Hi all, hope someone can shed some light on whats up with my shrimp. It's a cameroon fan shrimp or giant african fan shrimp, it's kept in a comminuty tank with guppies, neons, an ancistrus and a tiny dwarf frog. Up until now (3 months ish) he's been fine, coming out at night time from his hole in a large piece of wood and 'fanning' for food. When it's dark he also scurries around looking for food on the bottom of the tank.
However a couple of days ago i bought a small shrimp to add to my tank, I think it was a ghost shrimp which also seemed happy for the first day but was dead a day later. Since that time my fan shrimp had had his fans closed up and has been banging them together, like clapping or similar (sometimes banging/waving them in a certain order almost). He has now turned upside down in his little cave like hole (actively did this - not fell over!) and is still waving his closed fans back and forth with his large front legs in the air. He isn't filter feeding like usual.
Could the other shrimp have had a disease which has affected this larger one? Maybe he's brain damaged and confused by something? My nitrate level is a bit too high and i am slowly working to remedy this by changing a bucket of water every day until it's accepatble again. It has been high for a while though with seemingly no ill effects so i can't see why it would suddenly have this dramatic effect?
Can anyone suggest anything? I hope he doesn't die - he's the most interesting creature in the tank! Thanks for any help people (and sorry for just launching in with a request for help!)
Cheers
James
I think my shrimp is ill?
Moderator: Mustafa
Well today I thought he had died, seeing what I thought was a dead shrimp under the wood which was quite a sad sight, then I looked closer and it didn't look right. I looked round the back of the wood by the filter inlet and there was my shrimp!! He later retired into his hole like normal and hid - he had molted! Amazingly the old shell had a full set of 'fans' on it, and he has new ones! Where where they?!?
So he was probably just getting ready to molt!! I'll keep up my regular water changes to get the nitrate level acceptable again and i just found out about not using hot water tap water when doinga change. My LFS sells RO water so i'll see how much that is.
Cheers anyway!
So he was probably just getting ready to molt!! I'll keep up my regular water changes to get the nitrate level acceptable again and i just found out about not using hot water tap water when doinga change. My LFS sells RO water so i'll see how much that is.
Cheers anyway!
Hi Endacy,
You don't need to buy RO water unless you regular water is really bad.
What I do is put cold tap water in to five ice cream buckets that are four L or about one Gal. each. I let the sit for a few ours or overnight then use them to replace the tank water.
Oh and be sure to use a dechlorinator. I use SeaChem Prime.
Hope this helps,
TKD
You don't need to buy RO water unless you regular water is really bad.
What I do is put cold tap water in to five ice cream buckets that are four L or about one Gal. each. I let the sit for a few ours or overnight then use them to replace the tank water.
Oh and be sure to use a dechlorinator. I use SeaChem Prime.
Hope this helps,
TKD