Argghhhh!!!! Just found out Miss 4 shared her plain crackers & cheese dip with our CRS today! It's disintegrated into tiny little pieces, it's swirling all through the water and it looks like a snowstorm in there, and it's left an oily film on top. It's such a small tank that try to syphon it all out will drain it completely and there's 2 day old shrimplets in there. I've turned off the external canister filter with the hope that most of it will float to the top and I can skim it off. Is there anything else I should do? Should I try to catch them all and drain their tank? I'm going to have to reset it ASAP any way as the Benibachi soil is to deep and buffering the ph to between 4.5-5. We've lost 4 adult CRS this week when they molt and the other wps are fine; TDS 167, gh 6, kh 0, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0.

Argh little darling, don't you just want to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i remember when my boys were only small one of them emptied some car wash into a tank because the bubbles looked so nice, needless to say the fish did'nt think so, but then kids will be kids.

You could try using a fine net to catch the particles of dip out.

As you suggested it might be a good time to reset the tank anyway. I would set up a temporary container with RO and salts to approx the same parameters as your tank, making sure temperature is about the same. Then use the new water to drip acclimate your shrimp over 6 hours or so to the new water, then move the shrimp into the temporary container. Then reset your tank. If parameters are as simialr as possible, losses should be minimal, even for new shrimplets. At least far fewer than if there is an ammonia spike in your tank.

Rinse your sponge filters if you have any in the tank aswell and put them in the bucket for the shrimp. 

Thankyou everyone.

It all floated to the top with the filter off and I was able to scoop most of it out. I've done 2 smallish water changes since and I'll keep them up for the next few days.

Good to hear.

Just a quick update. So far so good still. There's been no deaths, touchwood, no ammonia spikes and I can still spot little shrimplets.

Fingers crossed no harms been done and when the shrimplets are older I can reset the tank and keep the ph up.

How did you clear the oil film on the surface??

Cause that would be a skill to commit to knowledge, just in case.

You can clear the oil on surface by placing a paper towel on the surface it absorbs it

Heard spraying oil films with H2O2 will get rid of it. The paper towel works too.

I lined one of my bigger nets with an old muslin baby wrap I had stashed away in the back of the linen press and kept skimming it across the top 1/4 of the tank to catch all the fine bits of gunk and it cleaned up the oil film too. I had to do it a few times but eventually got it all.

Those are some great ideas.

Didn't know about the H2O2. Add that to the list of useful things H2O2 can be used for.

Increasing surface agitation clears this film

I've used paper towel, works a treat, also have used H2O2 in the past, also works, but I find the towel works better though.

Paper towels sometime have fragrance And or anti bacterial property's

Good point 2OFUS, thta's why I went for the old muslin baby wrap I had stashed away. Although I was still worried that the detergent I'd washed it in 7 years ago might be a problem, but thought it was the lesser of 2 evils