Jelly fish in my tank?

[KenCotigirl]

Hard to believe but I found a large jelly fish of sorts in my Opae tank. Picture to follow.

Ken

[KenCotigirl]

Here they are! Creepy. Scale in cm and mm.

[MelWong]

I uh, I have absolutely no idea what it is, but it is interesting. Maybe Mustafa might have an answer after he gets back from his vacation.

[Mustafa]

They are free-swimming, right? Do they pulsate when they swim like "regular" jellyfish?

[KenCotigirl]

Yes they do. I think they are multiplying too.

[shmohney]

I'd be a little concerned that they might prey on the shrimp. Any evidence of that so far?

[KenCotigirl]

Not on adults but I think they have eaten my larvae. My two berried females were close to releasing their larvae last Thursday but have not seen the larvae floating in tank. I plan on removing the jellies this week. I am going to put them into a small tank and see what happens. I have space at work. What to feed them?

Ken

[SillyDaddy]

Jellies are basically carnivorous in nature. I would love to get those myself as I love Jellies. They need a stable habitat such as the cyclic Opae Ula environment with something to catch and eat. You might try water fleas, clamshell shrimp, or even brine shrimp as a food source. Add some Macro algae to help filter and cycle and add oxygen and some of the substrate from the shrimp tank. Where do you live? Do you have enough that you might send one to me in Tennessee. If you have Jellies, you might want to look closely at your strata for Hydra like Polyps... It is quite possible that your live rock or whatever you use at the base of the tank has more ready to be released. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. YES GET THEM OUT OF THE TANK. Even if they don't eat the shrimp, the tendrils are toxic and can paralyze and/or kill the shrimp. One simple measure is to drastically change the paramaters of the water in your tank from brackish to near ocean or near fresh water. Most of your shrimp should have no problem as their species survives this continuously in the wild. Good luck.

[Mustafa]

A jellyfish tank would be *very* interesting. Try feeding them with the golden pearls you got for your M. lohena larvae. The jellies may even feed flake food that floats in the water. They don't actively chase their food, so live food should not be necessary. You've had these guys for years, right? They must be a very hardy species to just survive on the occasional Opae larval snack...

[SillyDaddy]

Love to get an update...

[KenCotigirl]

Nothing really to update. They seemed to have suddenly disappeared. But i will look closely they often hide. Reality is sometime back in July, 2013 I guess, i felt burnt out. I basically stopped looking /going to forums. Did not feel I was getting anything out it or that i was providing any useful information. I spent time with my orchids. Did not give up on the shrimp. Just let them simmer on the back burner. I then decided to follow someone else's advise and concentrate on one shrimp specie and grow them well. I gave away my other shrimp and concentrated on H. rubra. By winter i was happy again and now i am starting a new 1.5 gallon tank. Sorry to go off subject but sometimes it helps talk things out.

[SillyDaddy]

I totally understand what you are saying. I suffer depression, so I have to focus and stay on track. It has really made things a lot better and easier for me.

[shmohney]

These are reminiscent of the hydra-like polyps that showed up in my tank a few months ago. However, there hasn't been any sign of jellyfish. Sometimes the hydra just vanish, but usually they stay in the same spot where I first noticed them until they die and get some sort of growth on them that I'm guessing is bacteria feeding on the remains. No evidence that they are preying on the adult shrimp, but I just found my first shrimp with eggs today, so I will be a little concerned about babies. Unfortunately, I think that the only way I could get rid of my hydra would be to start a new tank and transfer the shrimp to it after giving them a good rinse, and destroying everything else that was in the old tank. For now, I'll risk seeing if the hydra hurt the babies.

[Mustafa]

I'm glad things have been better in the last few months! I appreciate your help in replying to forum posts when I'm not around (which can be for long periods of time, trying to change that). It's been quite noticeable.

Nothing really to update. They seemed to have suddenly disappeared. But i will look closely they often hide. Reality is sometime back in July, 2013 I guess, i felt burnt out. I basically stopped looking /going to forums. Did not feel I was getting anything out it or that i was providing any useful information. I spent time with my orchids. Did not give up on the shrimp. Just let them simmer on the back burner. I then decided to follow someone else's advise and concentrate on one shrimp specie and grow them well. I gave away my other shrimp and concentrated on H. rubra. By winter i was happy again and now i am starting a new 1.5 gallon tank. Sorry to go off subject but sometimes it helps talk things out.

[KenCotigirl]

Mustafa it is a pleasure.