Film floating on top of water surface...

[socalgranny]

Hello,

I am new to the world of Pet Shrimp and I am writing to seek some advice from more experienced pet shrimp keepers.

I have a 5 L nano tank with 3 cherry red shrimp that seem to be doing well so far as judged by the fact that they appear active for part of the day, exploring the tank, and hiding out for part of the day in the plants or under the algae balls. Following Mustafa's advice to beginners, the tank was set up for 6 weeks before introducing the shrimp. The small number of shrimp is to test things out before going any further.

I have equipped the tank with a 10 W Marina submersible aquarium heater (model C10) which maintains the temperature in the 72-76 degree range as measured by an in-tank thermometer. Filtration is provided by an Aquatop IF-300 filter with the spray bar attached to provide maximum water aeration. The filter has both a sponge filter and an activated carbon filter. The tank is exposed to partial sunlight during the day, supplemented by a Fluval 13 W compact lamp suitable for shrimp aquariums. However, I only run this for about 8-9 hours each day since I do not want to overstimulate plant growth. Just FYI, for safety's sake, I have the submerged electrical equipment plugged into a GFCI plug connector. I also temporarily unplug the heater and filter when I obtain a sample of water to test or when adding/changing water to the the tank.

The tank is moderately planted including 2 algae balls and a bit of duckweed floating on the surface, one clump of Cryptocoryne parva, two clumps of Windelov Java Fern, and one thin strand of Java Moss. It has a black substrate designed for shrimp with two small, rough white rocks with threads of red. It has three species of snails (2 Lymnaea peregra, 3 clithon coronas, and 2 green horned nerite). I am using San Diego cold tap water treated with Sea-Chem Prime, prepared a couple of days ahead of putting it into the tank.

I am testing the water conditions daily by removing a small sample of water and using Pondcare's 5-in-1test strips according to the manufacturer's directions. Currently, the tank readings are 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, pH of 7.0, 40-80 KH and 180 GH.

I have a I have three questions.
(1) Is the thin, transparent film that has developed on the top of the tank a good or a bad thing? I change out 20% of the water every week.
(2) Is there a recommended product for testing the chemical parameters of the tank or is the Pondcare 5-in-1 OK?
(3) I am feeding every other day with a tiny pinch of Hikari Shrimp Cuisine. This is about 30 tiny pellets which quickly sink to the bottom and appear tan. After a day, I cannot see the pellets. How can I tell if I am adding too much, too little, or just enough? It does not seem possible to remove the extra, if any, as Mustafa recommends.

Thank you for your offering your advice.

Best regards,
Gail in San Dieog

[Mustafa]

Hi Gail,

The thin film on top is a film of bacteria that is forming because you are adding lots of nutrients to the water. In other words, you are feeding way too much. I would stop feeding altogether until your shrimp are active *all* day..not just part of the day. My guess is that your shrimp will soon hide pretty much all day and then "disappear" (i.e. die). Food should *never* sit around for a day and pollute the water. If the shrimp don't immediately attack the food, that means they either have enough to eat or they are just not feeling well enough to eat. (Please read up on what I have written about "feeding" (one keyword for your searches) in this forum over the years. The feeding part is always the most difficult part of shrimp keeping. People are used to throwing a bunch of food into fish tanks because fish are not anywhere nearly as sensitive as shrimp, so it seems counterintuitive to *not* feed shrimp every day or even at all for a week or two (or more). There is more than enough food in tanks for them usually. Of course, the smaller the tank the more difficult it is to keep the conditions constant for shrimp health (and find the right amount and timing to feed).

By the way...6 weeks cycling is a *minimum* number I mentioned...to be on the safe side I'd go with 8+ weeks. As for water testing equipment... API makes good liquid tests. Those 5 in 1 dip type tests are pretty worthless.

[demonte1997]

Mustafa knows his stuff.

As he said, definitely err on the conservative side when feeding the shrimp. The ph could also probably be a little higher too but as long as they look okay neutral may be okay.