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!
 #5651  by Algae In Space
 
Halocaridina wrote: 08 Nov 2018 14:11 I had a similar die off problem earlier on. I think it was linked to an ammonia/nitrite spike. For some reason my tank took months to cycle properly.

Oh really? How did they die? Sadly I deleted my vids... but did yours just swim slowly and tumble around and so on?

The first one even broke in two pieces! It might have been a problem with molting?
 #5729  by morbiuz
 
Just pitching in with experience from starting a tank months back.

I too, initially had die-offs. Quite severe and felt like I lost 75% of my little ones.

In my case the fix was to contact the chap I bought my shrimps from and on his recommendation, switch to the salt he uses. I had to do 90% water change but luckily no further deaths. My main tank has been stable ever since and lately my little mommas are getting berries like crazy, more little larvae floating around than adults right now.

In this main tank I use a mix of coral sand and dead coral bits for substrate, few chunks of lava rock stacked up with some hidey holes and 1 chunk of dead coral for contrast. I have 3 marimo balls, a big one and 2 little penny sized ones. The tiny strands of chaeto that came with the shrimps have now grown to double fistfuls.

Overall, the advice I received from everyone here were the best. RO water where possible, reputable salt, feed sparingly and miserly and test the water parameters often; at least in the beginning. I don’t test my water often nowadays, maybe once every few months. I’m naturally clumsy and I’d rather not risk leaching the test chemicals into my tank! And the last and best advice was to sit on my hands and not mess around haha.

So I guess my advice is to set up your tank and then leave them alone. Don’t try new food. I feed less than a quarter of a matchstick head sized of spirulina powder once a week.

Off-topic: I wish I had algae like your profile pic to be honest. I’d love to have my entire tank and water looking swampishly green! Alas my 2 snails are a little too efficient...


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 #5731  by Algae In Space
 
morbiuz wrote: 13 Nov 2018 04:47 Just pitching in with experience from starting a tank months back.

I too, initially had die-offs. Quite severe and felt like I lost 75% of my little ones.

In my case the fix was to contact the chap I bought my shrimps from and on his recommendation, switch to the salt he uses. I had to do 90% water change but luckily no further deaths. My main tank has been stable ever since and lately my little mommas are getting berries like crazy, more little larvae floating around than adults right now.

In this main tank I use a mix of coral sand and dead coral bits for substrate, few chunks of lava rock stacked up with some hidey holes and 1 chunk of dead coral for contrast. I have 3 marimo balls, a big one and 2 little penny sized ones. The tiny strands of chaeto that came with the shrimps have now grown to double fistfuls.

Overall, the advice I received from everyone here were the best. RO water where possible, reputable salt, feed sparingly and miserly and test the water parameters often; at least in the beginning. I don’t test my water often nowadays, maybe once every few months. I’m naturally clumsy and I’d rather not risk leaching the test chemicals into my tank! And the last and best advice was to sit on my hands and not mess around haha.

So I guess my advice is to set up your tank and then leave them alone. Don’t try new food. I feed less than a quarter of a matchstick head sized of spirulina powder once a week.

Off-topic: I wish I had algae like your profile pic to be honest. I’d love to have my entire tank and water looking swampishly green! Alas my 2 snails are a little too efficient...


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Interesting! So what ingredient would you say was the cause of the deaths?

My tank is going strong now. The algae is mostly gone. I just wanted it to slow down but now its mostly all gone... I really think the major cause of algae growth was my led lamp. I switched to a dimmer one with a slightly different color temperature.
But I guess I will start a second tank soon and maybe switch completely to the new one in the near future.

(Did you have a look at my humble questionnaire ↓ :grin3: )
 #5732  by morbiuz
 
Algae In Space wrote: Interesting! So what ingredient would you say was the cause of the deaths?

My tank is going strong now. The algae is mostly gone. I just wanted it to slow down but now its mostly all gone...
But I guess I will start a second tank soon and maybe switch completely to the new one in the near future.

(Did you have a look at my humble questionnaire :grin3: )
If I had to guess it’s probably the first bag of marine salt I bought was iffy, after switching to Red Sea my main tank has been good for months (touch wood!)

Yep I started a 2nd, smaller tank but that one’s been a bit more finicky. I was having trouble getting the salinity to match my main tank and most of the chaeto transferred across from main has gone the way of the sludge pool! I’m still learning how to setup a tank heh.

Sorry no, accessing from my phone so it’s a bit limited visibility. Where did you post your questionnaire?


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 #5734  by Algae In Space
 
The Link is in my signature and here: The Opae Ula questionnaire is officially online. Check it out.

Oh, ok. The only "problem" I had with my salt was that it did dissolve very slowly and was whitish for some time. :blink:
I really like my tank as it is right now but it isn't very "original".

Could it be that your Opaes started breeding after a water change? After the salinity was lowered.

Could you post a larger pic of your tank. I am curious.
 #5736  by morbiuz
 
Yeah salt takes a while to dissolve. I tried heating up some ro water in the microwave once, slightly quicker I think?

My original salinity with the old salt was actually lower, I think it was 1.009 maybe? My opae supplier recommended his dosage of 35grams to 1 litre of water (from memory, might be wrong!) which brought my tank up to around 1.013. I’m only using a dinky little hydrometer so readings might be a bit off.

I’ll have a go at your link later.

Here you go cheers!
Image


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 #5738  by odin
 
You are always better off mixing the salt and water in a bucket then leaving it over night before adding it to a tank especially if you have anything living in the tank already.


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 #5749  by Algae In Space
 
morbiuz wrote: 13 Nov 2018 12:27 Yeah salt takes a while to dissolve. I tried heating up some ro water in the microwave once, slightly quicker I think?

My original salinity with the old salt was actually lower, I think it was 1.009 maybe? My opae supplier recommended his dosage of 35grams to 1 litre of water (from memory, might be wrong!) which brought my tank up to around 1.013. I’m only using a dinky little hydrometer so readings might be a bit off.

I’ll have a go at your link later.

Here you go cheers!
Image


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Looks nice :pff: Is the light very blue or is this the background?