Opaeula.co.uk

A dedicated forum and online store for the Opae ula shrimp! 

Having issues with your tank or inhabitants? Need to know what equipment to use or have other questions? Post here!
 #2845  by fredanddino
 
Hello,

Today I found, that my shrimp would not eat, like they used to.
Looking closely, I saw, that many of them have NO MANDIBLES, sometimes no "front feet".

What could be the reasons? what can I do?

- I saw one shrimp being caught in the filter. I helped it out and saw, that the feet were damaged. But I doubt, that it happened to all the others too.
- We got a new floor 2 weeks ago, so I had to move the shrimp - could it be failured molding due to stress?
- also the craftsmen did sprinkle some paint into my Aquarium. I think, very minimal, but maybe that was toxic. But I did not use most of the water, but I had to use the filter.
- my filters went red some days ago. this happened before, I do not know the reason, but last time, it did not affect the shrimp. maybe the Color Comes from dying algae, because I had to move the Lava rocks when we got the new floor in order to move the Aquarium ?

- could it be the salt water? I use the same salt for some years, before, I used to Change it in order to get all the micro-elements.maybe its a lack of anything?


I am desperate, because my shrimp are in the Aquarium since 2011 and they reproduced so well since then. but now, this is a catastrophy.

I just watched a berried shrimp without mandibules and "front feet", it is horrible.

Can anyone help, please?
 #2846  by opae ula related
 
Picture without the feet? First thought is to remove the filter. What kind of filter is it?
Can you test the water with a kit?
Last edited by opae ula related on 23 Mar 2017 05:35, edited 2 times in total.
 #2848  by opae ula related
 
"As for regrowing, yes all crustaceans will regrow their limbs through a series of molts."

Found this online so hopefully true for Opae Ula.

Also do you have a spare tank? Or even just a temporary bucket with new Brackish water to eliminate the paint so you can clean your tank. Highly likely that the paint is poisoning the Opae Ula.
 #2856  by odin
 
I agree you need to get a separate tank setup with fresh brackish water in and transfer the shrimp only into it until you can clean up your main tank, the paint will definitely hurt and probably kill all the shrimp. You dont need a filter in your Opae ula tank usually but this could be at the moment helping to remove the paint and harmful stuff from the tank.. Do you have any activated carbon you can add to it?
 #2860  by fredanddino
 
thank you for your answers and good advices.

What I did so far:

1) took out the filter
2) put in instead active carbon
3) bought seawater from the petshop
4) removed as much from the old water as possible and put in the seawater (mixed to the right salinity) from the petshop
5) put also in extra iodine/bromine, since the petshop guy said it is good for molding (never used this before)

You think, I should get rid of all of the old gravel and filter at once?
Since I dont know, how many dead shrimp are buried / hidden unter the Lava rocks, I will have to remove all anyways, dont I?

I still have my old and smaller aquarium, I could set it up with everything new (new gravel and rocks, fresh water) and transfer them.
I am just worried, if I change so much at a time, that it stresses them out even more?

thank you for your help, I am really desperate, it is a horrible situation
Last edited by fredanddino on 24 Mar 2017 05:03, edited 1 time in total.
 #2861  by fredanddino
 
water parameters

Today I asked the local petshop to control the paratmeters of the water:
- densitiy: 20%o (per mill)
- General hardness: 9
- NO2: 0
- NO3: 10
- PO4: 0,04

The guy from the petshop asserted, that poisoning by the paint would be indicated by a high PO4 and NO3 Level. ( I don't know it that's true, I have my doubts).

I do have a "care sheet" from the Internet, but there is no Information about the NO3 Level.
Does anyone have a clue if "10" is too high?
 #2863  by fredanddino
 
Hi everybody,

I thought a little more and have another theory, since the NO3 Level is maybe too high:

because we had to move the aquarium, I also had to take out several Lava rocks and I put them into the other, separate one. They were covered with water all the time.
But when I put them back, I couldn't exactly put them in the same Position, so that maybe some of the algae died due to lack of light and then polluted the water with nitrate?

If so, when I set up the new tank, this can happen again.

So how do you suggest should I clean up the tank? Getting rid of all the gravel, or rather cleaning it by rinsing it with water? Then I will lose all the good bacteria that settled and I can get another "high peak" like I had when I first put up the tank (without shrimp of course), which by the way took about 6 weeks. Only this time I have the "prepared" sea water from the petshop with bacteria in it.

Are there enough bacteria Floating in the water? I always thought, they have to be in the filter and also on the rocks and in the ground (gravel).

Thanks for any hints, tipps, ideas and thoughts
 #2866  by opae ula related
 
fredanddino wrote:thank you for your answers and good advices.

What I did so far:

1) took out the filter
2) put in instead active carbon
3) bought seawater from the petshop
4) removed as much from the old water as possible and put in the seawater (mixed to the right salinity) from the petshop
5) put also in extra iodine/bromine, since the petshop guy said it is good for molding (never used this before)

You think, I should get rid of all of the old gravel and filter at once?
Since I dont know, how many dead shrimp are buried / hidden unter the Lava rocks, I will have to remove all anyways, dont I?

I still have my old and smaller aquarium, I could set it up with everything new (new gravel and rocks, fresh water) and transfer them.
I am just worried, if I change so much at a time, that it stresses them out even more?

thank you for your help, I am really desperate, it is a horrible situation
So your Opae Ula is still in your old tank with paint but with some existing water? I would think the paint is still in the tank/gravel/rocks so ideally to use your old tank and start everything new for now with some old water from your petshop or friend's tank. Yes, it would cause stress but better than being poisoned? You can try to use the old rocks if you clean it really well with no chance of any harmful things on it.
So you are saying that some Opae Ula died from the paint?
 #2868  by odin
 
You really have two options but it would be better to start over from scratch and get new rocks and gravel etc, or you can keep the tank and do some HUGE water changes every day for a good week or so and hope that nothing else dies from the paint.