additional plants from other hobbyists. There are usually people here (in the marketplace forum) selling spare plants, from their own tanks, that will be shrimp safe and at a much better price than the shop ones
 
But, for the moment, you need to keep testing and water changing to make sure you don't get any more ammonia or nitrite building up. That is more than likely what killed the shrimp and will make your betta very poorly.
 
Can you remember what the actual nitrite level was at?

 

[AmyStroodle]

Yes, your fighter will be fine; it only affects inverts, like shrimps.
 
Later, when your tank is stable and you add more shrimps, it's best to buy any additional plants from other hobbyists. There are usually people here (in the marketplace forum) selling spare plants, from their own tanks, that will be shrimp safe and at a much better price than the shop ones

 
But, for the moment, you need to keep testing and water changing to make sure you don't get any more ammonia or nitrite building up. That is more than likely what killed the shrimp and will make your betta very poorly.
 
Can you remember what the actual nitrite level was at?

 
I'm sorry I can't no it was, on the little chart, the second one from the top though.

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to as many, or as large, water changes as necessary to keep the nitrite as near to zero as possible.