# Is Seachem Stability Bio Support safe ?



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I switched from Big Al's bio support Stability Bio support two weeks ago. And I noticed recently after two watter changes (I change 20% of watter in my 10GL tank every week and add bio suport right after for 3 months now) that my cherry shrimps are not showing up anymore and my amano shrimps are showing less and less and acting as they want to get out. I'm wondering is it posible that seachem stability bio support has negative effect on them ? I thought it should be safe as my fishes acting normaly so far but my shrimps are not. Any help is appriciated.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Can you describe your tank perimeters currently?

pH
nitrite
nitrate
hardness
temp
etc

What fish you have in the tank? Species? How many of each fish?

It will help out. 

I'm not sure about the amanos but IIRC the cherry shrimp do hide if they feel they are being attacked and picked on.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

pH
don't know at the moment need to go to BA to test
nitrite
same as above
nitrate
same as above
hardness
same as above
temp
26C
But before I started to use stability I had no problems (except algae) for 3 months

6 neons, 3 guppies (1 of them is a juvely), 1 sword tail, 3 curry catfish, 2 otto cats. Originaly should be over 10 cherry shrimps including juvelis but I cold never count more than 6 at the time, lately no more than 3, for past 3 days I brefly saw 1, 9 amanos, on monday still saw 7 of them, today only 1.
It's also planted tank with java fern windelove, java moss, amazona sword and a week ago I introduced draft Hygrophila.



AquaNeko said:


> Can you describe your tank perimeters currently?
> 
> pH
> nitrite
> ...


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

You have quite a number of fish for a 10g aquarium.

It is likely that your fish are predating on your shrimp, hence their declining number.

Also, you don't need to add any biological support products after a water change. If anything, more important to add is a water conditioner (such as Prime).


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I always add Prime and BA Conditioner. This is given if I want to keep my fish alive after watter changes.
As per number of fish I had more fish and shrimps and they were living along with no problems for months. My fish was not bugging shrimps as I had enough plants for them to hide or they were big enough for fish not to touch them. As per bio support I know I don't need to add it but it's better and recomended. Also I think because I started to introduse algae woffels at night the shrimps are hiding more and waiting for their food instead of wondering around. I just dropped a little peace of woffel and I immediatly saw 3 amano shrimps looking for it.



Darkblade48 said:


> You have quite a number of fish for a 10g aquarium.
> 
> It is likely that your fish are predating on your shrimp, hence their declining number.
> 
> Also, you don't need to add any biological support products after a water change. If anything, more important to add is a water conditioner (such as Prime).


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

ppaskova said:


> pH
> don't know at the moment need to go to BA to test
> nitrite
> same as above
> ...


To be honest, unless you know all those parameters that were asked for, all you are doing is guessing (and not too well at that) as to what is causing the issue. You are under the assumption that since one product has switched that must be the cause (and it could, but honestly I doubt it), but without being able to rule out everything else by knowing those parameters you'll get nowhere. I personally would put my bet on something completely different causing the issue. Maybe the Nitrates are too high (and shrimp don't like that) or maybe something else, no way of knowing without proper info. I'd recommend taking the water to get it tested, or better yet, if you can afford it get a few test kits, Nitrate is probably the most important one to have cause it'll let you know how often you should be changing the water ... and that's what I'm thinking the issue is here. You might change it every X number of weeks, but unless you are running tests to check your Nitrates, you might need to change it more often and slowly your Nitrates have been going up to a point where it's starting to bother the shrimp.

Harry


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Ppaskova,

$10 for 23 (of 25) test strips. http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16471

A good price as IIRC they are $17ish when I got them. Sure you can get the water tests at BA's but at times like this you can test and give a reply back to the other people here to help you more. The fish already cost more then the test kit. 

Without more data it's liek shooting in the dark (yes yes I know there are night vision scopes but say sans NVG's ).

I have a feeling with that over stocked 10gal and with what Harry and Dark48 said that I'm leaning towards nitrite build up given the more bioload in the tank and also the shrimp may be prey'ed on by the fish.

I know your tank is in the tv room close to the kitchen so you'll always have human traffic moving around the area often and that could be the reason why when you look at the tank the shrimp may look like they are not being attacked as the fish may be thinking anyone (kids/you/wife/etc) passing is going to give them a treat so they change thier behaviour or break up any hunts on the shrimp. I would see if you can acquire a set of optics like bionoculars and hide a distance away from the tank when no one is moving in the area for a while and watch the tank for a little bit. Heck use the digital camera with zoom lens and a tripod or rest it somewhere to monitor the tank.

I know with my RCS it did not look like the zebra danios was picking on them when I was checkingup on them but when the lights were off or I was checking at many different odd times of the day or night (at night I used a red light and watched at a distance) I found some of the z.danios picking on the RCS thus why I could not find any bodies as anything that died got nibbled down. My filter always came out clear without any RCS bodies after I put the sponge cover on it. Mind you the RCS I had in there was a few mm in size at the time and the zebra danios are near max size. Dispite what I read online about RCS and z.danios co-exisiting I think that was only on 1/2" to full size shrimp that can handle thier own against the larger peaceful fish.

I would check at night as well from a distance with a red flashlight (cover a flashlight with redcloth or red plastic) and watch the tank a couple hours afte the lights are off. I discovered the z.danios attacking my shrimp at night one night when I checked on them with the ligthts off so something to think about. Best to collect up more data and report back.


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

I would also include that shrimp molt, they cant move out of the way from fish if they are in a molt. They are trying to do their thing and here comes a swordtail. Dinner.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

pat3612 said:


> I would also include that shrimp molt, they cant move out of the way from fish if they are in a molt. They are trying to do their thing and here comes a swordtail. Dinner.


Oh yah totally forgot about the molting. He was telling me how his shrimp were nom noming a lot on algae recently but for a renew'ed fish keeper losing amano shrimp can add up a bit. Then again better then losing grade SSS Mosura CRS or Sulawai shrimp at $20-30/ea.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

AquaNeko said:


> Oh yah totally forgot about the molting. He was telling me how his shrimp were nom noming a lot on algae recently but for a renew'ed fish keeper losing amano shrimp can add up a bit. Then again better then losing grade SSS Mosura CRS or Sulawai shrimp at $20-30/ea.


OK, looks like my Omanos are still OK. I counted about 7 yesterday and about 5 today. And their size like my neons, so I'm not sure that my fish picked on them yet. But you are right AquaNeko about cherry shrimps being eaten by my fish (most likely neons, which I'm surprised about). I went out of town last week for 3 days and did not feed my fish and when I came back I noticed no cherry shrimps anymore (and they have enough places to hide in my planted tank). Today I discovered the piece that look like piece of body of Cherry shrimp and when I put it back to my tank, my neons happily eaten it (although it was not small). You are the one AquaNeko who advised me to feed my fish less to fight the algae that I have (much less then before). I use to feed my fish twice a day but now feed 1 time a day and don't feed 1 day a week. Now as a downside they are eating my shrimps!!! Here is my question. If I feed my fish more I'll get more algae if I feed my fish less they will pick up on smaller things like shrimps. So what to do to keep a good balance ?


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

If I feed my fish more I'll get more algae if I feed my fish less they will pick up on smaller things like shrimps. So what to do to keep a good balance ?[/QUOTE]

best option is to siphon the remaining food after feeding for likely 5minutes.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

camboy012406 said:


> If I feed my fish more I'll get more algae if I feed my fish less they will pick up on smaller things like shrimps. So what to do to keep a good balance ?


best option is to siphon the remaining food after feeding for likely 5minutes. [/QUOTE]

I only feed my fish for about 1 min 1 time a day. So no food usualy left


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

AquaNeko said:


> Can you describe your tank perimeters currently?
> 
> pH
> nitrite
> ...


OK. I tested it and results are very much what I expected:
pH - 6.0
nitrite - none (0)
nitrate - none (0)
hardness - hard
temp - 26C
No Amonia


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