Beginner Jar-Habitat

[sparrowhawk]

i think I know what went wrong. I stupidly added salt to my distilled water when I added water to the tank last week. I'm off to buy some fresh distilled water and will attempt a water change. Hopefully I don't kill the little ones!

[Keystone]

Good luck - hope all goes well

[Varanus]

I don't see why some added marine salt would cause problems, especially if its only a couple of shrimp that are having problems. How much salt did you add? Unless it was a lot I wouldn't be quick to do a water change, especially given you have larva (which are more sensitive than the adults to changes and water quality).

I've sprinkled in some extra salt a few times myself to offset what I is lost from things like removing excess wet macroalgae, all without any problems.

[sparrowhawk]

I don't see why some added marine salt would cause problems, especially if its only a couple of shrimp that are having problems. How much salt did you add? Unless it was a lot I wouldn't be quick to do a water change, especially given you have larva (which are more sensitive than the adults to changes and water quality).

I've sprinkled in some extra salt a few times myself to offset what I is lost from things like removing excess wet macroalgae, all without any problems.

To be fair to the 2 shrimp who looked like they were on bath salts, all the other adult shrimp in the tank were berried females who couldn't have been swimming at 100 mph even if they felt like it.

What I did was this: I prepared a gallon of distilled water at half the salinity of what was suggested on the salt package. Then I topped off the tank which was 8/10 full. Since I added a significant amount of brackish water to the salt that was already retained in the tank, I think I did offset the balance.

Before I saw your response here Varanus, I'd already done a water change by taking out roughly 1/5th of the water and adding unsalted distilled water to top off. The babies have disappeared for now but the two white dudes have started getting their color back and they've stopped swimming around like crazy. I realize I may lose some or all the babies but I think the intervention was needed.

Thank you so much Varanus. And Keystone. I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[KenCotigirl]

How are you measuring salinity?

Ken

[sparrowhawk]

How are you measuring salinity?

Ken

I'm ...not

The two shrimp are a lot let hyper even though they haven't gone back to their old more zen ways yet. They also have some color back. I'm not observing any larvae but they're supposed to be hiding out for a while, right? i have one more berried female left. i hope i didn't mess up too badly and some of them make it.

[Varanus]

I'm not observing any larvae but they're supposed to be hiding out for a while, right?

The larvae float until they metamorphose into tiny shrimp, its only at that point that they go into hiding for a while. So it depends on whether the larvae that vanished metamorphosed or not. If they did then you should find some if you look long enough (they don't always hide so much as stay very still), and they should start acting like the adults within a few weeks. If not then I'm afraid they have probably died.

[sparrowhawk]

The larvae float until they metamorphose into tiny shrimp, its only at that point that they go into hiding for a while. So it depends on whether the larvae that vanished metamorphosed or not. If they did then you should find some if you look long enough (they don't always hide so much as stay very still), and they should start acting like the adults within a few weeks. If not then I'm afraid they have probably died.

Well I'm not sure what the larvae stage looks like but I located many miniature shrimp all over the macro algae ball. They're about the size of a pencil-made dot. And basically are tiny red versions of the adult shrimp. The two crazy shrimp are still much more active and keep circling the jar nonstop but at a lower speed. I'm just going to stop worrying about those two now. Thank you for all your advice and support

[KenCotigirl]

Sparrowhawk. Never add salt to water that has living creatures in it. Follow the directions. The reason I asked about salinity is you implied the snails died and the shrimp were acting odd. You could go to a pet store and have them check the salinity. While the adult shrimp can adjust to water changes the larvae are more sensitive.

Send us a pic.

Ken

[Ace]

Yeah. We like pictures.

[sparrowhawk]

Sparrowhawk. Never add salt to water that has living creatures in it. Follow the directions. The reason I asked about salinity is you implied the snails died and the shrimp were acting odd. You could go to a pet store and have them check the salinity. While the adult shrimp can adjust to water changes the larvae are more sensitive.

Send us a pic.

Ken

hmmm...i didn't say anything about the snails unless you're referring to the deaths that occurred before Mustafa recommended the water change back in the fall. I haven't had any deaths in a while. Also I didn't add salt. I added brackish water instead of unsalted distilled water when I was topping off the tank. All is good now. Believe it or not, I know I should be following directions and thought I was. I just had a brain-freeze and forgot the tank retains the salt after evaporation. It's elementary school level science but having a busy life and other things to think about, I made a mistake.

here are some pics; you can sort of the larvae floating towards the top and all around the macroalgae

[KenCotigirl]

Thanks for the pictures. I should learn to read. Yeah you added salt to distilled water. Happy your larvae are doing well.

KenP

[Mustafa]

I'm pretty sure the two "crazy" shrimp are just males going nuts to find possibly molting females in the tank. It's pretty normal behavior and can last a very long time.

[sparrowhawk]

I'm pretty sure the two "crazy" shrimp are just males going nuts to find possibly molting females in the tank. It's pretty normal behavior and can last a very long time.

That's finally the conclusion I came to and I stopped worrying about them. I have a bunch of larvae floating around and everyone else is happy. But your comment gives me reassurance. Thank you!

[Mustafa]

No problem!