Mystery snail eggs & inverts journal

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:56 AM, Guppysnail said:

It looks like Mrs shrimp is berried

I have 2 Mrs Shrimps that look like that.

[Guppysnail]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:58 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I have 2 Mrs Shrimps that look like that.

Can you see them fanning eggs?  It’s hard to see for certain in the photo. Are there tiny round balls in her abdomen?  Color of the balls is unimportant 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/26/2022 at 8:00 AM, Guppysnail said:

Can you see them fanning eggs?  It’s hard to see for certain in the photo. Are there tiny round balls in her abdomen?  Color of the balls is unimportant 

 

I can’t see the eggs but it seems she is doing the fanning. @TeeJay said the eggs must be blue to match her. (?)

[Guppysnail]

On 11/26/2022 at 8:17 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

 

I can’t see the eggs but it seems she is doing the fanning. @TeeJay said the eggs must be blue to match her. (?)

First video it looks like it. No color is unimportant. I have had red and snowball shrimp with green eggs sometimes clear usually yellow. I think the eggs take on the colors of foods they eat most like fish poo…that’s a total guess why different colored eggs appear on the same shrimp from batch to batch for me. 

[Minanora]

Just hang in there. Guppysnails advice is spot on. Keep things stable and wait it out. I lost a lot of my original orange shrimp when I started them. If you lose your mama shrimp you can try to save the eggs as well. I've successfully hatched eggs several times. I don't try any more but I can take photos of what to do the next time I see a dead berried shrimp in one of my tanks.

And yeah don't worry about egg color. It varies.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 3:56 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

It seems clear I will lose all the shrimp. I’ve lost 6/10 so far. They can’t molt, I believe, due to my gH off the charts (180). Taking suggestions on what I can do. Would it be moot to do a water change using distilled water that has no gH? Am I too late to do anything? And the water change is going to stress or kill them, I suppose, as water changes do, unless I drip the new water in. I can easily rig something up. Help @TeeJay @nabokovfan87 @Guppysnail @Minanora

My GH is like a billion. I think the 180 is fine.  The main thing is just to be consistent with everything.  If you're adding water changes and then dosing in x, y, and z, you're better off having pre-conditioned water and then doing the WC. 

As far as predation, someone posted that they had similar issues, moved them to a bucket or something until they could climb up in population.  Potentially that's an option for you?

Second to that, we look at the scape and get things like shrimp cages to give them places to hide. Balls of PSO / Water sprite, moss, etc. is also an option.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/26/2022 at 6:33 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

My GH is like a billion. I think the 180 is fine.  The main thing is just to be consistent with everything.  If you're adding water changes and then dosing in x, y, and z, you're better off having pre-conditioned water and then doing the WC. 

As far as predation, someone posted that they had similar issues, moved them to a bucket or something until they could climb up in population.  Potentially that's an option for you?

Second to that, we look at the scape and get things like shrimp cages to give them places to hide. Balls of PSO / Water sprite, moss, etc. is also an option.

This is what the tank looks like. They are always up in the anacharis and water sprite. It’s a shrimp tank with a few snails. The snails only eat the shrimp if they have died.

 

On 11/26/2022 at 6:33 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you're adding water changes and then dosing in x, y, and z, you're better off having pre-conditioned water and then doing the WC. 

If I vac the tank I just put the same water back in, leaving the detritus in my bucket.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 4:07 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

If I vac the tank I just put the same water back in, leaving the detritus in my bucket.

Is there a big PH shift between the tap and the tank?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:56 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Is there a big PH shift between the tap and the tank?

No. Same pH.

I did have shrimp die after 10% water changes so I started doing it this way.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 6:41 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

No. Same pH.

I did have shrimp die after 10% water changes so I started doing it this way.

That's SUPER weird. Usually shrimp want the fresh / oxygenated water. You're running two air driven filters in the tank.  The only thing I can think is temp.

I'm sorry you're running into issues. I'll try to catch up on whatever I missed and see what I can see.

On 11/26/2022 at 5:17 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

 

I can’t see the eggs but it seems she is doing the fanning. @TeeJay said the eggs must be blue to match her. (?)

She is moving her egg legs. Swimerettes (spelled terribly I'm guessing)

So that behavior is normal and it's what you'll see when she's got eggs or is just generally eating.  They keep that area clean so they extend them out and the they go ahead and fan them, so to speak.

Sitting on flow is normal too.  She was just grazing and eating, not releasing yet.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 3:36 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I can't confirm, but this looks bacterial to me.  Let me grab the link.
https://aquariumbreeder.com/understanding-dwarf-shrimp-diseases-and-parasites/

How long have they been in the tank?  Sometimes, especially when first added to a tank before the colony really gets going you can have some deaths the first 3 months.  It's normal acclimation so to speak.  Very difficult to say what the cause is.  The white blotches is what concerns me and points towards something specific, but I just don't have the knowledge as to what.  All I can think is something bacterial.

As long as you're not seeing anything like what that website describes, I think you're ok and you just try to focus on good water parameters (consistent ones) with well oxygenated water.

@Minanora On your colored up shrimp, do you see white patches like this sometimes?  for my amanos it's harder to tell because it's a translucent shell.  I do see it sometimes, but stress type of deaths for me are usually reddish or off-colors.

Kind of always looks like they've been overheated / cooked when I see an amano die.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea I think if you have enough of a "bioload" in the tank I would up your feeding.  Stick to 30-40% Water changes with fresh water and hopefully that keeps things consistent but handles any stress issues that might happen.  Obviously, you mentioned that you have had issues using new water.  Would it make sense to run an off-gas test?

All I can think is to get them healthy is to increase feeding slightly and then try to let them acclimate a bit.

[Minanora]

I'll have to look at all of this more closely when I'm not on top of a mountain with 2% battery.

I'll follow up tomorrow night and take the time to look at all the details.

[nabokovfan87]

Thanks.  Shrimp stuff starts on page 26 in the thread.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/21/2022 at 10:36 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I dream (ha!) of the day when my little nano cube is full of Bloody Mary shrimp…. there’s only 3 so far😏.

How many did you start with!?  Hopefully you have 2 females in those three! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help 🙂

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/8/2022 at 3:13 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

This is what the fat shrimp is doing, but I don’t see any eggs.

@TeeJay

I think she actually is releasing eggs here. This is usually the behavior after the eggs are released and she's making sure there isn't any left.  The video earlier today was the "cleaning" behavior I've seen them do.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/12/2022 at 6:19 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Help. I’m doing the water change on the shrimp tank. I took some of the mulm and put it in a white dish. I don’t know what I’m looking for in the ways of shimplets, but in this dish there is one “dot” that is very energetically swimming all over the dish. Uh- is that a shrimplet? Should it be obvious? 

They should be light sensitive.  So common method is to siphon whatever, turkey baster, etc. and then you go ahead and set a light and they'll swim towards it.  Then you siphon that out.  You're looking for this:

These are amanos.  I would assume that the other Caradina's are similar, but I'll double check.



Further reasearch, you'd be looking for something more like this.  Prior to this stage I don't know if there is a stage similar to amanos shown above.  It looks like they have less planktonic stages for neo / caradina shrimp, but again... very hard to find full information.  This is the smallest I can reliably find apart from this chart.



https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Amphidromous-life-cycle-in-caridean-shrimps-adults-live-and-breed-upstream-in-fresh_fig1_269799282

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Caridina-pseudodenticulata-1st-larval-stage-A-lateral-view-B-dorsal-view-C_fig1_288115773

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/12/2022 at 7:48 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

To say I’m exasperated is an understatement.  Nearing the point of tears, I just returned all the waste to the tank. I was inspecting every baster full in the dish and all contained shrimplets (swimmers) and/or seed shrimp (darters). I’ve been at this for 2 hours trying to return each baby to the tank. I cannot decipher or handle easily what is detritus and what is life. I had no idea shrimpkeeping would be many, many hours per week in maintenance. I hadn’t picked up on that when following the shrimp keepers in the forum. 

The tank desperately needs a vac but I guess that’s out of the question or I will be faced with the same predicament again. I’m guessing I’m just meant to change water only, from near the top of the tank. I feel horrible that I almost killed/dumped out their babies.

It's definitely difficult when things are that small, translucent, and just difficult to see on top of it all.  A flashlight comes in extremely handy for me because I can light the sides and see shadows or shapes in that method.  I recommend a clear (not opaque) as possible rubbermaid tupperware container or something like that if you're having really bad issues right now. 

https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Brilliance-Storage-Container-Medium/dp/B07X3XTCHW?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

I light it from the sides, underneath, etc.  Specimen container works as well, but might not be big enough to manage all the mulm you have going on when trying to siphon.

If I was in your shoes my method would be...
1.  Siphon like normal, let things settle in the bucket.
2.  Use a light and a net (or baster) to suck out the shrimplettes into a specimen container.
3.  Add them back into the tank, then fill things back up.

At some point you're going to have more than enough so you don't need to worry as much.  Right now I understand it's a critical process and a new one, and that in itself is stressful.  I understand not wanting to lose any haphazardly as well.  Do what you can, but try not to kill yourself worrying about every fine detail.  Your eyes will get used to it and you'll get the method down.

Edited November 27, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/14/2022 at 4:17 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Water changes are 10% once or twice a week.

Minimum I would do is 15-30%, larger volume, once a week.

On 11/14/2022 at 4:17 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I can't say it for certain, but next time you get strips I would opt for the tetra ones.  For whatever reason, on some of the tests, API strips can have some issues.

Alright..... well. hopefully we can figure out a bit about what's going on.  I think the only thing I can see as an issue is the volume of WC, potential OTS setting in, but it's part of new shrimp in a new tank.  Long term acclimation.  I would increase feeding so that you see the shrimp themselves running around with pellets, sticks, or other things.  Specifically making sure they get shrimp based (calcium added) foods to help with any molting or mineral issues.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/27/2022 at 6:07 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

How many did you start with!?  Hopefully you have 2 females in those three! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help 🙂

Thanks for the offer, but ones berried and will probably pop in the next week.🥳

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/26/2022 at 6:33 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Balls of PSO

What is this? Pogostemon?

On 11/26/2022 at 10:28 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

The only thing I can think is temp.

I was running the tank at 78. Over the past week I have dropped it to 74 (one degree per day), as Prime Time gave a range of temps, and I believe the 78 was too high.

When I was doing water changes with fresh water, I was checking temp of new water with an instant meat thermometer.

On 11/26/2022 at 10:28 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I'll try to catch up on whatever I missed and see what I can see.

Thanks so much for spending the time to help. 
 

On 11/26/2022 at 11:08 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

How long have they been in the tank?  Sometimes, especially when first added to a tank before the colony really gets going you can have some deaths the first 3 months. 

I’m pretty sure we are still within that first 3 months.

On 11/26/2022 at 11:08 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Kind of always looks like they've been overheated / cooked

I found at least 2 like this, but I think @Guppysnail said they always look like that when they die. But if you find them very soon after they died, they will be the same color as the live shrimp. 

On 11/27/2022 at 1:27 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Minimum I would do is 15-30%, larger volume, once a week.

I’m no longer changing water. I’ve been siphoning and putting the same water back in (less the mulm). Because I was finding some shrimp dead after water changes, and now I only have 4 shrimp left.

@Guppysnail was helping me fine tune things also. Some recommendations were discontinue Wonder Shell and Easy Green, but root tabs are ok. She suspects too much calcium is in the water, causing failed molts.

On 11/27/2022 at 1:06 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

If I was in your shoes my method would be...
1.  Siphon like normal, let things settle in the bucket.
2.  Use a light and a net (or baster) to suck out the shrimplettes into a specimen container.
3.  Add them back into the tank, then fill things back up.

This is the current process. I have yet to see any shrimplets, only copepods and ostracods.

On 11/27/2022 at 1:27 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I would increase feeding so that you see the shrimp themselves running around with pellets, sticks, or other things

Here’s the thing. I feed them… but most of the time they don’t come and get the food; they stay up higher in the tank in that mass of plants, picking all the stuff off the plants.

On 11/26/2022 at 11:08 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Would it make sense to run an off-gas test?

Not sure what this is. Was that the test I did in the past where I left an airstone in tap water for 24 hours?

Edited November 27, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Oct 21 is when I got the shrimp.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/27/2022 at 2:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Not sure what this is. Was that the test I did in the past where I left an airstone in tap water for 24 hours?

Yeah, exactly.

On 11/27/2022 at 2:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I was running the tank at 78. Over the past week I have dropped it to 74 (one degree per day), as Prime Time gave a range of temps, and I believe the 78 was too high.

Yeah, probably. Lower temps also mean more oxygen in the water, win win.

On 11/27/2022 at 2:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Pogostemon?

Yeah, which you already have. And you have the water sprite. Just needs to grow into a big enough mass. 12-20 stems in a small area type of thing.

On 11/27/2022 at 2:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Here’s the thing. I feed them… but most of the time they don’t come and get the food; they stay up higher in the tank in that mass of plants, picking all the stuff off the plants.

Try feeding them after dark or something where they might be more comfortable being exposed.  You can also try floating flakes/pellets to directly feed them. The Xtreme stuff floats pretty well.  Depending on layout, adding a rock pile, more caves, more wood, you'd expect to see them go for more of the aufwuchs on the other surfaces. I used to stack a series of pleco caves or ceramics to try to help mine have places to go. The corydoras took over them, ironically.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

My male snail Romeo has a totally different personality than the other snails in the tank. Maybe he’s not the only male. Not sure. But he always seems like he’s in a rush, and he’s downright RUDE! He bulldozes over other snails, even when they’re sleeping. He doesn’t give a crap. He shoves them out of the way of food they are eating or he covers the food with his foot (which is big- he’s the biggest snail in there currently). And the way he moves; he does a lot of turning when crawling around on the driftwood and plants. It seems like he’s aggravated. The other snails move at a slower, more chill pace, without a care in the world. I think he has an attitude for sure! 

His feelers are so long and flowing, and I love his white foot. He is indeed a handsome fella, despite his disposition.

And he also falls asleep on his girlfriend for hours (how inconvenient) and she has to lug him around til he wakes up.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:09 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

My male snail Romeo has a totally different personality than the other snails in the tank. Maybe he’s not the only male. Not sure. But he always seems like he’s in a rush, and he’s downright RUDE! He bulldozes over other snails, even when they’re sleeping. He doesn’t give a crap. He shoves them out of the way of food they are eating or he covers the food with his foot (which is big- he’s the biggest snail in there currently). And the way he moves; he does a lot of turning when crawling around on the driftwood and plants. It seems like he’s aggravated. The other snails move at a slower, more chill pace, without a care in the world. I think he has an attitude for sure! 

His feelers are so long and flowing, and I love his white foot. He is indeed a handsome fella, despite his disposition.

And he also falls asleep on his girlfriend for hours (how inconvenient) and she has to lug him around til he wakes up.

Dude with a purpose… ask his girlfriend if he’s a keeper 😜!