Hey, a couple of months ago I received one of those great little sea monkey kits. Anyway, I had a load of little ones and all of a sudden they all died off, apart from one. Anyway loads of time passed and then the tank burst back into life, and the one big one died and sat at the bottom of the tank for a while. So, where did all these new ones come from? And do sea monkeys die when they give birth?
(A)
When you start out with a mass of seamonkeys and then they die, its usually because they have died from a bacterial bloom that makes them sick and uses up most of the available oxygen, most likely from over feeding at the beginning.Different things can cause a sudden burst of life in the tank. extra oxygenation. more sunlight, extra warmth and toping up the evaporation with fresh water. This last one has happened many time with my sea monkeys/dragons.Sea-monkeys don't die when they give birth but if the one that died happens to be carrying some eggs when it dies it may release them and that's where your hatch comes from.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Why are my sea monkeys black?
Why have some of my dead sea monkeys turned black?
Some of my sea monkeys
died. there on the bottom of the tank but i have alot left. but why are they
black? do they turn black when they die.
Seamonkeys do seem to go a blackish grey colour when they die.
For the CSI fans amongst you, into all that gruesome detail this is for you - I suspect it is a kind of fungi or bacteria that make these dearly departed souls go black as there bodies begin to break down. For the most part this colour change is caused by a decomposing type of organism which when present will accelerate the disappearance of these sad little reminders of once frolicking and healthy pets.
Finally at some point all that will be left is the very molecules that their bodies were composed of and these molecules now freely floating in the water column will go to fertilize your algae garden that should by now be growing quite nicely on the bottom of their tank, what with all those extra nutrients available ;)
One day you will see a new little Sea monkey happily harvesting some algae to munch on for lunch and in that instant you will see the full miracle that is life - From birth to death and life again, and all in a few weeks. Gee nature is so perfect sigh! But I digress,
One other thing to look out for, - Occasionally there is a type of ailment that the little shrimp get that can affect one or two legs and makes the infected bit turn black But thankfully this illness is fairly rare.
We are doing research on a range of medicines for Sea Monkeys and Sea Dragons and hope to have them available shortly.
Why Havent they hatched?????????????????
Asked on Yahoo Answers
I thought id answaer this question as it is a very common concern amoungst newbies.
Firstly welcome to the wonderful world of instant pets!
From What you describe. It sounds like they are in the process of just beginning to hatch.
That is where you can see little white tear drop shaped things hanging down from the tiny brown eggs.
It could also be temperature that is the problem for why they have not hatched,
I may as well ad this little article I prepared earlier to answer a similar question about why sea dragons and sea monkeys don’t seem to hatch instantly.
As long as you have followed all the directions for your particular kit, the two main reasons for Seamonkeys and SeaDragons not hatching instantly is temperature and lighting.
Let’s start with temperature as it is the most common problem.
The further the temperature is from your pets preferd range (about 20 -28 Celsius) the slower or faster it will be that they hatch. This little rule is the same for sea monkeys as well as Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons. Basically this means that if you have to set them up in a very cold room where the temperature is lower than say 18 Celsius they may take a whole extra 24 hours to hatch! That’s a lot of extra time to wait around if you happen to be the impatient type. Even worse at a certain point (below 12C) your pets can take up to a week or more to hatch or worse still they may not hatch out at all! This is because sea monkeys like many animals are cold blooded critters, just like reptiles or fish for example. So as you can see, temperature is a very important factor when trying to hatch them quickly and probably is the number one reason why many newbie’s to this hobby are disappointed when their new pets don’t seem to work at all.
What to do about it?
So let’s say you have set them up during winter and they are in a very cold room, the easiest and cheapest way to increase the temperature for your little pets is to get a little desk lamp, either a 60 - 40 watt incandescent or a 20 watt halogen type lamp will do and then shine it directly on their hatching tank.
Don’t put it too close to the tank however or you may over heat them!!!
Yes unfortunately there is also a certain temperature where if they get too hot they will not hatch out either. But thankfuly it has to be quite uncomfortably warm for this to happen. This can sometimes happen during high summer when there are heat wave conditions around but thankfully most of the year this is not going to be a problem if you live in a temperate or subtropical climate. By now you’re properly thinking that all this temperature stuff is important? Well your right, but thankfully sea monkeys and sea dragons are at their happiest in a temperature range that humans are most comfortable in to.
If you do use a lamp for warmth and light, try placing it at a distance of about 30 cm at first. You’ll also want a thermometer that can measure the temperature of the water. If after a few hours the temperature has not risen significantly then you can move the lamp a bit closer a little at a time. As you move it closer you will eventually see that the temperature will begin to rise. By moving it back and forward you should be able to adjust the temperature to a nice and cosy 20 – 28 C where your little pets will be happy to hatch and grow fast.
The other thing that is good about using a lamp is that light itself is an important part in the hatching process. And in completely dark conditions your pets may fail to hatch!!Did you know that in side each little sea dragon eggs is a special chemical that is stimulated only by light. In the presence of light and water this chemical acts to free the babies from their eggs. So you will actually get more hatchlings under bright light than if you set them up with out any at all.
I bet you didn’t know that!
If you don’t have a thermometer for measuring the temperature you can pick one up very cheaply at www.littleaussieproductsshop.com you can also purchase a halogen light similar to what I have mentioned previously.
I hope this has been helpful and if you’d like to know heaps more about these cool little pets as well as Sea Bubbles and Teeny Weeny Winkles, please visit www.littleaussieproducts.com/forum
And feel free to ask any questions and read answers to questions that may have already been asked about this amazing little hobby.
"My baby sea monkeys are not moving?
hi i bought sea monkeys yesterday and i
poured in the water purifier and everything so 24 hours later i put in the eggs
and i saw green powder so i mixed it up and i then saw little white dots but
they were not moving........ are my sea monkeys still alive?"
I thought id answaer this question as it is a very common concern amoungst newbies.
Firstly welcome to the wonderful world of instant pets!
From What you describe. It sounds like they are in the process of just beginning to hatch.
That is where you can see little white tear drop shaped things hanging down from the tiny brown eggs.
It could also be temperature that is the problem for why they have not hatched,
I may as well ad this little article I prepared earlier to answer a similar question about why sea dragons and sea monkeys don’t seem to hatch instantly.
As long as you have followed all the directions for your particular kit, the two main reasons for Seamonkeys and SeaDragons not hatching instantly is temperature and lighting.
Let’s start with temperature as it is the most common problem.
The further the temperature is from your pets preferd range (about 20 -28 Celsius) the slower or faster it will be that they hatch. This little rule is the same for sea monkeys as well as Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons. Basically this means that if you have to set them up in a very cold room where the temperature is lower than say 18 Celsius they may take a whole extra 24 hours to hatch! That’s a lot of extra time to wait around if you happen to be the impatient type. Even worse at a certain point (below 12C) your pets can take up to a week or more to hatch or worse still they may not hatch out at all! This is because sea monkeys like many animals are cold blooded critters, just like reptiles or fish for example. So as you can see, temperature is a very important factor when trying to hatch them quickly and probably is the number one reason why many newbie’s to this hobby are disappointed when their new pets don’t seem to work at all.
What to do about it?
So let’s say you have set them up during winter and they are in a very cold room, the easiest and cheapest way to increase the temperature for your little pets is to get a little desk lamp, either a 60 - 40 watt incandescent or a 20 watt halogen type lamp will do and then shine it directly on their hatching tank.
Don’t put it too close to the tank however or you may over heat them!!!
Yes unfortunately there is also a certain temperature where if they get too hot they will not hatch out either. But thankfuly it has to be quite uncomfortably warm for this to happen. This can sometimes happen during high summer when there are heat wave conditions around but thankfully most of the year this is not going to be a problem if you live in a temperate or subtropical climate. By now you’re properly thinking that all this temperature stuff is important? Well your right, but thankfully sea monkeys and sea dragons are at their happiest in a temperature range that humans are most comfortable in to.
If you do use a lamp for warmth and light, try placing it at a distance of about 30 cm at first. You’ll also want a thermometer that can measure the temperature of the water. If after a few hours the temperature has not risen significantly then you can move the lamp a bit closer a little at a time. As you move it closer you will eventually see that the temperature will begin to rise. By moving it back and forward you should be able to adjust the temperature to a nice and cosy 20 – 28 C where your little pets will be happy to hatch and grow fast.
The other thing that is good about using a lamp is that light itself is an important part in the hatching process. And in completely dark conditions your pets may fail to hatch!!Did you know that in side each little sea dragon eggs is a special chemical that is stimulated only by light. In the presence of light and water this chemical acts to free the babies from their eggs. So you will actually get more hatchlings under bright light than if you set them up with out any at all.
I bet you didn’t know that!
If you don’t have a thermometer for measuring the temperature you can pick one up very cheaply at www.littleaussieproductsshop.com you can also purchase a halogen light similar to what I have mentioned previously.
I hope this has been helpful and if you’d like to know heaps more about these cool little pets as well as Sea Bubbles and Teeny Weeny Winkles, please visit www.littleaussieproducts.com/forum
And feel free to ask any questions and read answers to questions that may have already been asked about this amazing little hobby.
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