Sands slowly turning brown

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kyle0901
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Sands slowly turning brown

Post by kyle0901 »

Hello guys, I have been keeping these shrimps in my mini-tank for a little less than a year. Many setbacks along the way but I’ve managed to pull through eventually, and it finally seemed to be all OK...until this new crisis emerged. I have attached a photo below, the bottom substrates are slowing turning dark yellow and brown each passing day. And my shrimps are becoming less active. I fear for their lives. Can anybody tell me if this is even normal? What is the action required other than starting a new tank? What did I do wrong?

I have followed the instructions previously from people of this forum and basically leave my sheimps alone, there is some Mustafa algae in the tank but it barely grows since I put it in the tank 4 months ago. All sands and rocks were purchased from local aqua shops, no live sand involved.

The Mustafa algae haven’t grown a single bit in 4 months, hor had my shrimps bred in a year, there has to be something wrong in the tank I can’t figure out.
Please help me thanks!
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Last edited by kyle0901 on Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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SuperProofer
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by SuperProofer »

I have this same brown crud (and a couple of black-ish looking spots as well) in my tanks. I believe it's just algae - nothing to worry about. I really do need to get some snails so they can get down there and take care of it. I think you're fine; and I don't think this algae has anything to do with the inactivity of your shrimp.
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sabbylina
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by sabbylina »

I have a fine layer of light brown stuff at the bottom of my tank. It could just be debris from the shrimp like bits of their shells and waste products.
kyle0901
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by kyle0901 »

SuperProofer wrote: Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:11 pm I have this same brown crud (and a couple of black-ish looking spots as well) in my tanks. I believe it's just algae - nothing to worry about. I really do need to get some snails so they can get down there and take care of it. I think you're fine; and I don't think this algae has anything to do with the inactivity of your shrimp.
Same with me, but before you know it, it started to darken pretty quickly, that’s what worries me.
kyle0901
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by kyle0901 »

sabbylina wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:13 pm I have a fine layer of light brown stuff at the bottom of my tank. It could just be debris from the shrimp like bits of their shells and waste products.
But will these waste be potentially toxic in the long run?
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sabbylina
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by sabbylina »

kyle0901 wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 4:36 pm
sabbylina wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:13 pm I have a fine layer of light brown stuff at the bottom of my tank. It could just be debris from the shrimp like bits of their shells and waste products.
But will these waste be potentially toxic in the long run?
Nope! The waste products from the shrimp feed the algae in your tank.

After looking at the pictures more, I'm starting to think it might be algae though.
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by Varanus »

Yup, growth like that is pretty normal. Snails should reduce it if you get some.
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Re: Sands slowly turning brown

Post by Mustafa »

Everything looks and sounds normal to me. Shrimp being overly active isn't a good thing anyway. The advice I usually give is: sit back and relax! Reproduction will happen sooner or later. The one thing you may want to try is get a small wattage light or put your container closer to a window as you may not have enough ambient light. That will accelerate algae growth and, which will start a whole bunch of positive chain reactions.
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