Nutritious daphnia?

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Except for leeches, there really aren't any freshwater fish parasites big enough to be seen crawling or swimming around in a freshwater tank.

I was just going to post the same.

There is an airline in the tank, but I also noticed that it became heavily covered in a white stringy scum just prior to the PWC and the worms appearance... correlation? Coincedance?

Probably correlated, I'd up the water changes a bit, add some calcium (small bit of cuttle bone or oyster shell?) and if you don't have any snails? add some, I use Red Ramshorns, but Tadpole snail would also do.

spirulina, soy flour, paprika, brewers yeast, and freeze dried peas

That should definitely cover all bases.

cheers Darrel

 

[JasonC]

Probably correlated, I'd up the water changes a bit, add some calcium (small bit of cuttle bone or oyster shell?) and if you don't have any snails? add some, I use Red Ramshorns, but Tadpole snail would also do.
That should definitely cover all bases.

cheers Darrel

Definitely have some Ramshorns in the tank already. I'm thinking I'll move to a twice weekly PWC. Also toss some cuttlebone in that I have sitting around somewhere... re the calcium, do daphnia deplete calcium from the water column as they molt and grow?

Thanks for all the information everyone!

 

[gerald]

The "shell" (carapace) is chitin, not CaCO3, so they're not using up Ca like snails do, but ALL animals and plants need some Ca and Mg so if your water is very soft a Ca/Mg source may help, just in case there's not enough in the food. That said, my Moina cultures seem to grow best in rainwater (with dirt, leaves and turtle poop).

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

That said, my Moina cultures seem to grow best in rainwater (with dirt, leaves and turtle poop).

Mine do to, but everything here is limestone, so even the rain-water has some carbonate hardness. I know that Daphnia magna likes fairly hard water, but the D. pulex is fine in softer water. If your Ramshorn snails aren't showing any shell erosion? the water is hard enough.

cheers Darrel