# Outburst of a bacterial infection



## RONY11 (Jan 6, 2011)

Since last 2 weeks I've been noticing my CRS grades A-SSS turing reddish pink staggering through the tank and dying. This usually happens to pregnant shrimps and they die after a week. 
Their appetite diminishes, they seem to lack interest in food. 

When food arrives other shrimps gather, cling pull and push to get a piece while the sick shrimps prefer staggering on the moss or substrate. 

After searching the net I understood that I have a bacterial infection outburst. I'm afraid this is destroy my 40 litres tank which is full of fire sakura and crystals of different grades. 

It's getting hot here and the tank temperatures are rising to 24-25 degrees. I use fans to keep the tank water cool but it doesn't help much. I'm afraid the death toll will rise so I've decided to use JBL Furanol 2 . 

I need help with the dosage and water changes. As I checked Furanol2 comes in a pack of 20 tablets, a single tab.for 20 lts. 

My questions are :

1.When and what volume of water should I change during the treatment? 2.How often do I have to treat the tank? 
3.What precautions should I take while treating the tank? 

Any thing that comes to your minds will help. Thanks in advance
I've already checked and chosen this treatment as it is readily avaliable also comes in tablets so its easier than drops,etc doesn't contain copper thus safe for shrimps.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

My recent experience, not sure if it helps or not. I decided not to treat them with any chemical and it worked out okay.

If you do want to treat them with something, take a look at this post at shrimpnow. The planted tank also has some post about using paraguard. None is promising but there are a few success.

My CRS/OEBT tank went through something similar about 2 weeks ago. They were all fine until one day when I fed them and only one or two shrimps came to have a taste and then left shortly. They usually form a shrimp ball (20+ adult CRS + 10 OEBT sub-adult) when I feed them. So I knew something was up.

Tank parameters when it happened:
20Gallon Long tank
PH: 6.5-6.8
Temp: 22-25 (it was hot those few days)
GH: 6 
KH: ~0
TDS 140-150
NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: A few days before that it tested about 20ppm, but the day after that I tested it and it was a whopping 60-80ppm.

I didn't see any death at all but they are mostly A-S grade with 2 or 3 SS. I couldn't be sure if I did get any death because the tank is heavily mossed and they all hid under/behind the two pieces of DW. They stayed mostly motionless except OEBTs. OEBTs were still active. (PS: I counted them two days ago and I still counted 18 CRS so I'm sure I didn't lose too many).

It's hard to say the cause. Normally OEBT in higher temperature is more likely to get bacteria infection than CRS. But it's hard to tell if CRS get infection because you can't see through their bodies. About half of those CRS lost colour and a few turned pinkish.

My course of actions:
- I didn't rule out the possibility of bacterial infection, but I tried not to treat them with antibiotics or paraguard. If I saw death, I might do differently.
- add an airstone.
- my main goal was to reduce NO3 then see what happens.
- 10% WC in day 1.
- 20% WC in day 2.
- 20% WC in day 3. 
- 20% WC in day 4. This brought the NO3 down to about 20-30ppm.
- no feeding in a week (they didn't want to eat anyway)
- shrmips were still very inactive, again OEBTs were still active mostly.
- day 5 I put in my DIY nitrate filter, NO3 was about 20ppm.
- nothing done for a few days after that but observation. 
- a few days after, around day 10, NO3 is about 10ppm. Note there was no WC after day 4 and NO3 dropped from 20ppm to 10ppm.
- I then tried to feed them (very little) and a few started to come out and eat.
- fed them again in two days and more came out to eat.
- fed them again in two days and more and more came out to eat.
- again, fed them 3 days ago and all OEBTs and about 12-15 CRS came out and I could see shrimp ball again.
- I've been testing NO3 every day and NO3 stays at 10ppm even after I fed them a few times. 
- I lost all baby CRS, however, three berried CRS stayed berried until today. 
- the berried CRS definitely showed more stressed than others. Turning pinkish/transparent and lost red.

My conclusion:
- I'm not sure if I did get a bacteria infection, it's hard to tell on CRS but OEBTs were okay, no cloudiness in body. OEBTs were active all duration anyway.
- If think I didn't lose many adult CRS because they were very healthy and tough. 
- I think it was a bad reaction to higher temperature and the tank lost balance, it manifested as NO3 spike.
- I lost ALL baby CRS 7-14 days old (about 30 of them) 
- I'm not sure why NO3 stabilized, it could be
* tank regain balance due to WC and reduced temperature and feeding.
* my nitrate filter is working?!
* combination of both.

Whatever it is, remove the stress on the shrimps and the healthy ones should survive. You may lose some but that's like tax and death, no one can get away with that.


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

IAL, air stone, and once a week feeding are key.


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## RONY11 (Jan 6, 2011)

My tank temperature has started rising. One day it was very hot and the tank rose to 26 degrees. The weather has become warmer since last 3 weeks.
May be this is the reason for the bacterial outburst. Anyways I have to think how to save the nitrifying bacteria from the sponge filter. 
I hope after finishing the treatment with Furanol 2 and cleaning the tank with active carbon to remove medication residue I will have to return the sponge filter the disease does not surface once again.
Fire and Sakura shrimps are very active compared to CRS.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I think you can save your sponge filter if you just place it in a bucket with dechlorinated water and the air line to keep it running, then add a bit of food and let it sit. Uneaten food will decay and help feed the bacteria instead of shrimp or fish waste. I only put enough water in the bucket to cover the sponge filter, btw. I've done this with a couple of sponges for up to a week and they seem to work just as well as before when placed back in a tank. I squeezed them out in the bucket before returning them to tanks, to make sure they weren't full of decayed food bits.


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## RONY11 (Jan 6, 2011)

I've started the treatment with Furanol 2 left the sponge filter inside coz I found another sponge filter alongwith regular internal filter in another aquarium. I totally forgot that I had kept a spare filter in that aquarium for quite a while now.
I'll use it later on in the shrimps aquarium when I've finished treating the aquarium, added an extra airstone 24/7 before starting the treatment inorder to aerate the aquarium water.
I used 2 tablets dissolved them well with aquarium water in a cup and added to the aquarium the water turned yellow.
Checked today morning my aquarium water has turned yellowish, the shrimps seem to be fine grazing on the substrate, moss and sponge filter.
I will have to wait for 5 days and add a filter (internal) with active carbon and a bit of clean floss for atleast 24 hrs to absorb the medicine. 
Meanwhile I'll not feed in these 5 days. After that I'll make a 40 per cent water change. 
I thought making 20 per cent water change for 2 consecutive days.
If there are any changes (good or bad) I'll mention them in my post.
Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Good luck and hope all goes well.


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

Remember to do a slow water change!


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Why are you using that chem? You'll get alomore deaths coming my friend. 
You'll kill most of your beneficial bacteria at a time when your infection shrimps are already stressed.

You just have a standard infection due to high gram negative bacteria density.
(Caused by the increase in temps) this is very common in asian counteries for obvious reasons (bc it's very hot over there!)


All you have to do is stop feeding.
Get a bucket of r/o water and match the tds and ph to the tank.
Do a 20% water change everyday for a week to lower the bacteria density and the shrimps will get better themselves. Yo don't even have to drip, u can dump the water in so long as you have matching tds and ph. ( If it doesn't match you'll trigger a molt which can be dangerous at this time)

The following will also help.
Turn up air pump to max (o2 creates unpleasent enviroment for bacteria)
Lower flow rate of filter ( reduce stress)
Add a lot of indian almond leaves (they help heal the infected quicker)
Add beta glucan ( its a immune stimulant)
Keep your light off between 1pm to 1am hottest parts of the day.
Aim your fan over the water surface and turn it on max (it does help, can lower by 2-3 degrees)

And for goodness sakes stop your chem treatment.


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## RONY11 (Jan 6, 2011)

We have high temperature but there are days when we have "heat waves" where we have very hot air and lots of sand coming in from other countries. Those days are the worst one can see sand in the air. You have to see this phenomenon to believe it. Yes I see this every year in Tel aviv and it happens usually during spring season. We have normal summer temp.as high as 36-42 degrees in shade. Our AC's works non-stop yet the heat and humidity is unbearable.

Crystalmeth I've already started the treatment so I'll change the water on monday after matching it to the tank parameters. Also I'll start an internal filter with active carbon to absorb the chemical residue leftover in the tank. I believe within a week all chemical traces will disappear. Meanwhile the shrimps are holding just fine. Yesterday one very sick red crystal died but I expected that coz she was dragging herself through the tank for a week.
I've stopped feeding totally and find the shrimps picking at the sponge filter for food. Yesterday I discovered many new fire and sakura pregnant females as well as new shrimplets. 
I've added another air stone and reduced the light hours to 6 during the hours the temperature is cooler i.e. in the evenings. Already have indian almond-catappa leaves (bought from Amy at ebay) in the tank but added two more to give a boost. My 4 Jebo fans are attached to a temperature controller which works non-stop to lower the temperatures to 23 degrees. 

Thanks for your advice and help.I'll inform about the results after I finish the treatment.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

RONY11 said:


> Already have indian almond-catappa leaves (bought from Amy at ebay) in the tank but added two more to give a boost.


I wonder how many she sells, a lot of people I know buy from her ;-)


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## RONY11 (Jan 6, 2011)

randy said:


> I wonder how many she sells, a lot of people I know buy from her ;-)


Her leaf quality is good compared to what I've bought from pet shops here. I've ordered three times from her and always got good leaves, good package, arrives in 8 days, she sends a new product so I can check it out. She is a top rated seller who has 100% +ve feedback on ebay won't find many sellers with such feedback. I never had a problem with her till date.
You wont believe but she adds lables in hebrew on the envelope to ease on the people who don't read english.


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## RONY11 (Jan 6, 2011)

I finished the treatment yesterday, made a 20% water change and added an internal filter with activated carbon to absorb the traces of Furanol as it colored the tank water yellow. 
All the healthy shrimps CRS and Sakura are alive and look much healthier. No signs of any unhealthy shrimp dragging itself throught the tank. 

Found a few shrimps carrying today including a snow white. A few new babies were swimming too. 
Fed them for the first time after 5 days in few minutes the shrimps swarmed the Shirakura fighting to get a piece tugging pulling pushing one another.
Removed the leftover food after an hour.

I made another 20% water change today. The carbon seems to absorb the medicine as the tank looks much clearer no traces of yellow color.
I'm planning to keep the internal filter with activated carbon running in the tank for a week, Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

sounds like some good outcomes.
i had a similar issue but with just plain ole fire reds and painted. i had about a colony of 50+ but after i removed some plants - issues like the ones you listed came up and killed everything... i couldnt see too many casualties due to over planted tank...
but good luck to you!


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