Shy Amanos

[Martinspuddle]

Think I have a dead shrimp now, either poor acclimatising or something else. I need to check in the morning it's not molted but looks like a dead shrimp atm. As mentioned in another post I do have cyanobacterio could this be harmful? Also I am dosing Flourish Excel in an attempt to battle the algae and I've just read somewhere this can be harmful to shrimp. Is this true?

I'm feeling a bit disheartened at the moment with some fish losses, a dead snail and now possibly a shrimp plus the horrid algae. Feel like I want to break it down and start over but realise I need to be patient!

Cyanobacteria isn't cleared using liquid carbon, just how much are you dosing? ...and yes, in high enough doses liquid carbon can be harmful to fish and shrimp.

Remind me, what fertilizer are you using, I've slept since your last post.

[fluxtor]

So not trying to eradicate cyanobacteria with carbon just control the hair algae. Been using seachem flourish and flourish excel at 1.5m daily of excel and 0.4m daily of flourish. Only started dosing this week with flourish.

[plankton]

If you want to get rid of the existing cyano then spot dose (I use a syringe) with hydrogen peroxide (3% or 6% - no stronger) - that will break down into water and oxygen.
As long as it doesn't get directly on fish, snails or shrimp it's fine.

[fluxtor]

Thanks, when you say spot dose with a syringe how much? Is it literally a drop or a squirt? I have some 1ml syringes.

[fr499y]

fill it up, squirt it on a little bit at a time. As the by-product is water and oxygen, you shouldn't need to worry about the amount you use. Just don't go pouring the bottle in

[Martinspuddle]

@fluxtor, you never stop learning in this hobby and starting again will probably give you the same result as now.

So not trying to eradicate cyanobacteria with carbon just control the hair algae. Been using seachem flourish and flourish excel at 1.5m daily of excel and 0.4m daily of flourish. Only started dosing this week with flourish.

Having never used Seachem flourish and knowing how much the recommended dosing is for Easy Life Easy Carbo so I looked up the dosing guide on their website:

Directions

On initial use or after a major (> 40%) water change, use 1 capful (5 mL) for every 40 L (10 US gallons). Thereafter use 1 capful for every 200 L (50 US gallons) daily or every other day.
For smaller dosing please note that each cap thread is approximately 1 mL.

Seachem.com

You say your dosing 1.5m daily of Excel (presume your talking millilitres) your dosing the Seachem Excel a tad high. 1 ml per day should more than enough and even then I'd say that's a little high. Do bare in mind with your aquarium is not filled to the brim and with the hardscape and substrate the total water volume in your 67 litre aquarium is probably nearer 50 litres of water total.

Thanks, when you say spot dose with a syringe how much? Is it literally a drop or a squirt? I have some 1ml syringes.

While Hydrogen Peroxide does work in clearing Cyanobacteria, it is not a permanent solution to stop this bacteria returning. In newly setup aquariums it is not unusual for Cyanobacteria to form, particularly excess light, low nitrates and ammonia during or after the nitrogen cycle. It can also be caused by 'dead spots' where water flow is at it's lowest and quite often is found at the front of the aquarium on the substrate. By all means dose the Cyanobacteria with one or two drops of Hydrogen Peroxide but do remember, nature will fight back. In your aquarium, what I would term as a 'mid' tech setup you want the total water volume of your aquarium to be turning over to be around ten times per hour. I case your wondering, my 310 litre aquarium water turns over 15 times the total volume per hour.

Patience Grasshopper!

No two aquarium setups are ever the same and every aquarium goes through what I called algae stages before settling down, so patience is key to a successful aquarium. My current 310 litre setup took nearly two years to fully settle and even now you will find algae growth.

Personally, if it was my setup, with your 67 litre aquarium which I would call a nano size aquarium, start by reducing the Excel dosing to 0.5ml per day, 1ml per day of the Flourish fertilizer, 50% weekly waterchanges and no more that six hours of light photoperiod per day, this also includes any excess sunlight the tank maybe receiving. Remove to worse effected leaves, dying plant and excess algae you can. If at all possible increase your aquarium water circulation to ten times per hour. Feed your fish sparingly only a few days a week, it won't harm the and you'll find the Shrimps will get to work on the algae issue. Amano Shrimp can be very lazy knowing easy food comes daily. Once the algae has all but near gone and you see the Shrimps swimming around, then it will be time to feed them. I would not add any more stock to your aquarium for the foreseeable future, as that will just add more issues, more excess nutrients in the water column which you don't want but the algae will love! Some additional fast growing plants will help and embrace what you have.

Hopefully given time the algae will recede as your plants take hold.

All the best, M.

[Lo1]

I have three sets of these for my 12 Amanos:



They must have somewhere to go after they’ve shed the casings for the new one to harden.

[Martinspuddle]

I have three sets of these for my 12 Amanos:



They must have somewhere to go after they’ve shed the casings for the new one to harden.

...and easily hidden in the aquarium.

[Lo1]

I have three sets of these for my 12 Amanos:



They must have somewhere to go after they’ve shed the casings for the new one to harden.

...and easily hidden in the aquarium.

The do actually look really good.

[fluxtor]

@Martinspuddle Thank you so much for taking the time to type such a lengthy reply and for being patient with me. I think being a Koi Keeper of several years I'm probably being complacent thinking I can just use my Koi knowledge and dive in and power full steam ahead! Now looks like I have two dead amanos although I've yet to confirm it's not just a molt but looking at them I can see legs and antenna so my guess is dead shrimp.

You say your dosing 1.5m daily of Excel (presume your talking millilitres) your dosing the Seachem Excel a tad high. 1 ml per day should more than enough and even then I'd say that's a little high. Do bare in mind with your aquarium is not filled to the brim and with the hardscape and substrate the total water volume in your 67 litre aquarium is probably nearer 50 litres of water total.

Correct, I meant ml.

While Hydrogen Peroxide does work in clearing Cyanobacteria, it is not a permanent solution to stop this bacteria returning. In newly setup aquariums it is not unusual for Cyanobacteria to form, particularly excess light, low nitrates and ammonia during or after the nitrogen cycle. It can also be caused by 'dead spots' where water flow is at it's lowest and quite often is found at the front of the aquarium on the substrate. By all means dose the Cyanobacteria with one or two drops of Hydrogen Peroxide but do remember, nature will fight back. In your aquarium, what I would term as a 'mid' tech setup you want the total water volume of your aquarium to be turning over to be around ten times per hour. I case your wondering, my 310 litre aquarium water turns over 15 times the total volume per hour.

Patience Grasshopper!

Understood. I'm beginning to regret buying the all in one quadro pro aquarium as I'm limited with the filter. Not entirely sure what it's quoted flow rate is without looking it up but all I know is it's not the best of filters.

No two aquarium setups are ever the same and every aquarium goes through what I called algae stages before settling down, so patience is key to a successful aquarium. My current 310 litre setup took nearly two years to fully settle and even now you will find algae growth.

Personally, if it was my setup, with your 67 litre aquarium which I would call a nano size aquarium, start by reducing the Excel dosing to 0.5ml per day, 1ml per day of the Flourish fertilizer, 50% weekly waterchanges and no more that six hours of light photoperiod per day, this also includes any excess sunlight the tank maybe receiving. Remove to worse effected leaves, dying plant and excess algae you can. If at all possible increase your aquarium water circulation to ten times per hour. Feed your fish sparingly only a few days a week, it won't harm the and you'll find the Shrimps will get to work on the algae issue. Amano Shrimp can be very lazy knowing easy food comes daily. Once the algae has all but near gone and you see the Shrimps swimming around, then it will be time to feed them. I would not add any more stock to your aquarium for the foreseeable future, as that will just add more issues, more excess nutrients in the water column which you don't want but the algae will love! Some additional fast growing plants will help and embrace what you have.

Hopefully given time the algae will recede as your plants take hold.

I will bare all this in mind and try to be patient. I will reduce the dosage as you suggest and try to get into a routine of doing a 50% water change weekly.

Not sure what I can do to increase to flow in this particular aquarium due to the inbuilt filter but appreciate there may not be enough flow.

As for reducing the light the only thing I can control easily is the actual time the LED lighting is on. do to the location of the aquarium as you have seen it's difficult to control natural light from the skylight and patio doors. I think I'm always going to be battling with natural light due to this. I did replant with some new fresh plants and to be honest the plants seem to be growing well despite the algae especially the Hygrophia which is going wild!

I will definitely not be stocking any more till I have this under control!

Once again thank you for all of your help and patience!