Is My Bamboo Shrimp Sick?

HI there,

My guppy just died and now my bamboo shrimp has this light black spot on his head and I’m wondering if it’s just discoloration of some sort or if he has Chitinolytic bacterial disease. Pictures are attached.

Nitrites, PH, temperature and ammonia are all good but nitrates are out of control which is why he’s probably looking a bit different right now.

We’re going to the store tomorrow to get a nitrate reducer. And we have already replaced the filter media have been doing water changes to get the nitrate levels down.

Just hoping for some advice on the health of my bamboo shrimp and if there are things I can do to help him heal.

Thanks!

 

Is he still eating and active? What are your exact parameters out of tank and tap?

 

He is still eating and active. Here are the parameters:

Tap water:
PH: 7.2
Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

Tank water:
PH: 7.2
Ammonia: .25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 100ppm (Between the 80 and 160ppm mark on my test, guessing by the color somewhere around 100ppm)

 

Wow, your nitrates are high! The best way to deal with nitrates as long as most are not coming from your tap water is through water changes. I wouldn't bother wasting money on nitrate-reducing media, just do a couple of big water changes back to back.

What is your current water change schedule? How big is the tank? What is it stocked with?

 

Yeah they are really high unfortunately. Well right now since we are trying to lower the nitrates we’ve been shoooting for every couple of days to do water changes.

The tank is 12 gallons. And we have two platties, one Cory, one dwarf honey gaurami, and the bamboo shrimp. We’ve had one of the platties and the Cory for almost a year now. The remaining fish/shrimp for about 6 months.

 

Who cares about the nitrates? There's ammonia in the tank. That is a huge problem, probably caused by changing the filter media. Does the filter have media other than the cartridge? You need to be using ceramic rings or a biosponge or something in order to keep your cycle.

 

We have fluval edge biomax, foam pad/sponge, and charcoal when it comes to filter media.

 

Yeah they are really high unfortunately. Well right now since we are trying to lower the nitrates we’ve been shoooting for every couple of days to do water changes.

The tank is 12 gallons. And we have two platties, one Cory, one dwarf honey gaurami, and the bamboo shrimp. We’ve had one of the platties and the Cory for almost a year now. The remaining fish/shrimp for about 6 months.

But how much are you changing? If you're changing water every couple of days the nitrates should never have had the chance to get that high. What are the dimensions of the tank?

Who cares about the nitrates? There's ammonia in the tank. That is a huge problem, probably caused by changing the filter media. Does the filter have media other than the cartridge? You need to be using ceramic rings or a biosponge or something in order to keep your cycle.

I know but being only 0.25ppm I figured it was acceptable-ish given that it's normal to get that tiny reading for quite a long time after cycling a tank.

However, I agree that changing the filter media did not help. I don't know how I missed that and I read it several times!

 

Shrimp in general will not tolerate any ammonia, and bamboo shrimp are extremely sensitive to bad water parameters.

Though the good news is, I think the dark spot behind its head is its stomach. That's exactly where it would be on for instance a ghost shrimp, so maybe shrimpy is just full

 

Oh I misread your question Aquaphobia. Our water changing schedule has been bi-weekly but we’ve mistakenly skipped the last few weeks hence the spike.

We know that the current poor parameters are our error and we’ll be going back to our schedule. But I wanted to see where I can go from here and if I can do anything more than water changes to improve the situation faster. And if there is anything I can for for my shrimp.

Dimensions are 16.9 X 10.2 X 23.4 In.

 

Also do you guys think doing a water change once a day until nitrates and ammonia drop is a good idea or should it be less? And how much water percentage-wise?

 

Water changes are the best way to go! When you do a water change you're not only removing nitrates you're also returning minerals and salts that life, including bacteria, needs to survive. However, when doing water changes on a tank that's missed a few you don't want to drop them too fast because it might physically shock the creatures living in it. I think you'd be safe with a 50% change, then wait an hour or until the next day, do another one, and so on.

And don't change your filter media

 

Thanks! We did recently change our filter media a few days ago just because it was that time of the month. We have a set schedule for that. Would those big water changes still be okay since we did recently change out the filter media for new stuff. Or should we lower to maybe 25% every day or 50% every other day? Thanks so much for all your help!

 

The only thing you need to change monthly is the charcoal, I hope that's all you change!

As long as you remember to add dechlorinator to your tap water it shouldn't matter too much to the bacteria how big your water changes are. Just make sure that temp and pH are close and you'll be fine

 

Okay perfect! Thanks so much!