Are my shrimp decomposing??

[Driller31]

Yeah, I recently just put 2 raw shrimp in my tank after some advise, and reading Articles. They have like a huge layer of clear film around them, is this what supposed to be happening, are they decomposing??I have ordered the Master Test kit, so hopefuly I will be able to start testing by Monday or so!!

 

[ryshark]

Yeah, I recently just put 2 raw shrimp in my tank after some advise, and reading Articles. They have like a huge layer of clear film around them, is this what supposed to be happening, are they decomposing??I have ordered the Master Test kit, so hopefuly I will be able to start testing by Monday or so!!

Yes that clear sac is normal. You will be testing levels of ammonia when you get your kits on Monday. Thy cycle has started. I hope you have nothing alive in there.

 

[Driller31]

No nothing alive, thanks for the good info...So when everything spikes and then drops back to 0, is it then time to maybe add a fish or 2??Or would the spike have already happend??

 

[ryshark]

No nothing alive, thanks for the good info...So when everything spikes and then drops back to 0, is it then time to maybe add a fish or 2??Or would the spike have already happend??

First you will see your ammonia go up, then your ammonia will start going down and nitrite will go up and then nitrite will go down to zero. Then test for Nitrate (once your ammonia and nitrite are 0), you should test positive for nitrate. Then do a partial water change and add a fish or two quick so you do not lose your cycle. Or you can start adding inverts like a cleanup crew as long as you are feeding them... or do both.

 

[cmor1701d]

The partial water change should be 30% - 50%. Wait a week, test the water and if all remains at 0, you can add your first fish.

My recommendation is to set up a small QT tank now for the first fish. Yes, this tank will be uncycled so you need to add a small hob powerfilter, one with a biowheel is a good choice.

Then be prepared to do 20% water changes in the morning and at night for the fiirst week to maintain pristine water conditions in the QT while the bio wheel starts building up a bacteria colony. Keep the fish in QT for 4 weeks to make sure it is healthy and parasite free.

After you transfer the fish to the display tank you can keep the biowheell in the sump if you have one. If not, place it in the tank for a a week before you set up the QT tank for the next fish purchase.

You could of course just maintain the QT tank and get the second fish as soon as the first is moved to the display tank. Then your QT is already cycled and you can just do a 10% weekly pwc.

 

[ryshark]

The partial water change should be 30% - 50%. Wait a week, test the water and if all remains at 0, you can add your first fish.

My recommendation is to set up a small QT tank now for the first fish. Yes, this tank will be uncycled so you need to add a small hob powerfilter, one with a biowheel is a good choice.

Then be prepared to do 20% water changes in the morning and at night for the fiirst week to maintain pristine water conditions in the QT while the bio wheel starts building up a bacteria colony. Keep the fish in QT for 4 weeks to make sure it is healthy and parasite free.

After you transfer the fish to the display tank you can keep the biowheell in the sump if you have one. If not, place it in the tank for a a week before you set up the QT tank for the next fish purchase.

You could of course just maintain the QT tank and get the second fish as soon as the first is moved to the display tank. Then your QT is already cycled and you can just do a 10% weekly pwc.

Although smart and recommended by most.... its so much extra work and is only very effective if you QT everything wet. I used to QT and hypo treat all fish, however, I was adding inverts so often I still got ich in the tank. Then I put all the fish in a QT and tried to treat for ich and they all died. I had been successful killing ich in QT before this incident, so I knew what I was doing. After going fallow for 8-weeks with no fish my new approach is to freshwater+methylene blue dip all fish(except for my Achilles from DiversDen), put them into the main tank with pristine water conditions and lots of live rock caves/crevices for them to hide in and then feed, feed, feed them a nice variety and keep them fat and healthy so their own immune system can fight off parasite etc. Also important is where you purchase the fish from and this can be hard to tell if you are new to the hobby. There are some LFS out there where I would never put a fish from their system in my tank even after my whole dipping process. By the way the freshwater dipping process needs to be done perfectly or you can kill the fish.

 

[melosu58]

Moved to the getting started forum.