# Oops! Is charcoal bad for shrimp?



## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

So I was cleaning my filter a bit and apparently when I put it all back together the charcoal bag ripped somehow without me knowing and when I turned on the filter it shot charcoal bits EVERYWHERE in my shrimp tank  I tried sucking it up with a siphon hose but it is too heavy and ended up sucking up more shrimplets than charcoal lol. I'm really hoping that the charcoal isn't bad for the shrimp if they graze off it because the entire lot shot straight for it. I'm contemplating catching as many of the shrimp as I can and cleaning it out by hand (there is a big driftwood and grasses and oodles of shrimp in the way) but I wanted to see if anyone here had any suggestions on better ways to do it and maybe any knowledge if the shrimp might be harmed from direct contact with the charcoal?

Thank you in advanced!
-Bri


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

I can't see it being harmful but I'm no shrimp expert...


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

agree with Immus , but no expert here either lol


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

what kind of shrimp do you have? if its cherries or neocardina i would not be too concerned. I had shrimp nip of my charcoal bamboo and they were all fine.


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

Thanks for the input! I'm hoping that seeing as its something in the filter it shouldn't be bad, but I'm a nervous shrimp mommy! Lol


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

If it's cherry shrimp, they should be fine. I had a couple of shrimp end up in a bucket of expelled tank water that I broke a new charcoal filter bag into, and I didn't notice them until the charcoal settled out a few days later. They were happy as anything.

I don't know about more sensitive shrimp.


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

They are crystal reds and blue pearls. They seem fine but I'm moving them now so I can clean just in case. I have more shrimp than I thought! Netting 100+ is not how I thought this water change would go haha!


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

your shrimp should be fine. I've had the same accident with no consequences.


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

They will be fine


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

Thank you for the help guys! All is well so far  I accidentally deleted the before picture with the charcoal everywhere but I took a couple tonight to keep myself sane while I worried 










Some of the crew in an ice cream pail doing laps waiting for their friends!










All cleaned up, re-organized and settling in.










Enjoying the moss with a couple leftover grass roots floatin' around.

Again, thanks for the support!
-Bri


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Don't freak out! I used carbon in my filter planted tank before I realized that was not a thing to do. I also had a bag mixed of purigen and carbon that bled through the coarse bag and into the tank without repercussions. NO SHRIMP CAUSALITIES!

They likely won't munch on the carbon itself, but rather what's growing on it. And from my understanding, as long as the carbon hasn't outgrown its age, it won't leach chemicals into the water column (and with the low flow on the substrate, I'd doubt that should be a problem compared to inside a higher flow filter).

Cheers,
Chris


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## TheShrimpFarm (Aug 15, 2011)

As others said, you'll have no problems. They'll be perfectly fine.

Happy Shrimpin' to ya!


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Since you have white sand, removing the charcoal will make it look better, anyway. But what a lot of work!


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## Homahfan (Apr 22, 2010)

I have bamboo charcoal "tubes" in my shrimp tanks and have not had any detrimental effects.


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