Ostracod pests

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3: 2.5
• PO4: 2
• Iron:
• Dosing: 10 mL Flourish, 15 mL Excel, 25 mL Melafix, 10 ppm NO3, 0.8 ppm PO4
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio: 25:2.6 = 9.6

Notes:
A disturbing development I've noticed over the past week or two is that there are bite sized chunks taken out of the leaves of the A. senegalensis. The size and position of the missing chunks on the leaves (like leaves that are eaten by caterpillars) are most likely not a deficiency. My strong suspicion is that those annoying ostracods are starting to eat the leaves. I've been trying to vacuum the gravel more diligently to get rid of debris, which is difficult since the plants, especially the hairgrass, are planted so densely. If they continue to eat the plants, I will probably try to get some guppies to see if they will control the ostracod population. I'm leery of getting anything more aggressive, since I don't want my shrimp to be eaten as well.

I also figured out what was wrong with the brine shrimp hatching. When I got a new batch of salt, the usual 7 tsp of salt was making the water too saline for the shrimp to hatch. When I reduced it to 4 tsp, the shrimp started hatching again. In fact, I've found that when I don'[t add any salt, the shrimp will hatch as well.