Shrimp and Cabomba help... Sabrina... please - 02/11/2007 Hello, I was wondering if you could help me with a problem with Cabomba the plants in my tank are only growing on the top and the bottom leaves fall off. <Ahh, very common occurrence with this genus... Most times it really only does well in very calm settings... or water chemistry it "likes"... See WWM re...> I fertilize twice a week with a basic fertilizer and once a week with an Iron supplement. I also was wondering if you could suggest a couple of internet retailers that have a good selection of shrimp. Thank you, CJ <These can be searched via our links pages... but am going to place your query in Sabrina's in-folder... she is the one here who really is "into" FW shrimps. BobF>

Cabomba  11/19/05 Hello Bob, <Biologia... good name> I have a fresh water aquarium of 500L with PL lights and different species of plants, at the beginning they did well, but a month ago some started getting yellow, <Usually indicative of nutrient shortage, particularly nitrogen...> I found that the water was around 23 ºC, nitrates very high and I had lots of algae. I put a heater and anti nitrates <Oops... this is likely your answer> so temp and nitrates are ok now, but the Cabomba has only branches on the top tip of the stem. Do you have any idea what's going on? Thank you very much <Mmm, well Cabomba is one of the more "touchy" genera used as aquarium plants... sometimes "falling apart" due to small changes in water movement, nutrient unavailability. Do you use (provide from outside) fertilizer? What re your water testing, Carbon dioxide infusion? Have you read through our Planted Tanks subweb? Bob Fenner> 

Attack of the Killer Cabomba? - 08/22/2004 My sister put a plant called Cabomba caroliniana in her aquarium and within hours the shrimps she had died. <Pure coincidence, unless the plants had some sort of toxin spread on them....> Does anyone know if this type of plant is injurious to shrimps? <It is not, not at all.  I have had plenty of shrimp in aquaria containing this species of plant.  Did your sister use any sort of a dip for the plants before adding them?  Some people will dip plants in solutions to kill snails, etc., and if not rinsed *thoroughly*, I imagine some of the water from the dip would get in the tank, and possibly cause harm.  Otherwise, I assume this is pure coincidence.  If you wish to explore other reasons for the shrimps' deaths, please respond with great detail on your tank - what size tank?  How many and what kind of shrimp?  How many and what kind of fish?  What do you feed the animals?  How often do you change water?  What other maintenance do you do?  Do you add any chemicals to the water (aquarium plant fertilizers, iodine for the shrimp, etc.)?  What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH?  When was the most recent animal added to the tank, and what was it?  Hoping to help you get to the bottom of this,  -Sabrina>