Please save my family's tank!

[shutupmorty]

I bought an opae ula terranium jar for my little brother and he loved it!. He has been planning on expanding them to a bigger tank after being mesmerised by the lil' shrimps.

So he bought a bigger tank, and went ahead with using marine salt, and cycled the tank using Microbe-Lift Special Blend and Microbe-Lift NiteOutII. He added some marimo balls too.

The thing is that he added one shrimp to test the water quality one day after he began cycling the tank. the LFS shop person told him that the chemicals can cycle the tank instantly. I do not believe it but i believe that he is too impatient to listen to me. I rest my case as i do not have any experiences with aquariums, but i read that you need to wait for months ?

So one poor shrimp is in the new tank, now it's the second day that it has survived inside, how do i see that it is/ or not doing well? Can i conclude that the water is safe if it survives after a few days? or should i retrieve it back to the old tank immediately?

[Mustafa]

Observe the shrimp. Is it picking on things (i.e. eating?). At least some of the time? That's usually the best indicator that the shrimp is doing ok. Any pictures? Also, is it nice and red?

[Varanus]

Also waiting is a good idea but waiting for months is usually not necessary, especially for supershrimp. Months in my experience is an extreme for only very sensitive animals.

[mike.d]

It might be a good idea to add some more shrimp and some more water (from the old tank) to the new tank. That will help maintain the colony of beneficial bacteria that were added with the "instant cycle" products you mention.

[jonesinfershrimp]

It might be a good idea to add some more shrimp and some more water (from the old tank) to the new tank. That will help maintain the colony of beneficial bacteria that were added with the "instant cycle" products you mention.

adding water isnt a bad idea. but it really doesnt contain that much BB (beneficial bacteria). they are more surface growers, so id say if theres a little bit of some sort of decoration (like some sand) you can add from the small tank to the new one, do that. it would contain way more bacterias than just the water. just my 2 cents.

[shutupmorty]

Thanks for the advise guys.
We did add some water from the old tank into the new tank.

However, after a few days the shrimp in the new tank isn't behaving normally..it looks weak and always hides under the rocks unlike the healthy ones in the old tank which are always scavenging around.

So I have decided to put it back into the old tank anyhow. can't have the poor fellow dying inside.

Now we are just going to let the new tank cycle for longer..until there are some algae growing. from what i have read here, is it true that it won't cycle if there are no living creatures inside? can i just add the Microbe-Lift Special Blend and Microbe-Lift NiteOutIl until algae grows?

[mike.d]

Thanks for the correction Jones. I appreciate it.

Morty, it's pretty typical that shrimp will hide in a new tank after a few days. They seem to spend the first day or two exploring, then the next 2-4 hiding. Then they come out and explore some more. This seems to be right on time with your original post from a week ago.

Here's a link to what I observed with my tank: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6124

The fact that the shrimp didn't die and seemed to exhibit normal behavior would indicate to me that everything was fine with the new tank. Now that it's been a week, and with all your additives, the new tank is probably very well cycled.

At this point, it's probably better to leave the shrimp alone for a few days. Moving them from tank to tank can be a stressor. If it was me, I would leave both tanks alone for another 3-7 days. Then add all the shrimp to the new tank and call it done.