10 Gallon Tank Seed shrimp stressing Betta?

We have had our beta for 7 months and he has been doing fantastic! We have a 5 gallon tank with a filter, heater, plenty of decor for him to explore, hide and rest on. He was so happy that he was constantly making bubble nests. There would be a fresh nest starting immediately after our weekly 10% water changes. However, we recently had an explosion of seed shrimp and since then the bubble nests have completely stopped. Most of the things we have read say the seed shrimp and not harmful and that he may even snack on them, I just worry that they are stressing him since he no longer makes his nests. Has anyone else experienced this or know anything about it? Thank you in advance!

 

Seed shrimp are quite harmless and normally don't affect anything, first think why they have come in such abundance and I'd say that although they are natural to tanks over feeding your beta will only enhance their population
To reduce them quickly use a small bore pipe and siphon them into a stocking and water goes into a clean bucket this way you can return the water to.your tank without harm to your fish
Do this a few times will reduce the population
Whatever you do DONT use chemicals to try and get rid of them.

 

I have never seen my adult fish even respond or notice seed shrimp. Have got a lot of entertainment watching platy fry chase them around, though! I do try to vac up as many as i can when i see them during a water change.

 

The other thing your betta may be feeding on the seed shrimp without you noticing so the food you put in is only feeding the seed shrimp

 

I had a Few months ago basically every pest known to man in my 5 gallon betta tank. He didn’t seem affected at all by anything so it’s likely both the seed shrimp. Have you checked your water parameters for any spikes?

 

Didn't notice this is your first post
Croeso welcome to fishlore

 

I'd do 50% water changes, it's not much work and goes a long way to healthy fish.

 

We have had our beta for 7 months and he has been doing fantastic! We have a 5 gallon tank with a filter, heater, plenty of decor for him to explore, hide and rest on. He was so happy that he was constantly making bubble nests. There would be a fresh nest starting immediately after our weekly 10% water changes. However, we recently had an explosion of seed shrimp and since then the bubble nests have completely stopped. Most of the things we have read say the seed shrimp and not harmful and that he may even snack on them, I just worry that they are stressing him since he no longer makes his nests. Has anyone else experienced this or know anything about it? Thank you in advance!

Welcome to Fishlore!

Doing only 10% water changes is probably causing some buildup of other organics you cant measure or see. I would up your water changes and the seed shrimp should go down.

 

We have had our beta for 7 months and he has been doing fantastic! We have a 5 gallon tank with a filter, heater, plenty of decor for him to explore, hide and rest on. He was so happy that he was constantly making bubble nests. There would be a fresh nest starting immediately after our weekly 10% water changes. However, we recently had an explosion of seed shrimp and since then the bubble nests have completely stopped. Most of the things we have read say the seed shrimp and not harmful and that he may even snack on them, I just worry that they are stressing him since he no longer makes his nests. Has anyone else experienced this or know anything about it? Thank you in advance!

Welcome to Fishlore

I am glad you came to us. I don't think it is the seed shrimp causing what you are seeing. Over time things we don't normally test for are slowly building up in our tanks if we don't change out enough water. Since you have only been changing 10% of the water weekly for 7 months I have to think those things are now high enough to start affecting your little guy. The parameters in the tank and in your tap are now drastically different.

Please don't jump in and do a big water change all at once. The drastic change in the parameters could very well hurt or could even kill your little guy. I am going to recommend you gradually start changing out more and more water until you are up to changing out at least half the water weekly.

Start out by changing 15% of the water. Every other day up the amount of water you are changing by 5% meaning the second water change will be 20% and then 25% and so on.