2 types of creatures that may be killing or outcompeting my shrimps for food

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

My colony has sharply declined and I found 2 types of creatures. Any idea what these are?

Creature type 1:

Creature type 2:

Both types are smaller than a grain of pool filter sand and are difficult to observe without magnification. Both move like bugs (scurry).

All other elements of the tank (parameters, maintenance schedule, TDS are the same as when the colony was thriving. I really think these creatures are harmful to my colony.

Edited September 6 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

The first are seed shrimp most likely. The second moves like copepods. 
neither is harmful to your shrimp. I just put Sawbwa resplendens in a tank to scatter eggs that the walls are white with those and if I vacuum I get so many seed shrimp it’s crazy. 
needless to say I netted at least a hundred shrimp out and left easily 50 behind before I put the shrimp in. 
Things that slow my breeding are not enough air / water flow.  Over time with no new genetics added breeding slows a bit. 
Try adding an extra airstone..yes you probably have the same air and flow as you did when the shrimp were thriving but as the tank grows more micro life it needs more air. As plants grow in and consume oxygen at night you also need more air. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/5/2024 at 8:40 PM, Guppysnail said:

Try adding an extra airstone..yes you probably have the same air and flow as you did when the shrimp were thriving

I used to have an airstone and a sponge filter. Then I felt I needed more filtration and I replaced the airstone with another sponge filter. While the second sponge filter is still producing air, I suppose it’s not as good as the airstone was?

[Guppysnail]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:10 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

suppose it’s not as good as the airstone was?

I can’t say. I just know whenever I start losing shrimp first thing I do is increase air and remove excess floaters blocking gas exchange and it fixes it about 70% of the time. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:13 PM, Guppysnail said:

I can’t say. I just know whenever I start losing shrimp first thing I do is increase air and remove excess floaters blocking gas exchange and it fixes it about 70% of the time. 

You kinda admitted you helped the “tiny terrorists” 🤣
 

You know what’s odd? All this time the shrimp population has been decreasing I’ve never seen a dead shrimp, not even one. Also I do have shrimp in various stages: shrimplets, juveniles, adults. There is a berried female in there right now.

Edited September 6 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

On 9/6/2024 at 4:34 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

All this time the shrimp population has been decreasing I’ve never seen a dead shrimp, not even one.

Last week I  had an older shoaling fish roughly 2 inches. I saw her decline over a week and at 9 pm I knew she did not have long before age took her and doubted she would make it until morning. 
I had cleaned the tank of most tiny terrorists so had few left in that tank.  All my tanks are heavy microfauna. I buy cultures to seed each tank when I set them up. 615am when I went down to feed fry I saw a pile of 6 shrimp and scooped out only cartilage.  No meat no skin nothing I could ID as a fish unless I knew it was beforehand.  A shrimp would be gone before you see it.  
 

I just had a thought. Get yourself some Hikari fry food. Just a pinch twice a week to scatter through the tank. You feed a lot of solid food and over time the shrimp do clean up a tank. Babies may not be able to find food since they don’t leave where they are released for awhile.  If you already use powder food ignore this (bacter ae does not count as a high protein food) 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Oh my goodness. I added air and now the shrimps have the zoomies

 

On 9/6/2024 at 7:07 AM, Guppysnail said:

Get yourself some Hikari fry food

Will do! They also get Repashy and when they tear it up the dust from it goes around the tank too.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/6/2024 at 8:37 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Will do! They also get Repashy and when they tear it up the dust from it goes around the tank too.

The Hikari first bites  will get to the nooks and crannies where new hatch shrimplettes are. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/6/2024 at 9:18 AM, Guppysnail said:

The Hikari first bites  will get to the nooks and crannies where new hatch shrimplettes are. 

There are a number of kiddos in there now even though you don’t see them in the video.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

A number of babies came out from hiding to eat the First Bites food. Yummies in their tummies!

 

[johnnyxxl]

Thinking about making my plant grow out a shrimp tank.  Looks fun 

[Schuyler]

On 9/5/2024 at 5:40 PM, Guppysnail said:

The first are seed shrimp most likely. The second moves like copepods. 

To me they look like they could be scuds with the way they crawl around. Any seed shrimp I've seen are rounder.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/8/2024 at 2:57 PM, Schuyler said:

To me they look like they could be scuds with the way they crawl around. Any seed shrimp I've seen are rounder.

Seed shrimp come in many sizes and colors.  I bought cultures to seed my tanks. These are mine along with a host of other happy critters that live in my fry tanks. 
I was checking this egg collector so figured I’d share.  

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Aren’t scuds way bigger than seed shrimp? My seed shrimp are smaller than a grain of sand. Scuds are apparently big enough to net.

On 9/8/2024 at 2:57 PM, Schuyler said:

To me they look like they could be scuds

 

[Guppysnail]

On 9/8/2024 at 6:52 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Aren’t scuds way bigger than seed shrimp

Scuds are shrimplette size to juvie shrimp size depending on the type. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Update: seeing more shrimplets now. 3 things were changed: air, first bites food, and water changes increased to 50% (recommended by Mark’s Shrimp Tanks), aging water overnight with dechlorinator and an airstone. I drip it back in; it take about an hour and a half full speed through airline. I didn’t age the water overnight for today’s water change because I got tired the day before, but I did age it for like 3 or 4 hours this time.

I also got a plant order yesterday which had some Java moss. Here are some of the adults enjoying it, and I saw some juveniles in there a bit after.

 

Edited Sunday at 01:00 AM by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Here’s the group that came out to get breakfast. There is a molt wafting around and also one of these girls is berried. The kids were around too but stayed out of the mosh pit for the most part and picked around the sand at the First Bites. 2 kids are on the left in photo looking at each other through the dish.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Chick-In-Of-TheSea