danceswithfish
New member
I have read that cleaner shrimp are sensitive to nitrates. My nitrates are about 30ppm and my amonia and nitrite are barely detectable. When should I start worrying?
Thanks
Blake
Thanks
Blake
What nitrate level will kill my cleaner shrimp?
- Thread starter danceswithfish
- Start date
I have it's relative, fire shrimp, it's tolerated NO3 up to 80 ppm (this was maximum that I had), usually- 20-30 (FOWLR tank, messy eaters). Already 1 yr old, looks good.
The better conditions would be better, of course.
If you have some ammonia and nitrites - check two things:
- pieces of food or dead bodies, decomposing somewhere under or behind the rock;
- if you have enough surface for bacteria to colonize - LR or biomedia.
The better conditions would be better, of course.
If you have some ammonia and nitrites - check two things:
- pieces of food or dead bodies, decomposing somewhere under or behind the rock;
- if you have enough surface for bacteria to colonize - LR or biomedia.
pledosophy
Active member
I had a tank that was consistantly over 40 ppm and my cleaner was fine. JME
I don't believe nitrate in itself is bad unless the shrimp would convert it into nitrite. Cows can actually die by eating plants that are high in nitrates because as they digest the material it converts into nitrite which can enter the blood stream, bonding to hemoglobin making it methoglobin and suffocating the animal. Fun stuff! There are published papers that saying even levels as low as 10ppm are bad for larval shrimp. Adult shrimp should be more resistant. Of course the species of shrimp may have an impact as well. There are freshwater shrimp that live in creeks with very high levels of nitrate.
GoingPostal
Active member
When I tested my local pet stores tank once with two cleaners alive in it, it came up over 100 even with diluting the test. This was a Red Sea test kit so I don't know how accurate it was but in two years she probably did four water changes and fed excessively with only hang on biowheels for filtration so I would believe they were that high. Fish were very pale and unhealthy looking though.
danceswithfish
New member
Seems like cleaner shrimp do fine with nitrate levels that are around 40ppm (like in my tank) and higher. I wonder why it sais that cleaner shrimp don't tolerate high levels of nitrates on Liveaquaria.com? I guess they mean really high?
