Pistol shrimp, water params, concerned

[ZenGuitarGuy]

Hi all,

I added a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp on Feb. 7th. Since then, I have had fleeting glimpses of the goby, but not the shrimp. I took a video on my phone on Feb. 15th, and saw his antennae in a hole at the base of a rock. That's all I've seen of him. No clicks either. Should I be worried? I resisted the urge to go looking for him, which I'm sure would require removing a lot of rockwork.

I'm also worried because some of my water parameters have been a little unstable, probably because my tank is newly cycled (cycled as of Feb. 1st). My parameters are, as of today:

Ammonia .1 my test has shown 0-.2 over the last month.
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 (were as high as 30 on Feb. 10th). In the last week I've done 3 20% water changes to combat.
PH 8.0
Temp 78F
SG 1.025

Everything has been stable except for the trace ammonia, and the nitrates. I'm concerned that if these levels of ammonia and nitrate are enough to seriously bother an invertebrate, then is it possible he's dead and buried? The goby seems to be doing well--looks good, curious, eating, but still very skittish.

Equipment: 65G, no sump, shallow sand bed and 70 lbs live rock, Reef Octopus 100 skimmer, cobalt heater (200W), 2x850 and 1x240 Hydor (small one for surface agitation only), TLF reactor (GFO and carbon, not mixed, separated in the chamber).

Other info: Salifert test kits, no other livestock (chromis and firefish in QT), feeding twice per day (frozen mysis, frozen brine, an algae wafer once a week). Over the last couple weeks, I have scaled back the amount of food I'm administering at each feeding.

Thanks all...Martin.

 

[sde1500]

What test kit do you have for ammonia? API I've heard gives false positive readings. Really, once you are sure your tank is cycled, and you should be sure before adding anything, testing ammonia is a waste unless you think something is really wrong. As for the pistol, hard to say but I wouldn't go looking for it. They are, in my experience, super hardy creatures. How do I know? I took a rock out, and thought my pistol shrimp had moved, to dip it in peroxide to fight an algae out break. Turns out, he was still on the rock, and took a peroxide bath, fell out into my tupperware container that had mostly peroxide in it, was picked up by hand, and put back into my tank, and months later is still alive and well, based on the popping I hear daily. I've seen it once in the months since then though. I'll need to add a goby for it at some point to hopefully see it more.

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

Thanks for the reply. I use Salifert test kits, based on everyone's recommendation here on RC. I have had some difficulty with the ammonia test--the reading/colour is hard to match I find. I think it got into my head and now I'm testing every day. It seems to read anywhere from 0 to .2. Perhaps I'm screwing it up?

Good to know about the shrimp. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

Well, I tried something different, and looked underneath the tank, through the bottom glass, in the region I thought they were occupying. Low and behold, I was able to photograph the goby with his shrimp buddy, alive and well, in a deep burrow.

 

[mcgyvr]

IMO.. No point in testing for ammonia nor nitrites in an established tank..

Your parameters are totally fine for a fish only tank.. 20ppm NO3 is nothing to them..

 

[Sk8r]

track alkalinity instead of ph: much more meaningful. Try to stay at 8.3.

And don't expect to see your pistol shrimp but maybe once a month. They're cryptic.

 

[Elricsfate]

track alkalinity instead of ph: much more meaningful. Try to stay at 8.3.

And don't expect to see your pistol shrimp but maybe once a month. They're cryptic.

What are you using to maintain 8.3 dkh Sk8r?

 

[Sk8r]

It's a preference: the ok range is 7.9 to 9.0. But using DKH buffer (alk) and calcium supplement (Kent) and magnesium supplement (Tech-M)---I start by setting mg at 1350, then alk buffered to 8.3 and calcium (dosed after alk is stable) at 420, and then I put lime powder (Mrs Wages Pickling Lime) into my topoff water (2 tsp a gallon of fresh water) and just let it run. I test the mg weekly, keep it in that range, and the limewater will assure the alk and cal stay rock steady for weeks and weeks, so long as I keep the kalk-water going and the magnesium up. This is a method known in the US since about the 1980's, and it's the poor man's controller: long as that mg holds out and the reservoir stays up, the readings won't budge. I can leave my tank for a month with no sweat about the parameters: I bump the mg up a little high, around 1500, just tell my tanksitter to pump in more freshwater to the reservoir, from a second 32 gallon can---the wonderful thing about kalk is that you can't overdose: only 2 tsp per gallon CAN dissolve in fresh water; so I dump a month's supply into half a month's water, and trust the rest will dissolve nicely when more water comes in: you just keep your topoff pump out of the white stuff that lies (in excess) on the bottom of the reservoir.

Now back to the OP's pistol shrimp!!!

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

track alkalinity instead of ph: much more meaningful. Try to stay at 8.3.

I do have a test kit for alkalinity. I will definitely start tracking, thanks!

 

[mcgyvr]

the ok range is 7.9 to 9.0.

Or 7-11 dKH (2.5-4 meq/l)

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

As far as the goby/shrimp, should I try to spot feed them in the area I think they're in? I don't want them to starve. I have been feeding the tank 2/day, assuming/hoping that some of that food is arriving in their area.

 

[mcgyvr]

I wouldn't worry about spot feeding..

 

[Hoopster81]

I got a watchman goby and tiger pistol about three months ago. Barely saw the pistol for the first month. He now will take mysis from my hand. Give it some time.

 

[rajilnaja]

I got lucky my pistol doesnt burrow and just lives in a hole in a rock, can almost always see about half of us body. On the other hand he wants nothing to do with my watchman even after almost 6 months together and being paired up at the time of purchase.