# tadpole water quality



## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

Has there been any types of studies on the water parameters in wild darts tadpoles? I've been checking my parameters in my tad cups lately and have been pretty shocked by the conditions. The tadpoles seem to be doing fine, but if they were fish they would be long ago dead. My biggest concerns are the ph of 6 and ammonia levels that are off my chart at .8 mg/l. I don't do water changes on my tads and they are in 6oz cups with java moss. It seems to me that better water quality should equal healthier and possibly faster to morph tads. I'd be very interested to hear what others water parameters are like and any information on wild dart tads that may have been studied.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Tim,

With my larger tad cups...16oz ect, I just mainly top off.

but with my smaller tad cups.....5.5oz.....I turkey baste bottom and side cup detritus and add tea almost every other day.

I've had really good morphing and no SLS.


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

Hey Phil, have you ever tested the water in your tad cups? I assume that wild tads water quality is quite a bit better since the broms and such get flushed with rain pretty often.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Ian Hiller at one of the early IADs did a presentation on water quality in the tadpole cups. They tracked pH, ammonia and nitrate levels in the cups over time and got your results with no obvious issues. Keep in mind that if you add anything that acidifies the water in the cup, the ammonia is converted to ammonium which is non-toxic. In his study as time went on, the cups began to grow algae and biofilms which corresponded with a reduction in ammonia and nitrate until the tadpole metamorphed. 
In his study they used red alder cones to acidify the water but the same effect can be achieved through the use of a number of plant products such as almond leaves, red oak leaves, peat or sphagnum moss etc. 

It was a nicely done 45 minutes on tadpole water quality and the methods he used for rearing them. 

Sorry if I seem to be rambling but I was up late last night and the caffiene really hasn't kicked in yet. 

Ed


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

Thanks Ed. That is exactly the kind of info I was hoping to find. My ammonia results were the total ammonia. I probably should do a full analysis and get the UIA since that is actually what is going to be the effective ammonia. Did they discuss any levels that they found to be critical in their research? In my testing the nitrates and nitrites were actually pretty good, but that could be do to a lack of beneficial bacteria growing in the cups.


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

Try at your own risk, but I have found that adding a little of the Repashy Gecko powdered food to the water helps to break down the wastes rapidly---the water has very little odor to it---in fact, it's even a little of a sweet odor. This food has various bacteria in it that help with keeping the water clean. I also have a bit of algae growing in the water as well as blackwater extract added. I would not feel open to speculate that the ammonia and nitrite levels are lower as a result, but the water is noticeably cleaner. I'll get back to you and provide some parameters on ammonia levels this weekend once I get some test strips.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

jubjub47 said:


> Thanks Ed. That is exactly the kind of info I was hoping to find. My ammonia results were the total ammonia. I probably should do a full analysis and get the UIA since that is actually what is going to be the effective ammonia. Did they discuss any levels that they found to be critical in their research? In my testing the nitrates and nitrites were actually pretty good, but that could be do to a lack of beneficial bacteria growing in the cups.


Hi Tim,

They didn't see any levels that caused problems in the tadpoles.. and if I am remembering the lecture correctly, the levels (total) got pretty high but thier pH was around 6-6.5 so I don't know what the actual levels of NH3 really were... 

Ed


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

Thanks again Ed. I'll have to dig out my charts because my UIA chart that I currently am using only goes down to a ph of 7, but if memory serves me the harmful ammonia levels at ph ranges of 6 or so should be very minimal. I'm still interested in knowing if there has been any water quality samples done on broms or tad sites in the wild to see what type of quality they are in. There may only be minimal effects to the water quality since these tads are a take what you can get type of animal, but it would be interesting to see never the less.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Hi Tim,

this one may help Ammonia Toxicity to Freshwater Fish

Ed


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

Hey Ed, 

That one goes a bit lower than mine. It appears to be pretty minimal if any once calculated. I'll make sure to save that one for future us. Thanks


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