Amano color change & death.

[TheFishmonger]

I had an Amano shrimp that turned dark green then brown then orange and looked weird, today it died. It has been like this for about two months. I am worried as I have other Amano shrimp that have started to change color to a darker or lighter brown. Is this normal? I did not change the water of the tank for two weeks and I have a bladder snail infestation in there. So I am wondering if the green hair algae in that tank is due to the snails and have something to do with this one Amano dying. I also have wood in there, and light green to brown plants. If it is due to the algae they eat off the wood and plants then okay.. but the orange Amano made me worried. I am planning on cleaning the tank of all bladder snails today as I see that no matter what I do the green hair algae does not away. So I think it is due to the snails as it appeared after the snail population exploded.

 

[kansas]

Did something change in your tank? A snail and algae explosion probly means there are more nutrients than before that happened.

 

[TheFishmonger]

Did something change in your tank? A snail and algae explosion probly means there are more nutrients than before that happened.

I don't think anything has changed. Snail and Algae have been the same since I got the shrimp. As a matter of fact, I got the shrimp to take care of the algae. But they don't eat it. That shrimp was changing colors for a long time, I guess there was something wrong with it beyond my control. Everyone else looks fine except a little browner but I added wood so I guess that could be an explanation. I think the algae is due to the snail poop that fuels it. So I'm just going to get rid of the snails and see if the algae die down.

 

[kansas]

There's a lot going on in the water chemistry of an aquarium. Good luck.

 

[surajk]

Do a gravel vac and filter maintenance, count your animals, remove any decomposing or decaying plants.

Population explosions are usually due to uneaten food, or fish/shrimp/snail/other deaths in the tank that go unnoticed that then both become food for snails and nutrients for algae. Look for where the food is - tanks are closed ecosystems so if the snails are exploding and pooping, the food for them to do that is coming from somewhere.

Also when did you introduce the Amano? recently? were you able to do a good drip acclimatization? from what i've read, many amano's typically die soon after introduction.

I don't know much about bladder snails, but if they are not eating your plants, then they are helping by eating the decomposing plant matter that's going to feed the algae, or by eating the algae itself. find the cause (snail poop is the effect).

to share my own screwup: I missed a guppy death in the tank recently (the carcass got sucked into the filter. I found an amano all the way up in the filter chomping on it. My fault - I should have been counting . I got lazy), but the way I knew something was wrong was that my nitrates went way up when they shouldn't. My amanos are new and I'm worried the nitrates at 40ppm will kill them in short order, but large water changes may kill them all the same. going with 20% changes every two days until I have the nitrates down. fingers crossed.

 

[TheFishmonger]

Also when did you introduce the Amano? recently? were you able to do a good drip acclimatization? from what i've read, many amano's typically die soon after introduction.

Yeah gave them 2 hours of drip before I introduced them and didn't have a problem. The change of color came a month later. Counting shrimp is a bit hard, for weeks I keep missing one only to see her for a couple of seconds before she vanishes. You are right about the water changes. Better play it safe and do small water changes. Sometimes I forget and do 40% water changes or more but the Amanos handle it from what I have seen. Not recommending following that as I am new to shrimp. But so far the Amanos have proven tougher than the red cherry shrimp.

As for the Algae, it started to die down on its own. So I guess something changed in the tank that I still have not pinpointed.