Red cherry shrimp dying.

[W1nt3rsh0wl]

So i have been trying forever to care for red cherry shrimp but no matter what they seem to all die off. This is the third set of red cherry shrimp
i have bought and two have already died out of the five. They are in a 20 gallon long aquarium with a couple of plants including dwarf baby tears, java moss, and anubias nana. This is a species only aquarium. As far as i know the copper is too low to be detected by my api copper test kit so i don't know what the problem is. I also do 20% water changes every week. The lighting is a finnex planted plus 24/7 and the substrate is seachem flourite black sand. The shrimp only seem to die one at a time and they usually die at night. Every morning I find a another one dead. I previously had ghost shrimp in this aquarium and they were completely fine. I switched to rcs and now they are dying. If anybody can help, please do.

 

[platylover26]

Hm. It could be the place you get them from. Another thought, maybe it is the way you acclimate them. If you decide to try your luck with another batch, try drip acclimating instead. If you have been drip acclimating, do it just a tad slower this time and see if it improves. good luck! Also, here's and article on drip acclimating to get you started. Hope all goes well! Acclimating Fish - Drip Method | RateMyFishTank.com

 

[W1nt3rsh0wl]

I acclimated them by placing the bag in the water for about 20 minutes then drip acclimated them for about a half hour.

 

[W1nt3rsh0wl]

I bought them from a place called aquatic arts. Any other advice

 

[erla]

Some questions...

I assume your water tests show up ok (no nitrite or ammonia and low nitrate)?

What temperature are you keeping them at?

What are you feeding them?

Have you tried adding calcium?

Are you seeing them molt at all?

 

[GBR]

Did you check ammonia, nitrite and nitrates?
Are you using excel for your plants? Some people don't recommend using it in shrimp tanks.

 

[W1nt3rsh0wl]

Everything is basically at zero, But i will measure again.
Temp is at 79.
I haven't fed them anything I've only had them for about three days.
Their has been one molt.
I have not tried calcium, i have very hard water so i thought it wasn't necessary.
I haven't dosed excel in quite a while. I also did a large water change the day before they arrived. They seem very active and they even had babies while they where in the bag for delivery.

 

[erla]

Huh: that all sounds good, although nitrites and ammonia should be at 0, so if "basically at 0" is at all above 0, that might be the problem. Not sure if the calcium would be that big of an issue, but just trying to explore everything...

How long were the ghost shrimp out of the tank before the RCS were added? Maybe the tank lost its cycle, and there's not enough beneficial bacteria in there to maintain the cycle (unless there are other inhabitants in there already)? Shrimp shouldn't affect the bioload very much at all, but my understanding is that they are sensitive to water conditions.

Molting can be tough on shrimp, so maybe it was a bad molt?

I went through a period with mine when I lost a handful in a short period of time, but they bounced back, and I haven't lost any in a long time. I never could figure out why: I didn't change anything...

 

[W1nt3rsh0wl]

Thanks for your help . Im thinking about setting up about five 10 gallon shrimp breeding tanks and was wondering what i should use for substrate and what plants to keep in the tanks. Im thinking about using pool filter sand and using sponge filters because of their low cost and efficiency. Java moss is among one of my choices for plants. Also, where should i buy rcs (preferably higher grade shrimp at a low cost if possible).

 

[GBR]

Some good floating plants to add are water Sprite and frogbit. My shrimps like to hang off the roots and leaves. Try lowering the temp down to 75 and see if it helps.

 

[erla]

I prefer dark sand for RCS - it really makes their color pop! And I also really like java moss: easy to maintain, and makes for good climbing spots/cover for the shrimp. Sponge filter makes sense, too, especially with baby shrimp.

I bought a 2 premium RCS: a male and a female (who was already carrying eggs) for $8 apiece at my LFS, and that was enough to keep them going! I did lose the male early on, but the eggs went on to become babies, and the rest is history... I've had the tank set up since last April, so just over a year.