Supershrimp preparation questions

[Super Jess]

Big hello! and hi there! to my fellow New Englanders! I hope your spring is springing better than mine. Been cold and wet here for DAYS And I don't even have shrimp yet to watch!

[jonesinfershrimp]

likewise! but i see the sun trying to poke out a little. i wish i had my shrimp too, my one hitchhiker that i only see a few minuets every couple days entertains me though. he likes hiding in my rockwork. i suggest not piling up lavarocks like i did, but when he comes out he does laps around the tank. its pretty funny.

[NancyM]

Wow, I have not seen anything like that. You may have something completely new there!

[jonesinfershrimp]

it may be some hair algae?

[Super Jess]

It doesn't look like the pictures of hair algae I found, but I'm new to this, so can't say for sure! It really looks just exactly like an underwater cobweb--whitish, stretchy-looking stuff. Imagine the halloween "cobweb" stuff you pull apart for decoration. It is totally weird, and I'm reconsidering my earlier theory about it having floated down from above because there are now "webs" of the stuff between rocky protrusions that could not have happened if it if fell from above. I will try to post a pic tomorrow when the light is better. Are underwater spiders even a thing?!

On the up side, at least the water is now crystal clear

[Super Jess]

Quick snap from my phone. Will try for better tomorrow!

[Varanus]

That is weird... never seen anything like it in my tanks.

It does seem possible though that the settling sediment that made the water cloudy could be gathering on snail slime trails (perhaps some trails getting disconnected from the substrate and becoming weblike, making visible what is normally invisible). But that's just an idea.

[Super Jess]

Google is amazing. I searched for "underwater cobwebs" and my results turned up vermetid snails! I have never heard of them, but apparently they are a thing in saltwater/reef tanks. I don't know how they could be living in the dry, black lava rock I bought for my tank, but the webs they make look just like the ones I see!

Apparently the snails are sort of like embedded tube worms, lots of different kinds, come in different sizes, and use the mucus "webs" to gather food. Usually their tubes stick up a bit from the rock or coral or whatever. Funny thing is I don't see any tubes, and I don't know how they would have gotten into my tank. But the webs look the same!

This guy has them in his reef tank:


And here are some big ones embedded in a coral in the wild:


So maybe this is the answer!

[NancyM]

That is amazing! Did it say if they were harmful to other inhabitants and what they catch to eat?

[Super Jess]

The references I found say they are not harmful to a tank, but a lot of people find the webs unsightly and remove them and/or try to eradicate the snails. They seem to be pretty difficult to get rid of because of the way they embed themselves in corals and rocks; even though you may be able to break off the tube that sticks up, they often remain inside the rock and just rebuild, lol.

They are filter feeders, and they use the web like a sticky net to gather food. When it's got all kinds of tiny stuff stuck to the web they just haul it back in and eat it the whole thing! I think they eat whatever sticks to the web, plant and animal, so maybe they could be a threat to shrimp larvae. I watched a smallish-sized one eat a frozen adult brine shrimp on YouTube.

Interestingly, they seem to be saltwater creatures, so not sure how it can live in the brackish tank. I added a little water to my tank last night and it broke up the webs, so maybe they got old and weak, and there aren't any new ones this morning. Maybe the snail didn't survive to make more? Maybe that's not what made the webs? Mystery!

Anyone here has had a saltwater tank and seen these?

[NancyM]

Thanks for all the information. I'm hoping that was the end of the webs for you!

[jonesinfershrimp]

wow! thats so cool! i kinda want a couple now. it would help with the size of my tank possibly.

[Super Jess]

So today it's been two weeks since I added Mustafa's snails and macroalgae to my setup, and last night I noticed there is a decidedly greenish tinge on a couple of the rocks! At first I was afraid it was wishful thinking, but I looked again today and it is definitely there. The snails now roam around the whole enclosure: on the rocks, upside down on the water surface, all over the glass, and burrow a bit instead of just sticking near the algae ball, which seems like a good sign that food is becoming more widely available. Hooray!

I want to order the opae now, but I'm thinking it might be a good idea to wait one more week and let the algae growth build a little more before the Big Click. Can't hurt, right? Then again, if I order them now they probably won't arrive until late next week anyway. What to do?

[Varanus]

Have you checked the ammonia and nitrite level recently? Once both are at zero you should be good to go on ordering the shrimp.

[NancyM]

If you have moss growing, Mustafa says it's ready for shrimp. I didn't test and mine are absolutely doing great! They are such fun to watch! It takes them 3 days to get to you, that's not a long wait and well worth it.