Since the Amazon plants were doing so well I ordered a “sexy red plant bundle” off Dustin’s fish tanks and hoped for the best. These plants were so big compared to the ones I got off Azon and SO RED! Just drop dead gorgeous. I know red plants are said to only really be that red in aquariums that are Co2 infused but I still wanted to test this for myself with my very much not Co2 infused tank. I theorized really nutrient rich soil may work just as well and everything was going really well until…
A random Nitrate spike caused by using tainted tap water melted half the Amazon plants and almost all the sexy reds. (Tap water shouldn’t contain any nitrate but for some reason ours occasionally has a lot in it. This is why in the past I had an insane filtration system on a saltwater fish tank and only used store bought water thereafter. ) To avoid this issue in the future I have started to use local pond water to add beneficial bacteria, microscopic wildlife, and avoid these weird spikes.
I know a nitrate spike isn’t supposed to affect plants but I have no other explanation. This was a costly learning curve and to be honest I was pretty disheartened but oddly enough my sexy red plants made a comeback. After melting to nothing but stems most came back – but this new growth was completely green.
Meanwhile I got a few pest snails with the plant shipment and I LOVE THEM. One has tentacles and no one knows why! I have named him Eldrich Horror and he and his two mini mes (which also have tentacles) are doing a bang up job cleaning the glass of the tank. I’m told eventually his population will get out of control and I should remove him but I have a theory my tank will eventually find a non-pest level of stasis based on the availability of food. So he stays. I look forward to adding a few nerite snails to help out.
Sadly the Blue Dream neocardinia shrimp I bought off Amazon slowly died out. The last took a month or so to die off and I am pretty sure it was due to the nitrate spike. I understand now the tank has to be super stable for these adorable little water bugs and I already miss them. They were so cool!
I have set up a second tank – just a shitty 3-gallon tube thing I got from Wal-Mart years ago. It’s going to be used as a doctor tank or quarantine in the future in case any of my future fish need to be segregated from the healthy ones. It’s not ideal but it’s better than nothing.
