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Great idea! Please document your journey here. I have no experience with marine shrimps, so cannot help you. But what you have listed above seems like a sound plan to get started.

That sounds like a fun project and look forward to hearing how it goes! Hopefully someone will have some useful advice/tips etc?

I have an idea. And considering I’m terrible at being concise, I’m sure it’s gonna take me a while to explain it. Essentially, I want to do a nano marine rockpool tank, with just crustaceans and molluscs (and perhaps a seastar or two). And I really don’t know how plausible it is, but I’m pretty intent on finding out. I don’t know if anyone here has any experience with marine shrimp, but I figured I may as well see if any of the Aussies here are familiar with the shrimp I want to keep. So this species of shrimp is actually the species that got me into the hobby! I found them on a camping trip, and they were just so active and engaging, and I just fell in love. Then I went home, did a bunch of research, and got an aquarium. They’re part of the reason why I’m so interested in shrimp. Now I’m on holidays again (in a different place in Vic) and they’re everywhere in the tide pools. Millions. The species is ‘palaemon serenus’, the red-handed shrimp, and they grow to about 6cm for big females (which I discovered last night) and I think 3-4 for males. Just from observation. They live primarily in colonies of 10-30 under rocks during the day, venturing out when they feel safe, and going everywhere once it gets dark. They’re omnivorous, eating pretty much everything they can get their little claws on (including my fingers and toes). They look rather like freshwater macrobrachium, to be honest. I’ve had a look and it’s legal to collect from this location. There aren’t limits on anything I want to collect. So, I’m thinking I’d do a 20 litre tank for the meantime (until I can get some awesome 30ish litre low-boy tank). I’ve got one at home that could be set up as soon as I’m back. If I take home a big rock and sand, then I should have beneficial bacteria sorted, as well as a food source. The rock would have plants and a bit of algae and all the other good stuff you find on the rocks they like. Other than using salt for water changes, I’d run the tank like a freshwater tank - sponge filter for filtration, freshwater light, no heater, fortnightly or monthly water changes. I’d love to add a couple little fish if I can catch them, but I have no idea how to identify whether they’ll grow or not. Same deal with the majority of crabs (although I have ID’d a few species that would work). And unfortunately no nudibranch either… although I found the CUTEST little one last night. They’re apparently super specialist in terms of diet, and I don’t have the time to observe one for hours to see what it eats, ID it, work out how to cultivate it, and all that. So, that’s the plan. I would love any advice, recommendations, or criticisms you have. I understand there’s a good chance this could be too ambitious, and the well-being of the animals is number 1 priority, so if it sounds like it’s a bad idea then I’ll just scrap it. But I’m pretty keen on finding out a way to make this work.

I have had fungus each time I set up a new tank, but it has always just disappered on its own after a month or two, and has been varied in appearance each time!

Had a go searching / feeling throught the substrate for the tabs but no luck. They might have dissolved or become soggy so I can't feel them. I have a bucket sample of substrate brewing at the moment for a 24 hour test and its already steadily rising the TDS. Looks like a just wait and see...... Thanks for all the help as ususal it is appreciated. Dirk

Thanks for the replies. For some reason I wasn't notified about the replies 😮

Thanks! I've been worried for some time. My tank is stable, albeit still young, and the shrimp have been happy. All the shrimp poop is getting converted into mulm fast. I was afraid this was something that will take over the tank and destroy it. I'm hoping it will go away soon. It's rather unsightly and it gives the shrimp a little more room to forage. I forgot to mention but when I do siphon it out, it smells horrific. Like sulfur or rotten eggs. I was guessing it was something in line (fungus) with the stuff that grew on the spiderwood, it smelled just as bad and similar.

Not an uncommon sight to see fungus growth in a new cycling tank. A lack of green chlorophyll indicates that it is not algae that photosynthesis food. It's a fungus that is eating whatever nutrients are leeching off wood or the substrate. You should be able to just leave it and let it die out once biofilm grows in the tank. If you have another tank, squeeze the filter media into this tank to help speed up the Beneficial Bacteria growth.

"Amazonia Supplement is used to strengthen the nutrients of the substrate and comes with Amazonia Ver.2. The Amazonia Supplement are pellet type solid nutrients with even stronger Nitrogen contents as a main nutrient combined with components contained abundantly in the original Amazonia effective for growing aquatic plants. When setting substrates, by adding some of the Amazonia Supplement under Aqua Soil, it helps grow healthier aquatic plants." Yep, this will be a primary cause of the TDS rising. If you can't take them out, just leave it and continue your current tank maintenance. You seem to be doing everything right to keep those parameters.

The pellets for want of a better word were what came with the Amazonia V2. Instructions said to add them before the Amazonia. I would assume they are some sort of root tab. There was no mention of what they were made of. I am positive its the substrate thats causing my problem maybe its just very slow to stabalize. I used maybe 2 normal tea cup sized scoops of old substrate plus some filter bags of filter type noodles. I'll see if I can dig out some pellets today unless they are dissolved by now maybe and I'll also test some substrate in buckets.

I have a stocked 9 gallon shrimp tank with neos and a horned nerite snail. It's planted with a piece of spiderwood and cholla wood. This strange white growth appeared towards the end of cycling the tank. The spiderwood went through a massive bloom of fungus/bacteria growth, which was normal. However the growth got so big, it spread around to parts of the tank, including the substrate where the growth lingers and around the cholla wood. There is a little bit of this mysterious white growth still clinging onto the original fungus/bacteria on the spiderwood but now coated with detritus. I can not figure out what this is and if it's harmful to my tank and inhabitants. I've tried google searching and asking elsewhere. Not a single reply to this oddity. Every time I try to vacuum and clean this mess up, it comes right back. I'm a bit frustrated, the shrimp all seem to avoid any areas with this white fluffy cotton star growth. I never boiled the spiderwood, only used hot water and then soaked. I did boil the cholla wood. Tank is fully cycled, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates are under 5. I'm running a sponge filter so filtration and flow is virtually no existent.

yeah i did hang some leaves , don't know why babies and small shrimps like to gathering there

Thats fantastic news, I would leave it where it is for a few more days to be sure and make it easier to keep an eye on it! I know the indian almond leaves have some antibacteria properties (?) maybe you should put a few in the main tank as it won't do any harm and may help. The tannin rich water won't be too difficult to clear with water changes at a later date either.

my first shrimp seems like recovered , my malachite green still in shipping so i did aquarium salt dip every other day i put 3 sick shrimp in seperate bowl 1 shrimp couldn't make it on first day (maybe shock from transferring) the second shrimp still alive but still same not changes anything i put several indian almond leaves in their bowl its makes heavily brown water like a tea. everyday i dip the shrimp in aquarium salt bath for every 3-4 mins (1 spoons of aquarium salt with 350ml water) today i noticed my first shrimp didn't have any green/yellow spot even the black spot already disappeared , is it safe to put the shrimp in main tank now? or i should quarantine for several days?

Whatare those pellets you are adding, can you test one of those in water and see if it increases the TDS? I am assuming it is some kind of fertilizer for the plants? Also, how much old substrate did you use to 'seed' the tank as if it is old substrate that may be releasing stuff into the water? I wouls suspect those pellets to be your issue though!

Only used disc's buffer and regulator the once. The regulator kept taking the Ph up to 7 as it claimed it did. Even Seachem USA didn't explain very well even though I was telling them I wanted a Ph in the low 6's. I saw the TDS going up so stopped using both. I haven't added anything in the way of remineralizers since that first dose just straight RO. The TDS just climbs of its own accord. I think it must be just the Amazonia V2 giving me the headache. Maybe its the secondary additional pellets they included in the Amazonia mix. I haven't tried Disc's buffer alone at this stage and at the moment can't see the need. The Ph seems to be about right and is holding steady at 5.8 to 6.0 happy with that its been stable for days now. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate is very slightly up but not excessive. KH is 0, GH is 3 or slighly above. No rocks only 2 small pieces of wood that came out of my PRL holding tank. These 2 pieces of wood I tested for 24 hours in a bucket with no TDS increase. I have done numerous and I mean numerous straight RO water changes daily for several times now. I can get it down to around TDS 115 mark with the changes but it creeps up overnight again and keeps going up daily. Tank has been running for about 6 weeks minimum and was seeded with substrate about 4 weeks ago from an established older tank (years old).

It is these chemical above that are increasing TDS. Anytime you add chemicals/minerals, it increases TDS. Preferably try to obtain a GH+ (not GH/KH+) remineralise for RO water, don't rely on Buffer and Regulator. This option has the extra benefit of no additional phosphates (Discus buffer and Regulator is a phosphate based buffer). EG, https://www.bossaquaria.com.au/shrimp-king-bee-salt-gh/ https://aqualabs.com.au/products/saltyshrimp-bee-shrimp-gh-110g https://nanotanksaustralia.com.au/product/shrimp-king-bee-salt-gh/ If you prefer, use the Discus buffer but leave out the Regulator. Amazonia + RO water should in theory give you very low pH levels by itself. Do you have any rocks in the tank? Rocks increase KH, pH and TDS. I assume you have tried Amazonia+RO water by itself without the added chemicals and have not been able to reduce pH. Is that right? A tank will naturally gravitate towards Acidic, as beneficial bacteria breaks down ammonia, where a buffering agent (like rocks or shells or calcium carbonates) are present in low amounts. Is your tank mature and cycled? If you can provide answers to the questions above, we should be able to help you figure something out.

cool thanks! guess i'll keep trying the oregano oil and hydrogen peroxide ;_; fingers crossed

That's rust disease. Looks like the bacteria has eaten through the carapace.

Morning all, I have a 50lt tank set up for PRL shrimp, planted with a couple of pieces of bush wood with Amazonia V2 substrate, RO water remineralized with Seachem Disc's buffer with Seachem Regulator. I am getting quite a daily increase in TDS readings, 120 / 139 / and today's 157. I have been doing daily 25 lt 100% RO water changes for quite a few days now and get it down to 115 or so but it rises steadily overnight to the anove readings within 2 days or so maximum. I bucket tested the wood for 24 hours with no increase from TDS 2. I don't use ferts. These are new PRL'S and the breeders recomendations were TDS 120 - 140 ph 5.8 to 6.0 I initially struggled to get the Ph down to breeders recommendation 5.8 / 6.0 so used the Disc's buffer. Seems stable at the moment. I have only needed to use this product just the once to date. Guess this leaves only the Amazonia V2 substrate. I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I can't find a lot on the net about the V2 version but the plain earlier Amazonia seems a lot more stable and most breeders seem to be using this one. Sorry for the lengthy complicated question.

This week I noticed that some of my yellow neos developed white patches on their gills. I quarantined them as soon as I saw something was off. As the week went on the patches got a red edge, and almost look like blood? Both sides of the shrimps are affected (slightly symmetrical), and the edges seem to be darkening. It doesn't seem like Rust disease because it's localized to the gill area, so I'm stumped on whether they just got unlucky with some water parameter changes, or if it's something serious? I've browsed the diseases topic and none of them seem to match. They're also eating/acting fairly normally in the quarantine tank. Would appreciate any advice! I've attached a photo below.

Treat the infected shrimp outside the main tank.

I would just treat the quarantine tank first and see if that is effective in the treatment. I have that malachite green and it will seriously stain everything it comes into contact with, so wear gloves and be very careful. If it works successfully then consider doing the main tank later if you are still seeing sick shrimp in it, but it may result in you having to redoing the tank once you have treated it.

yeah im already bought malachite green , im still keep an eye to other shrimps ( already seperate 3 suspected shrimps) for shrimp babies i dont know if they're infected or not should i dose melechite inside my tank? i have heavily planted tank in this case

Are you able to get any of the medications where you are that are mentioned in the 'shrimp diseases and diagnosis' thread? Otherwise I guess you will just have to remove any suspect shrimp as/when you see them, but you may end up losing them all if it is widespread already, and you have no treatments!