Floating Molts & Lots of Green Algae

[Kval1015]

Hello -

I had an issue a few months ago with a larger opae tank. The survivors have done quite well in a small 1 gallon tank I've set-up and now I'm wondering if we should look to add some additional opae ulas to help with algae maintenance.

ALGAE
At the moment there is a lot of visible algae in the tank, but I am not really seeing the shrimp eating much of it. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with it as it looks a little strange. I've attached a photo. The algae appears to have little lines/strings.

MOLTS
I attached a photo, but it's difficult to see. There are about 5 molts that I have seen floating up to the surface and/or stuck on the side wall of the tank. Additionally, I feel like I am seeing lots of molts along the bottom of the tank. Is it OK to leave these there? In the past I have read that it's fine, but it just seems like a lot to leave. A few even started growing algae.

With this much algae, should I consider getting a few more shrimp or maybe some snails? My tank is only a small 1 gallon tank and I have about 5 shrimp in there.

[Nellyville41]

The little line string can be hair algae. Very hard to see. Kinda like a spider web string. You can remove that with a tweezer or clean chopstick or something like that. This is a lot of algae for your shrimps. Tons of food. I’d invest in more shrimps and a pack of snails. Your tank can hold a lot more. My one gallon at work have 10 shrimps and I just had 10 babies although some aren’t making it past the larvae stage. But yeah order some more and go from there.

[Kval1015]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'm going to do that now.

I'm very surprised with the overabundance of food as I don't feed them anything additional and the tank only gets indirect sunlight. I've turned the LED light down to it's lowest setting when it's on during the day but still seems to be producing a lot of food!

[Varanus]

As for the molts, they're harmless and should eventually get eaten. That they haven't been consumed yet must be due to the abundance of food and how few shrimp there are.

If any of the algae is hair algae you'll want to keep an eye on it. The shrimp don't seem to eat it and it can grow to the point that it can entangle and kill young shrimp.

[Kval1015]

Thanks for the info on the molts. I don't believe any of the algae is hair algae. Were you able to see the photo I attached?

It looks like it's growing on the glass in lines, but I don't see any spiderweb like lines in the tank, just on the glass marbles/substrate. Let me know if you would like a better picture.

I'm wondering if the algae just looks like that because it's growing on glass, it might be less noticeable if it were just on the substrate.

[Kval1015]

Snails and more shrimp are enroute!

1 GALLON SMALL OPAE ULA TANK

2 Questions:
1 - Do you think the glass marbles should be removed from the tank? I get nervous that the shrimp will get stuck between them, not sure if this is a valid concern or not? The glass marbles have a lot of algae accumulated on them, if removed, is it a good idea to try and scrap off as much algae as possible to keep in the tank for food?
2 - 10 snails are enroute - can they just be added to the tank or should they be acclimated with the shrimp to their new water / environment?
We had poor luck with a larger tank and snails and I'm worried with such a small tank that the loss of a snail might spike the ammonia levels - is there a good way to ensure all them survived and are well before adding to the tank?

[Varanus]

1. Unless there is a chance the marbles could suddenly shift position (say someone bumps what the tank is sitting on), there shouldn't be any risk of the shrimp getting stick. They're good at moving through small spaces. If you do remove them, then it won't hurt to scrape off some algae back into the tank, but I wouldn't work too hard on it.

2. You can try observing the snails for a while before putting them in the tank (no acclimation should be needed) and see if they are all moving, but not moving doesn't necessarily mean they are dead. For larger snails you can sniff them to check for decomposition, but for these I don't know if you'd be able to smell anything. In other words, it'll be hard to tell if they're dead without observing them for a few days. Also, if any are dead then the other snails and shrimp should eat them so you shouldn't have to worry much about fouling the water (and if you're still worried you could just add a tiny amount of Prime or other water conditioner to the tank).

[Kval1015]

Thank you for your quick response!

I'm still somewhat of a newbie, could you let me know what Prime is? What does it do? From a quick search I saw that it helps remove ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Without a filter, is it still safe to add to the tank?

[Varanus]

Its main purpose is to make tap water safe for aquarium use, but its good for detoxifying unbalanced tanks as well. Water conditioners like it are used a lot in the aquarium hobby. As far as I know there is no risk to using it, nor does it need a filter to be in the tank, though for a one gallon tank you'd only need a few drops at a time.

[Kval1015]

UPDATE
The new shrimp and snail tank additions are doing a number on the algae, and there's still lots of food to go around! I did not realize how much film was also on the glass, much easier to see now as well. It's been about a week, and I haven't seen all 10 snails at once, but I do think that they all made it this time around - I've been able to see about 7 at once so far - the tank is on my desk and the back of it is close to the wall so I have a somewhat hindered view. We added brackish water snails to a larger tank about a year ago and they didn't make it, they turned white and died off very quickly - after we had issues with shrimp dying off as well I moved to a covered smaller 1 gallon tank that sits on my desk with the survivors. Before adding anything else to this tank, I wanted to make sure conditions were favorable, and things are blossoming much more nicely than before.

Much better experience with the snails this time around in the smaller tank - beginning to think that a smaller tank would have been the better way to go to start. New shrimpies are also already pink/red! Hoping that the new additions will create some berried shrimp since tank conditions seem a lot better in this new set-up.

Thanks for your help and suggestions for this tank and the previous! This forum has been super helpful!

[Mustafa]

I"m glad things are working out better this time around! However, I don't think the problem had anything to do with the size of the tank. If snails/shrimp start dying there's usually something in the water that does that. The same would have happened with a small tank too. In any case, it's working out now so if you set up another tank in the future, just do it the same way.

[Kval1015]

Yes I totally agree. The larger tank did not have a completely enclosed lid that was flush and I'm pretty sure some sort of aerosol (Pledge or Air Freshener) made it's way into the water through the little hole on top. The smaller tank that I have now is an apothecary jar with a lid that is flush, not vacuum sealed but definitely offers more protection from the environment. I think that the larger tank we had just didn't suit the needs we had well enough in our home - I will be much more careful in larger tank selection in the future.

Thank you again for your help!

[Mustafa]

Of course, no problem at all!