# Seachem root tabs safe for cherry shrimp?



## sfshrimp (May 24, 2016)

Hi, I have a fluval spec 5 gallon tank with caribsea black moon sand. Because the sand is inert, I am using seachem root tabs for plant growth, and the aquarium is well planted.. Are these tabs safe for red cherry shrimp? In the ingredients I noticed they contain trace amounts of copper. I keep finding dead shrimp every day or so, and the water parameters seem fine...no nitrates, no ammonia, 7.4 ph, 75 degree temp. I am using a varizea c02 system with 1 bubble every two seconds.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Do you know what the KH and GH and TDS are?


Some amount of copper is fine. I use Flourish Comp in my tank without any issues and it also contains copper. Some shrimp keepers also use Flourish Trace which has higher concentrations of copper in it without issues. Comp has less copper than tabs, but Trace has more copper.


I would double check your other parameters before deciding it's the root tabs for sure.



EDIT: Just looked at a different thread of yours... the KH is much too high! Looks to be about 7-11. You want a dKH of 1-5.

http://www.shrimpcorner.co.uk/blog/post/11-freshwater-shrimp-water-parameters
http://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/17030569-dwarf-shrimp-water-parameters


Are you using tap water or?


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## sfshrimp (May 24, 2016)

*kh / gh*

The kh is 140-200. The gh I don't know, I ordered an API GH/KH test kit from amazon and tried the GH three times with no results, so I think it's expired or old... The plants in the tank are doing super well, but I'm getting some weird shrimp deaths every few days and the parameters should be fine for them. It's also a small tank with c02, so tonight i will check the ph before the lights and c02 turn off to see if there is some kind of radical swing that is annoying the rcs.



Zoidburg said:


> Do you know what the KH and GH and TDS are?
> 
> 
> Some amount of copper is fine. I use Flourish Comp in my tank without any issues and it also contains copper. Some shrimp keepers also use Flourish Trace which has higher concentrations of copper in it without issues. Comp has less copper than tabs, but Trace has more copper.
> ...


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Sorry, edited my post.




Zoidburg said:


> EDIT: Just looked at a different thread of yours... the KH is much too high! Looks to be about 7-11. You want a dKH of 1-5.
> 
> Shrimp Water Parameters
> Dwarf Shrimp Water Parameters ? DiscoBee
> ...


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## sfshrimp (May 24, 2016)

*you are confusing me*

why? the kh is fine....



Zoidburg said:


> Sorry, edited my post.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

The KH is too high. Like I said, for cherries, you want a dKH of 1-5, or 17.86-90 KH ppm.


If you look at the links I provided, they confirm as much.




*Shrimp Corner* - Cherries *KH:* 1–4, *GH:* 6–8, *TDS:* 160-180


*Discobee* - Cherries *KH:* 2–5, *GH:* 6–8, *TDS:* 80–200







If your KH is too high, I suspect your GH and TDS may also be too high.


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## sfshrimp (May 24, 2016)

The kh is fine. Relax.



Zoidburg said:


> The KH is too high. Like I said, for cherries, you want a dKH of 1-5, or 17.86-90 KH ppm.
> 
> 
> If you look at the links I provided, they confirm as much.
> ...


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

The roots tabs are safe. Pretty much all fertilisers cotaining copper do not have a high enough concentrations of copper to hurt shrimp (unless you literally dump a boat load in, but copper would be the least of your issues if you did). Heck shrimp need a little bit of it. I would look at your GH, KH and TDS as mentioned by Zoidburg. pH swings from CO2 are also not likely to kill your shrimp. Many people have tanks with CO2 which causes swings with no issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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