journal wot_fan's 1st shrimp tank

[Shrimpy Daddy]

No no.... Not necessary is bacteria infection. Even poisoning or unhealthiness will have that symptom.

 

Remember I told you that your tank still need a few weeks before the cycling completed? I think your ADA AS is still leeching stuffs, which is why you are getting spirogyra.

[wot_fan]

No no.... Not necessary is bacteria infection. Even poisoning or unhealthiness will have that symptom.

 

Remember I told you that your tank still need a few weeks before the cycling completed? I think your ADA AS is still leeching stuffs, which is why you are getting spirogyra.

Yes, I remember.  I was just hoping to get lucky and get through without any issues.  

 

I guess this is better than an infection.  What, if anything, should I do?  

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Don't do anything. The more you do, the worse it gets. Let the tank slowly balance itself. You just have to keep your finger crossed and pray. ;)

 

Too bad you live in Illinois. If you stay in CA, you could drive down to my shipper and collect a bottle of my probiotics. 

[wot_fan]

Ok.  Thanks for the advice.  

[wot_fan]

It has been a couple of days so I thought I would post a quick update.  

 

I'll start with the bad news.  On Friday I found a second shrimp that has become opaque and has shortened antennas.  Here is a shot of him.

 

As for the good news, I don't think I have lost any shrimp.  The two sick shrimp both are behaving normal and are eating.  Perhaps they will pull through this.  Other positive news,  the rest of the shrimp all seem fine.  My one berried female is doing well too.

[Disciple]

G'day Wot_fan

 

Have not had a update on the journal for awhile. I hope everything is going well.

[JiCi]

Amazing experience. I read all the thread like it was TV series.

More pictures please ! :)

[larrymull]

Me too this has more twists and turns than a thriller!

[wot_fan]

Hi Everyone .

 

Once again I have good news and bad news to report.  I'll start with the bad news.  There are at least 3 shrimp that are sick and the berried female dropped all but about 6 eggs.  The wisteria is still slowly melting away.

 

In this picture you can see two of the three sick shrimp.  

 

As for the good news, most of the moss is doing well and as of tonight I have another berried female.

 

Here is a very bad picture of the newly berried female.  After I took this shot she moved to the opposite side of the sponge filter and stayed there until I was done taking pictures.

 

Here is what the tank looks like now.

 

Here are the best shots I took tonight

[wot_fan]

I was able to get a better shot of the newly berried female.

 

By the way, can anyone sex the shrimp in my previous post?  

 

[wot_fan]

My tank continues to have its ups and downs. More of my shrimp are discolored.  Wednesday I noticed that my first berried female was starting to turn white and she was no longer carrying any eggs.  I first noticed that she was carrying 23 days before.  So far she is behaving normally and has a healthy appetite.

 

Yesterday when the tank lights turned on I saw a shrimp laying on its side.  It wasn't one of the white/discolored shrimp.  When I tried to remove it, it moved out of the way.  I decided to check on it in a couple of hours.  I expected it to die in that time.  When I came back I couldn't find it.  I don't know if it recovered or died and I just couldn't find the corpse.  I am concerned that the shrimp aren't doing well.

 

Last night I was able to see 10 shrimp at one time.  If I have lost any shrimp, it can't be more than 4. Of the 10 I saw, 4 are discolored and 2 of those are very white.

 

I am not sure what, if anything, I can do at this point.  I checked my WP and everything looks good (0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 5 Nitrate, GH 8, KH 1, TDS 160ppm, Temp 75.2°F).  Yesterday, I added activated carbon to one of my HOBs.  I don't know if it will do any good, but I figure it can't hurt.  Hopefully that combined with small water changes (every 2 weeks) will eventually take care of the problem.

 

While laying in bed and watching my tank last night I noticed that one of my snails had something stuck to its shell.  As I watched, the something swam off and onto some moss.  I put on my glasses and took a closer look.  Too my surprise it was a very tiny shrimp .  I guess at least one of the eggs hatched.  Also in the good column, my second berried female is still carrying most if not all of her eggs (6 days so far).

 

As I said ups and downs.

[ineke]

Wow what an epic story. I can empathise with you having issues having gone through a painful period with my shrimp too- although not due to sick shrimp. Patience and water stability are the main elements in letting nature fix it's problems -we Tend to fuss and try to fix things -it's a shame you couldn't get the good bacteria from Shrimp Daddy though. Hang in there, keep interference down to a minimum just the necessary water changes. My problems resolved by leaving the tanks alone and only doing water changes when a rise in TDS showed up in my testing regime. my tanks are all back to healthy happy shrimp which are breeding at a great rate -hopefully your problems will resolve too. Good luck and keep us up to date! 

[Shrimpy Daddy]

My tank continues to have its ups and downs. More of my shrimp are discolored.  Wednesday I noticed that my first berried female was starting to turn white and she was no longer carrying any eggs.  I first noticed that she was carrying 23 days before.  So far she is behaving normally and has a healthy appetite.

 

Yesterday when the tank lights turned on I saw a shrimp laying on its side.  It wasn't one of the white/discolored shrimp.  When I tried to remove it, it moved out of the way.  I decided to check on it in a couple of hours.  I expected it to die in that time.  When I came back I couldn't find it.  I don't know if it recovered or died and I just couldn't find the corpse.  I am concerned that the shrimp aren't doing well.

 

Last night I was able to see 10 shrimp at one time.  If I have lost any shrimp, it can't be more than 4. Of the 10 I saw, 4 are discolored and 2 of those are very white.

 

I am not sure what, if anything, I can do at this point.  I checked my WP and everything looks good (0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 5 Nitrate, GH 8, KH 1, TDS 160ppm, Temp 75.2°F).  Yesterday, I added activated carbon to one of my HOBs.  I don't know if it will do any good, but I figure it can't hurt.  Hopefully that combined with small water changes (every 2 weeks) will eventually take care of the problem.

 

While laying in bed and watching my tank last night I noticed that one of my snails had something stuck to its shell.  As I watched, the something swam off and onto some moss.  I put on my glasses and took a closer look.  Too my surprise it was a very tiny shrimp .  I guess at least one of the eggs hatched.  Also in the good column, my second berried female is still carrying most if not all of her eggs (6 days so far).

 

As I said ups and downs.

 

Next time if you are going to use activated carbon, you need to soak it for a couple of days. Newly moisten activated carbon will remove most of the oxygen from the water.

 

The condition you mentioned sounds like ammonia/ organic spike that is caused by over-feeding or leeched out from ADA AS. This is very common with new tank.

[wot_fan]

Thanks ineke.

 

Next time if you are going to use activated carbon, you need to soak it for a couple of days. Newly moisten activated carbon will remove most of the oxygen from the water.

 

The condition you mentioned sounds like ammonia/ organic spike that is caused by over-feeding or leeched out from ADA AS. This is very common with new tank.

Thanks.  I didn't know that about carbon.  I don't use it very often.  Hopefully the oxydator in the tank is keeping the water oxygenated while the carbon stabilizes.

 

I could be over feeding, I really don't know.  I have read so much contradicting info that I don't know what to believe.  I have been feeding Repashy Shrimp Soufflé (with some bee pollen, spiraling and chlorella added) twice a week. I put three or four 1cm cubes in.  I feed in the early evening and it is always gone when the lights turn on the next afternoon.  Is that too much for my shrimp, 2 nerite snails, 1 mystery snail and 2 ottos?

 

If it is the ADA AS, how much longer will it leech ammonia?

Edited March 14, 2015 by wot_fan

[Shrimpy Daddy]

3 to 4 1cm cube? That sounds a lot. Why don't you put 1 cube every 2 or 3 days?

 

ADA AS leeching pattern varies.

 

Are you experiencing daily death? If not, then don't try to change anything for awhile first.

[wot_fan]

OK, I will reduce the amount I am feeding.  Thanks.

 

I haven't seen any dead shrimp yet.  There may have been some (up to 4) but definitely not daily losses.  I will let things be unless something changes.

 

Thanks again for your help.  

[Shrimpy Daddy]

No worries, mate.

[wot_fan]

I lost a shrimp yesterday.  This wasn't the first but it was the first corpse I have found.  It was one of the shrimp that had turned white.

 

I now have five or six shrimp that are healthy and two or three that are turning white.  At least my berried female (12 days) is still heathy and hasn't dropped any eggs.  And as of last night, I still have at least one baby in the tank.  

 

I made a small upgrade to the tank this week.  I added 4 20CFM fans to the tank.  They (and the heater) are being controlled by an Omron E5CN temperature controller.  I currently have it set up so the fans turn on when the temp is .5°F above the set point and off at set point.  The heater comes on when the temp is .5°F below set point and off at set point.  I keep the AC on 24 hours a day in the summer for my and my cat's sake so the fans should be enough to keep the tank cool.

 

A side benefit to the new arrangement is my cat can no longer use the tank as a water bowl.  I noticed the other day that he was able to get to the water between the cover glass and the HOB.  I wonder if he has added to my problems with the tank. Either way, he can't get to the water now.

 

Here is the new setup and a shot of Alexei my russian blue cat.

[larrymull]

Really looking forward to the berried female having shrimplets, good luck.

[wot_fan]

Really looking forward to the berried female having shrimplets, good luck.

You and me both .  Thanks.

[Disciple]

Yeah good luck man.

 

not 100% sure but maybe you might want to put the other sick ones into a breeder box just to in case it keeps spreading.

[wot_fan]

Yeah good luck man.

 

not 100% sure but maybe you might want to put the other sick ones into a breeder box just to in case it keeps spreading.

Thanks.  I have been thinking about using a breeder box.  If the cause of their problems is the ADA AS leeching or my overfeeding would separating the affected shrimp do any good?

 

As a few minutes ago, my berried female is still doing great.  She is still carrying most, if not all, of her eggs and she is developing a saddle.  I first noticed that she was berried 2 weeks ago today so she is about half way there.

 

I saw a baby shrimplet again today.  I was able to get a picture of him but there was no time to set up my flashes so the quality isn't the best.  Hopefully there are a few more in the tank but it is nice to know that at least one has survived (so far).  I am kind of surprised that the little guy has so much color considering how small it is.

 

EDIT: Added second picture

Edited March 22, 2015 by wot_fan

[wot_fan]

I was able to get a picture of the berried female.  I set up my flashes so this shot is better than those in my last post. When you look at the full resolution version you can see both the individual eggs in the new saddle that is forming and eyes in the eggs.  I am really happy with how this shot turned out.

[Disciple]

Really cool picture Wot_fan. As you have mentioned I like how you can see the eyes. Not long now I think before they hatch.

 

I guess I like to be on the safer side, Just in case it could spread to your other shrimps but saying that If it was going to spread it would probably have done it by now.

 

So how does it feel seeing the little shrimplet around? I still get excited haha.

[wot_fan]

Really cool picture Wot_fan. As you have mentioned I like how you can see the eyes. Not long now I think before they hatch.

Thanks.  I think it may be the best shrimp picture I have taken so far.  I may be biased because of the subject of the shot though.  

 

I have read that once you can see eyes in the eggs that they will hatch soon.  I have also read that shrimp carry eggs for about 28 days.  When I took the shot she had only been carrying for 14 days.  Not sure what to believe.

 

 

I guess I like to be on the safer side, Just in case it could spread to your other shrimps but saying that If it was going to spread it would probably have done it by now.

Well the decision has kind of been made for me.  All the sick shrimp that became discolored have passed. The only exception is the female that was the first to berry in my tank.  I really don't want to separate her.

 

I think the tank has stabilized.  The shrimp are coloring up a little more and some of the wisteria has new growth for the first time since I added it.  Also I started using Shrimpy Daddy products today.  I am hoping that the issue is behind me.

 

So how does it feel seeing the little shrimplet around? I still get excited haha.

I have to say it feels great.  I can't believe how neat the little guys are.  I spend a good deal of my tank watching time looking for a shrimplet.  I don't often find one, but when I do it always makes me smile .