Opae Ula having seizures

[Erallie]

I just set up an DIY ecosphere (by evivo) yesterday, and the two shrimps in there were swimming around just fine, but this morning I saw the smaller shrimp was swimming weirdly. And at first I thought he was being playful, so I just let him be, but it continued through the afternoon, and now I'm worried that something might be wrong. Most of the time he lies on the ground and his legs twitch, and all of a sudden he starts swimming as though he can’t see where he’s going, at first straight upward, then most of the time vertically with his back pushing against the wall of the sphere, also at times bumping into things without changing direction, and then all of a sudden it stops abruptly and he falls to the ground at whatever angle, often times on his back, and he doesn’t try to roll over to his feet again after that.

I had no idea what was going on at first, but then I recalled a video I watched on youtube about eels that live near brine pools. The brine pools have a much higher salinity than the water above it. The eels go down into the pool briefly to catch some fish to eat. But being in such high level of salinity for so long can cause them to go into epileptic shock. And I actually watched another video of an eel in epileptic shock.

I then looked up answers to this, and one person suggested that it could be attempts to molt, but I then looked up what failed attempts to molt look like, and according to the description, it's nothing at all like what my shrimp was doing.

Because the ecosphere came in a DIY kit, I have no measuring kits that I can use to measure the contents of the water. I've never had brackish fish before, either, so this is a new for me. However, I do know that when we scooped out the salt from the kit into the half liter of water as it instructed us and stirred it so that it would dissolve, there were lots of large chunks of salt that were still floating around in the water and if undisturbed settled to the bottom of the cup. I wanted to wait several hours for the salt to dissolve, but my friend, who was there helping me set up, said it would just dissolve in the ecosphere after we pour it in, so we stirred up the water again so the clumps of salt were spread evenly throughout the water and poured the appropriate amount into the ecosphere. I'm just worried that something about that was where the error came from.

Aside from salt, the kit also included gravel and shells, a gorgonion branch, and the sphere itself (lid, seal, and all). The shrimp were ordered separately, but I made sure to get the same species they specified in the kit. The kit instructions also told us to use distilled water, but we didn't have distilled water, so we used reverse osmosis water instead (which we have installed in our sink).

I would order some type of salinity measuring device for brackish water, but if I find one today, it would take 2 days for it to be delivered to my doorstep, and the local petstore only has measuring tools for saltwater and freshwater fish. Does anyone know anything I can do in the meantime, or any other reason why my shrimp might be acting this way?

[NewShrimp]

Hello Erallie,

I've only kept my shrimp for about 7 months now, so I don't know for sure what's going on with your shrimp or if there's too much salt. I do know that they can tolerate a wide range of salinities, but someone more knowledgeable will have to step in about the salt. What I do know, however, is that ecospheres don't sustain opae ula long term. These shrimp can live up to 20 years, and ecospheres cut their lifespan down to 2-4 years. This is due to the build up of ammonia, and the shrimp eventually run out of food.

I got my shrimp from an ecosphere (but it wasn't from evivo and mine was already set up). Half a liter is a small environment for these shrimp. I've heard that 1/2 gallon (or about 2 liters) is recommended for 10-20 shrimp. You stated that you only have 2 shrimp. I also only have 2 shrimp that I got from my ecosphere, but I moved them into a 1 gallon tank. Even though you only have 2, I'd say a 1/2 gallon environment would be the best for them. The following link provides more information about an ideal setup for opae ula: https://www.petshrimp.com/set-up-a-supe ... tructions/. Others who have more experience might add additional information about their ideal setup.

You stated that there's a seal on the ecosphere. Are you able to keep it open? Doing so allows gas exchange, and I've heard it helps keep the pH of the water balanced.

One more thing I can think of...where is the ecosphere currently placed? If it's receiving lots of bright, direct sunlight, I'd suggest moving it to a location with indirect lighting.

I wish you luck and hope that your shrimp gets better!

[SuperProofer]

If you're worried about salinity, one immediate thing you could do is a 50% (or more) water change. Mix up some new brackish water and make sure you're using the proper proportions of salt per the instructions on this site. And make sure it's marine/reef salt, not just "aquarium" salt.

[nonik]

I've also had the experience of several of my shrimp doing similar seizures and eventually (sadly) passing away in the early days of my shrimp tank. While I am not really 100% sure what the cause was, it was certainly something in the water because after doing a few water changes I haven't had a sick shrimp since (~4-5 years). My hunch was that I didn't properly clean the lava rocks I used in the tank. I had boiled them for a few minutes to sanitize them, but I think that after soaking in the brackish tank water they continued to leak further toxins/salts/whatever into the tank. So I will definitely be presoaking rocks and anything else that goes in my tanks in the future. Something to consider since your setup is relatively new.

[sliphorn]

If you're worried about salinity, one immediate thing you could do is a 50% (or more) water change. Mix up some new brackish water and make sure you're using the proper proportions of salt per the instructions on this site. And make sure it's marine/reef salt, not just "aquarium" salt.

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Yup. It must be salt that is intended for saltwater marine fish or reef. If the salt is aquarium salt then you are screwed. Or the water parameters are out of whack. Was it fully cycled? Doesn't sound like it. This site has complete info on how to do this with success.
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[Bluemonk]

I removed my lava rocks after seeing similar poisoning spasms with my shrimps. I suspect the lava rocks I bought on Amazon are artificial lava rocks and leaked toxins.