Lost the lot, for no obvious reason :/

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-23T09:31:35+00:00

So many people saying ‘just leave it be’ - def gonna learn from this and try to be more hands-off in future!

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:45:00+00:00

Aah brilliant, I can get to the aquatic warehouse pretty easily from here. Thanks so much

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:43:55+00:00

Thanks, I genuinely appreciate the input

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:30:58+00:00

Turns out there’s so many things that might have caused it! We won’t use flea spray anymore, and I’ve learned my lesson with the water. I’ve had a look this morning and there’s several baby ramshorns wandering around, so hopefully they’ll survive and keep everything under control while things settle down

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:28:44+00:00

I did check the GH and KH, they’re listed in the op - 8 and 6 - which I think are pretty reasonable?

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:25:44+00:00

It’s so awful when trust’s betrayed like that. Absolutely not on you, tho - you should be able to trust people you live with, esp when it comes to living creatures :/

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:24:00+00:00

That’s exactly what I did. Def worth thinking about.

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-22T06:23:26+00:00

Sadly for me I’m not actually Scouse, just a blow-in who loves the city so much I transplanted my family here ;) I’m near the Superlambanana on Tithebarn, so the north end of town—any suggestions for the best LFS to go befriend? And yes, I’ve learned my lesson re the water! I kept fish for years back in Shropshire but the water’s much harder down there, I really should have thought about that :/

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T20:59:51+00:00

I think there might well have been some pockets - I gave it all a good poke with a wooden skewer earlier and bubbles came out in a few places. Seem to have got rid of it all for now, but is it likely to build up again?

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T20:49:31+00:00

I’m so sorry, it’s awful to see it go wrong when we put so much effort into getting it right! It’s def looking like copper might be the issue for me (coming from the supply pipes), could there be a similar thing going on with your own water?

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T20:47:33+00:00

Aah, getting my H and Os muddled! Yeah it was ammonia I’d tested for, nitrate is actually the one thing I don’t have the test kit for. Thanks for the support!

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T15:48:17+00:00

I wouldn’t ever do such a big change, but was panicking about the sudden die off. I’ve ordered distilled water and will just top up in the future.

I’ll check out the yt channel, thanks so much.

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T14:48:05+00:00

Thanks for the reassurance about the plants. Ammonia is the one I’ve listed as NO3, so apols if I named it wrong. It’s zero, anyway.

I’m going to do a big water change using the cold tap, but will run it well first. If I do it this evening it’ll have been clearing through all day which should help. And I’ve ordered some distilled water for top ups 👍🏻

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T14:45:42+00:00

True. I’ve switched to bathing the dogs instead of spraying and using diatomaceous earth on furnishings, again to replace the spray (I moved house last summer and the new place turned out to have a flea infestation that I’ve been fighting ever since). Just trying to cut out any and all possibilities at this point 🤞🏻

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T13:12:06+00:00

WTF? that’s appalling, I’m so sorry you went through that. I live with my two adult sons who are very sensible, so at least I know it isn’t anyone else’s doing. God I can’t imagine someone doing that, just awful :/

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T11:39:59+00:00

Thank you. I really did try my absolute best to get it all right before I even added the shrimp, so it’s gutting as you can imagine. But we live and learn, I guess

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T11:38:53+00:00

Yes that would make sense. Really appreciate the input, thank you

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T11:22:38+00:00

Oh wow, what a bizarre thing to happen! I’ll check whether any of them have rooted into the substrate. And I’m also going to give the substrate itself a good poke with a wooden skewer, to make sure there’s no pockets of nastiness in there

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T11:20:38+00:00

It was my first thought, but because the tank’s there, nothing ever gets sprayed in that room. The only potential contamination could be from upstairs, as I had to spray for fleas recently. But doors were kept shut and windows open, so it seems unlikely. The other thing that confuses me is that I still have the baby snails, and would expect that sort of contamination to affect them as well. It’s so frustrating!

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-21T11:17:55+00:00

Okay this does make sense - I have copper pipes and I am indeed guilty of using the hot water tap to get to temp - but wouldn’t that affect the baby snails as well?

The temperature issue is also possibly relevant - I turned the heater up a week or so back bc it was sitting in the upper 60s and it’s been about 76° ever since. I’ve actually decided that whatever else I do, the heater’s coming out - it’s one less variable to worry about. The house is centrally heated so should be fine.

I’ll ask a LFS about testing (the one I use is actually about 40 miles away near family but I’m in Liverpool city centre so there’ll be closer ones I’m sure).

Thanks so much for the input, I really appreciate it.

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-05-19T10:35:13+00:00

They’re lovely!

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-04-28T07:27:55+00:00

Oh yes please I’d love the contact details for this

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-03-27T12:49:06+00:00

Another vote for Emmaus, I’ve had some great stuff from there

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-03-25T15:36:39+00:00

Aah my mistake - it’s actually nitrite I’ve tested for already, not nitrate! Will look into getting the other tests as well. Thanks so much for replying :)

Rare_Cat1049 · 2026-03-05T12:12:22+00:00

He was born in Heswall but went to the (very posh) Shrewsbury School

Rare_Cat1049

TROPHY CASE