Bad luck and big mistakes

[Iwantshrimp]

I was in the process of cycling my shrimp tank when I purchased eleocharis parvula (sea grass) that grows in brackish water. It had some gel on the roots. The directions said to wash it off but I was worried about toxins in the water (as I have heard that shrimp are very sensitive to toxins) so I chose to ignore this direction for the sake of my future shrimp. Sadly it had disastrous results. Gel got everywhere in the tank and is nearly impossible (or so I think to remove) there's little chunks on the substrate and the water is murky. The gel isn't toxic to fish (or so they said) but would it be toxic to shrimp? Should I start over? I will if I have to, but I would obviously like to try to remove it. Does anyone think it will dissolve. There was only the sea grass in the tank, thankfully no shrimp. Any ideas?

[Harry]

I've purchased some live plants that were rooted in gel. You can never wash all of it off. I don't think it's a big deal. Fish out what you can with a net and likely the rest will just disappear over time - or just keep fishing occasionally till you get it all.

[Iwantshrimp]

Thank you and I have been doing that. I thought about putting the filter on, but I disassembled it when I got the tank because these shrimp don't need it so I can't. I've got out most of the big pieces out but the small pieces are very annoying and the water is still coloudy. I hope it clears up soon. I'm going to order my shrimp from here on May 15ish and my dwarf crabs from a different site on the same day. Do you think a siphon would work? The substrate is sand so I'm not sure. Thanks!

[Harry]

Well, if there are no shrimp in the tank yet, you can just empty it and put in a new supply of water. The rocks and gravel should maintain their algae and biofilm growth even though you are swapping out the water. But I would not put the shrimp in a tank of cloudy water. Something tells me that is a bacteria cloud from the plants, their gel or your gravel. I've had that happen to me and I needed to boil my gravel, rocks, etc and start fresh.

[Iwantshrimp]

Dang, you are correct. I will start over I guess for the sake of the shrimp. I'll just get some more sand and soak all of the stuff in there with new clear water. I have just ordered some pre cultured algae rocks and will put them in the new water/ gravel. Dang it!,,, I also threw my bag of sand out just a couple of days ago. Should have rinsed the plant off better

[Iwantshrimp]

Good news!!! The water has cleared up, I won't have to start over!!!! Thanks everyone!!!