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The hair algae has since totally taken over the tank, choking out the chaeto and growing off the netting, the rocks and even the glass. The remaining Nerite and opae ula aren’t doing too well in terms of dealing with the problem.

I decided to try adding a second Zebra nerite and an Amano shrimp. I had brought the SG down to 1.003, which I have read Amanos can tolerate, beforehand. Now, there are online reports of Amano shrimp devouring baby cherry shrimp, which are probably a similar size to many of the opae ula there. I don’t mind losing a few ops ula nauplii and babies at this point, but will keep a close eye to make sure he isn’t taking out the adults. It seemed like this was really the only option for tackling the problem at this point. At some point the shrimp will have to be moved out anyway as it grows too large for the tank. Will let you know how it goes!

Looks like it was a big mistake. I think I might have reduced the salinity too fast creating a shock (although opae ula are supposed to be extremely hardy, so I am not sure). Either that or some chemicals got on my equipment or something. The same room is used to house ant poison and other chemicals and it’s possible a wet net or hydrometer may have been left there or something may have contaminated the bucket I was using. I am leaning towards the latter because I have done substantial salinity changes in the past with no die off.

The Amano died overnight, along with what looks like 40 or 50 opae ula. The snails are fine. I can see maybe 5-10 opae ula swimming. Might tear down the whole thing for now and transfer the living inhabitants to my spare tank.

Halocaridina wrote:Looks like it was a big mistake. I think I might have reduced the salinity too fast creating a shock (although opae ula are supposed to be extremely hardy, so I am not sure). Either that or some chemicals got on my equipment or something. The same room is used to house ant poison and other chemicals and it’s possible a wet net or hydrometer may have been left there or something may have contaminated the bucket I was using. I am leaning towards the latter because I have done substantial salinity changes in the past with no die off.

The Amano died overnight, along with what looks like 40 or 50 opae ula. The snails are fine. I can see maybe 5-10 opae ula swimming. Might tear down the whole thing for now and transfer the living inhabitants to my spare tank.

Oh gosh! 40 to 50 Opae ula! Yeah transfer them.

Sorry to hear the loss. In the future I would suggesr doing a major water change to reduce the excess nutrients in the water. This will make a huge difference on the hair algae. The snails would have much of an impact overall. There's a guy who posted on shrimpspot his success with breeding amano's and slowly converting them to brackish.

Halocaridina wrote: ↑11 Aug 2019 11:03 Looks like it was a big mistake. I think I might have reduced the salinity too fast creating a shock (although opae ula are supposed to be extremely hardy, so I am not sure). Either that or some chemicals got on my equipment or something. The same room is used to house ant poison and other chemicals and it’s possible a wet net or hydrometer may have been left there or something may have contaminated the bucket I was using. I am leaning towards the latter because I have done substantial salinity changes in the past with no die off.

The Amano died overnight, along with what looks like 40 or 50 opae ula. The snails are fine. I can see maybe 5-10 opae ula swimming. Might tear down the whole thing for now and transfer the living inhabitants to my spare tank.

So sorry to hear about your loss. I hope you are able to save the remaining.

Been a while so I thought I'd post an update.

Despite the losses, a lot of shrimp survived and then started reproducing. Their numbers are now roughly at or above the level they were before the die-off.

The second of my original two zebra nerite snails died a few days ago. Almost exactly 3 years since I first got them in late March 2017 (the other one died almost exactly 1 year ago, so lived 2 years). Most sites online say 3 years is a natural lifespan (with some even saying 1 year), so I am not too bothered.

There is still one final zebra nerite snail that I bought over the summer of 2019.

Strange I lost a nerite too, I would have to look back at my tank topic when I purchased them to get an idea of how old they were.

I did not remove the shell of the 'dead' snail since the 'door' in the shell had pushed in so deep and had become clogged with gravel so I assumed all the 'meat' had been consumed by the shrimp as had happened with the first one I had that died.

Surprisingly, I walked in today to find two living nerites! So it must have still been alive, just dormant or something. It will be interesting to see how long this one lasts.

Halocaridina wrote:I did not remove the shell of the 'dead' snail since the 'door' in the shell had pushed in so deep and had become clogged with gravel so I assumed all the 'meat' had been consumed by the shrimp as had happened with the first one I had that died.

Surprisingly, I walked in today to find two living nerites! So it must have still been alive, just dormant or something. It will be interesting to see how long this one lasts.

Ha. . Good you still have them.

I still have this aquarium, but have not looked inside for a while now, beyond top ups every few months. I am not sure if there's anything living inside, it seems to be filled with algae and the last few times I've checked I never saw anything. The nerites are long deceased. I'm planning to drain it over the weekend to try to see if I can find any opae ula left.