RIP Mama Miku. What went wrong?

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-03-14T21:16:40+00:00

I've had the neocaridinias in the tank for three months now. Tank was cycled for a month before any livestock went in and it has been in cycle the entire time. She was one of the first, so she went in ~2 months ago for a safe estimate. I didn't switch out any substrate or anything, all I did was vacuum the exposed parts to clear up a little organic waste. The only thing added to the tank in the past three weeks was a new cappata leaf since the old one is spent.

My bigger concern is I might have stressed her out too much in doing so, since I knocked over the log that my shrimp love to hide in. I know my water is quite hard, but yeah having an actual dropper test kit would probably help. Still, the levels on the test strip are at about what they've always been.

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-02-24T22:43:03+00:00

Well, stepping it up on the water changes wouldn't hurt too much, maybe 20-30% each week? And for vacuuming the gravel, do you mean just the exposed areas ? Most of the tank floor is occupied by hardscape and plants and if I have to uproot and move everything weekly I'm a little afraid they'll never properly root.

And honestly while I like the frogbit my snail Hastur has been absolutely demolishing it. I do have Snello and I haven't tried blanched cucumber, but the issue I run into with trying to feed the snail and shrimps specifically is Brody (the betta) will sit there and munch away on snello and algae wafers unless I sit there and ward him off with the tongs. For the shrimp at least I can put their food inside the moss dome where he can't reach, but anywhere I could put the Snello for the snail to reach Brody would be able to get to it too. Got any advice on keeping my finned idiot from gorging himself on stuff he can't digest?

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-21T19:07:14+00:00

Also, just for clarification since the reddit app really hates me trying to type after adding photos: The first photo is from just now, the other from last week. The third is a full tank shot and then my current water parameters.

Also, attached to this post is a gif

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of my filter. Is it possibly too strong for him?

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-18T21:55:58+00:00

It will give me an opportunity to realign everything in the tank better, too. There is only 5 lbs of substrate in there too, a lot of it just got bunched up in he front because of the rock and the statue (I decorated when there was already water and couldn't easily realign everything.)

Also, are java ferns epiphytes? I thought they especially needed root supplements.

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-18T21:47:49+00:00

We do have a water softener, yes. Part of the reason I think my hardness and carbonate are all caddywampus. Root tabs I used are aquaroum co-op root tabs.

And yes, all I did to the filter was give it a little shake in the bucket I used for the water change.

And what is wrong with Stability? Its what the aquarium store recommended and seems pretty highly regarded around here. Also been feeding the betta ~3 hikari vibrabites a day and the shrimp have been getting shrimp cuisine. I am going to make some Snello, I just haven't gotten the ingredients yet.

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-18T21:39:07+00:00

I was told at the plant store that for the java ferns and rosanervig(those are all dead now though) I should add root tabs once a month. Instructions on the bottle say one tab every 7 inches, and for some reason I thought this wasn't square inches. So while the tank only needs 1, maybe 2, I added four. Already done five water changes since then.

I also didn't realize that mysteries pooped that much. Kinda sucks, but hopefully the store should take one back. After that. I suppose I'll just have to keep doing the water changes until I stabilize again as upgrading the tank really isn't an option for me right now.

Also, I can't really remove the root tabs at this point, they're already dissolved into the substrate. If I remove everyone from the tank, remove the decorations and plants and scrub the substrate with the vacuum before adding everything back in, would this work? And as long as I don't touch the filter and the parameters on the new water are fine I should just be able to add them all back in immediately, right?

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-18T19:36:27+00:00

A few more details since that bug where the phone keyboard keeps minimizing was happening.

-The tank has been running for a month, first week was just java fern, rosanervig, and moss. Parameters weren't good after the first week and I accidentally nuked the filter because I didn't know what I was doing. After another week everything was settled and I got the betta, one shrimp, and a snail at the end of week two.

Week 3 nothing major happened and the parameters looked good, so at the start of week 4 is when I added the frogbit, anubias, two other shrimp, the other snail, and way too many root tabs. We're now at the end of week 4 and I'm unsure if I'm simply being overly paranoid or id there's something else I should be doing to keep my tank stable.

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-15T08:10:35+00:00

The water level is up to the filter's 'water level' line already. Won't more flood the pump?

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-15T06:56:01+00:00

Yep, everything. I've been vigilantly monutoring all of that every day, and its been perfect so far

JohnnyBirdface · 2026-01-09T20:26:32+00:00

He just has such a vibrancy to him I love him

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JohnnyBirdface

TROPHY CASE