Fairy Shrimp – Brine Shrimp – Sea Monkeys

Posts Tagged ‘Cory’

I have 3 Platys, an Albino Cory, and two fancy guppies. Can I feed them a few Sea Monkeys? Like the ones that you buy the little package of sea monkey’s, put them in water, and they hatch? They are usually used for kids to have some super tiny pets and not have to take care of them, but can I use them to feed my fish a treat?

I have a 6 gallon tank. 2 months ago I had 4 fish: a cory catfish, a female betta, and 2 otos. They had all been in the tank for a year and were doing fine.

Three weeks ago, I found the Cory dead in the bottom. He had been acting lethargic. Now my betta just sits on the bottom and seems unhappy. Otos seem fine.

I always do a weekly 50% water change and treat the new water with a dechlorinator before pouring it in. Tank is kept between 79-81 degrees. PH is high, but that never bothered the fish before and people have told me to leave it alone. I feed them every other day with either blood worms, brine shrimp or flake food. Pet sitter fed them just flake food.

One thing I noticed when I tested the water yesterday is that the ammonia was kind of high, especially for an established tank. Nitrate and nitrate are zero. Last test showed zero ammonia and nitrite, very low nitrate. Not sure what happened. Did a 50% water change. Didn’t seem to help. Don’t see any signs of ich or parasites.
Also, I went on vacation for a week a couple months ago and the pet sitter overfed them. Came back and the tank was filthy. I did a 65% water change and siphoned as much food out as possible.

I’ve had my cory for 6 months now, very healthy and cheerful, no problems getting along with my female betta and 2 otos. However, I just noticed yesterday that one of his whiskers is now missing. I specifically bought rounded, smooth gravel for the tank to avoid this but it looks like it happened anyway. He seems to be eating okay still, likes to find bloodworms, brine shrimp and flake food that my betta doesn’t grab and loves munching on algae wafers.

My question is: will the whisker grow back? Is there anything I can do to help it grow?

Whenever I test the ph in my aquarium, it’s always like 7.6-8.0, which seems awfully high. I can’t determine what is causing the problem. I do a weekly 40% water change. I vaccuum the gravel as best I can, but I don’t want to remove everything because otherwise my Cory won’t have anything to eat. I feed the fish every other day, either bloodworms, brine shrimp or Tetleys flake food.

My aquarium is a 6 gallon and I have 4 fish in there now and don’t plan to add any more. 1 female betta, 1 little albino cory and I added a couple little otos who help keep the algae in check. It’s a marineland system 6 that came with a pretty powerful filtration unit that seems to do a good job. I’ve also added an airstone and a heater and keep the temp pretty steady between 78 and 83 (it goes up a bit during the day). I have a couple plastic plants and some smooth gravel. Fish all seem happy and energetic.

Maybe my tapwater is just naturally alkaline? I do treat it before adding it to the tank.