Inverts as Water Quality Indicators

[jewett]

I think my little water chemistry test kits are ****.
I have been preparing a 4ft long tank for my adult colony of Alpine newts and so have been cycling the tank. In the past I would test the water before adding anything to get a baseline, then I would add a bit of frozen bloodworm, then test the water a few days later. I would repeat this for a few weeks, and then add the animals. My water parameters would never change, at least according to my less than trusty test strips. It didn't seem to matter if the water was straight from the tap or had gross fuzzy bits of dead blood worm sunk to the bottom - my test kits would happily report that my water was pristine.
So I have not been using them this time. I have added some live horn wort and water wisteria plants, then I added some live black worms and a net full of little water critters from the local river. I also have snails in there, too, guessing that they came along with the plants. Its been several weeks and the inverts all seem to be doing well (the black worms seem to be happily eating the spiders that fall in, drown, and sink to the bottom - it's gleefully creepy).
So how good an indicator are these little bugs and creatures? Are they more or less tolerant of poor water quality than my Alpines? Am I totally putting my newts lives at risk and should be ashamed of not using the chemistry kits? Have I completely lost what little face I have on this website? Will this poor husbandry practice get me banned from CC?!
Please tell me what you all think. My plan was to add 2 newts at a time over the course of a few weeks once I get all the plants that I want, with frequent water changes.
Thanks!!

Heather

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Don't tell anyone, but if Daphnia die in my tanks I do a water change. Daphnia are really sensitive, if they croak, there is a problem.


Any kit testing I do is before the water ever gets to the tank/tub/jar/bucket.

 

[Azhael]

It depends on which specific kinds of invertebrates you have, but yeah, i would consider them fairly decent indicators. Things like blackworms or Tubifex i wouldn´t consider good indicators at all, but stuff like the Daphnia, Johnny mentioned, copepods, quironomids, aquatic isopods and amphipods, mayfly larvae, etc, those i would consider pretty good. If those things survive or thrive in your tanks, your water quality is at the very least good enough, if not quite excellent. If you have a variety of those it´s better as an indication.
And not only are they useful as water chemistry indicators, they are also a potential healthy snack for your animals and an important part in the balance of an stablished tank, processing debris, keeping algae under control, etc. Plus if you are geeky, having bugs is always cool

I don´t ever test anything these days if i´m honest...i rely entirely on the power of photosynthesis, my limited experience (and a modicum of luck), but mostly photosynthesis.... My strategy is having so many plants it becomes difficult to tell if it´s an aquarium or some kind of glass green house.
If you are familiar with your water source and what to expect from it, have enough plants, a healthy community of bugs and do partial water changes, i wouldn´t worry....

Oh, forgot to say, you may want to consider using Neocaridina heteropoda in your tanks if you are feeling particularly paranoid. They are excellent indicators of water quality. If those thrive, you can comfortably say your water chemistry is more than safe. They are also very pretty and interesting, act like a 24 hour cleaning service and make a tasty, healthy snack for the alpines (and they are very rich in carotenes to boot!).

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Just to add on a bit more, tubifex and blackworms actually prefer truly filthy(bacteriologicaly speaking) water.

I had so many issues with blackworms in the past that I no longer use them, ever. I do have a tubifex culture or two here, but I use them for water pretreatment rather than as live foods.

 

[jewett]

Thanks for the response, guys - I was feeling a bit like a heretic.

As far as the cherry shrimp, they would do OK in a bare bottomed tank? I have some drift wood in there but it is suspended with fishing line and so not touching the bottom of the tank.

And this will be very geeky but I am requesting you both spell this out for me (since you are both here!) can you outline your "benign neglect"/"lazy method" of tank maintenance that you both have referenced in other posts? Do you just add water when it evaporates, and rely on a ton of plants for water quality? I think this would be great - I am always so paranoid about siphoning out caudate larvae with water changes, or that I keep my bare bottomed tanks too sterile. I feel I do have a fair amount of plants in with my animals but I would like more, and all of my tanks have small, zippy inverts zooming around.

Thanks!
Heather

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Thanks for the response, guys - I was feeling a bit like a heretic.

As far as the cherry shrimp, they would do OK in a bare bottomed tank? I have some drift wood in there but it is suspended with fishing line and so not touching the bottom of the tank.

And this will be very geeky but I am requesting you both spell this out for me (since you are both here!) can you outline your "benign neglect"/"lazy method" of tank maintenance that you both have referenced in other posts? Do you just add water when it evaporates, and rely on a ton of plants for water quality? I think this would be great - I am always so paranoid about siphoning out caudate larvae with water changes, or that I keep my bare bottomed tanks too sterile. I feel I do have a fair amount of plants in with my animals but I would like more, and all of my tanks have small, zippy inverts zooming around.

Thanks!
Heather

No worries about a bare bottom tank being to sterile. I use zero substrate in al my caudate tanks.

As for cherry shrimp, I know nothing about them.

To describe the method I use would be rather tough for me as there really isn't any set of rules. I just go with the flow and add or remove water as needed. What makes it hard to describe is the elaborate method by which I "make" water to be added...

 

[Azhael]

This thread might be helpful:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...64695-got-shrimp.html?highlight=cherry+shrimp

It´s recommended to keep them with a substrate, but that´s mainly when you have an aquarium destined for them. There are several benefits to using gravel with these little buggers. However, i had some in my bare bottomed tanks and it wasn´t a problem because of the sheer amount of plants that occupy everything. You shouldn´t have any problem keeping them in a tank with no substrate. They will use that driftwood and any plants or decorations you have. They LOVE java moss, so having a good chunk of that is a good idea.

As for the benign neglect thing, in my case i really do rely on obscene amounts of plants. You can form an idea by Chris´ siren tank:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...eo-gallery/79855-siren-intermedia-update.html
There´s also a picture of my H.orientalis tank but at that time i would have considered that tank a bit barren (i´m in the process of substituting the Elodea by Hydrocotyle leucocephala and so i had taken out a large handful of the former). The idea is basically having green stuff from bottom to surface occupying absolutely everything xD
I make partial water changes once a month (aproximately ) since they are old, well stablished tanks, and top up evaporated water. I partially remove accumulated debris very seldom, perhaps twice a year, because i like having it for the younger larvae. I barely ever get any uneaten foods (that would be unthinkable for some of my animals) but when it happens, they are removed with a turkey baster. I do take some care in eliminating old "damaged" stems, and periodically trimming some of the plants, to allow for new growth and so that the build up of organic debris is not too fast, but really i just leave the tank be for the most part. I suposse it´s a bit like treating it as a self-sufficient system (although it isn´t xD).
This works very well for me, but obviously i wouldn´t dare say it´s infalible. It works best in large tanks but it can be done in a 10 gallon.

If there´s something else you want to know or think i may have missed, just ask

 

[jewett]

Thanks to the both of you for all the info - I really appreciate it.

My goal for a while has been to have my aquaria jam packed with plants but I have wondered if my weekly water changes remove too much nutrients for great growth - my plants do grow, but not all that fast. I use java moss and java fern, elodea and horn wort, and I just started with some water cress. I hope to replicate that "submerged jungle under glass" habitat that others have mastered so well. My adult tanks are 30, 55, and 65 gallon so I hope their size will allow me to try this benign neglect stuff.

And I went out and and bought 3 cherry shrimp today. I requested 2 females and a male so I hope that's what I got. I set them up in a 10 gallon with old newt water and some java moss thrown in. My plan is to quarantine them for a month prior to introduction in any newt tanks. And maybe by then I will have more!

Again, thanks - so grateful for the time you guys take to respond.