help cycling with raw shrimp

[xkon]

I just added two pieces of raw shrimp in a filter sock to my newly set up tank yesterday. Today there is what looks like a white fuzz/small hair coming out of the bottom of the filter sock where the shrimp is. Is this normal?

 

[toothybugs]

Yup. The decomp process is starting.

 

[xkon]

Okay cool, just wanted to make sure it wasnt some kind of bad mold that shouldnt be in there. Just picked up a test kit today. Should i test for ammonia daily or just every few days?

 

[snorvich]

Okay cool, just wanted to make sure it wasnt some kind of bad mold that shouldnt be in there. Just picked up a test kit today. Should i test for ammonia daily or just every few days?

You can test whenever you wish and if you plan to plot the readings, daily is desirable. You will also need to test for nitrite. Some folks also test for nitrate but I do not do that.

 

[thegrun]

+1, daily ammonia and nitrite testing will both help you understand the cycle better and get you used to conducting accurate testing proceedures. Be sure to keep a daily log with all test results. I also skip the nitrate tests until the cycle is complete, nitrites will give you false nitrate readings anyways. If at the end of the cycle your nitrates are high you can make a large water change to lower them.

 

[myofibroblast]

A cheaper alternative is to pretend you don't have a tank for a couple of weeks, and then test for nitrates. Only start checking for ammonia and nitrites when you have nitrates present. This is to ensure your ammonia and nitrite levels are zero. This is much more cost efficient than recording ammonia and nitrites daily for the first two weeks.

 

[reepher315]

+1. When I started my tank I tested every day like a fiend. Wasted half of my kits before I saw what I wanted to.

 

[firemountain]

For $10 bucks you can buy the Ammonia badge, and just monitor it daily to see when you have a spike, which will spare you the daily testing of Ammonia. Then...you can always move the Ammonia badge to a separate QT setup, or any other addition tanks. They are good for up to a year I believe.

FYI...don't let this take the place of your regularly scheduled water testing. I have one currently running in my new QT setup, but will then use it for monitoring during the TT method.

 

[xkon]

Thanks for all the help. Here is a picture of the tank set up with the shrimp in there. Just to clarify, the shrimp looks normal with that much fuzz on it?

also how does the tank set up look. It is a 60 gallon tank and I plan on keeping a snowflake eel with a dwarf lion fish.

 

[xkon]

any opinions?

 

[Matthias7]

That is exactly what mine looked like when I did it

 

[xkon]

Okay cool. I tested the ammonia yesterday and it is about .75 ppm. It also appears a few small brownish? (partially color blind, but it appears brown to me) are appearing on the rock. That would be beneficial bacteria growing correct?

 

[JMorris271]

That is a good sign and very normal so don't freak.