Dead Ghost Shrimp :(

[Talbott37]

Hi- I'm new to aquariums and have a small (12 gal) FW tank that I started in February... Within the past two weeks I've lost both of my ghost shrimp, which have been with me since the beginning... The only thing I've changed was the use of distilled water for my water changes for the last two or three weeks in an attempt to get my extremely hard water under control (above 300), but I think this may have caused a lower pH? Is that possible? And could that have killed my shrimp? I just want to correct any mistakes I'm making so I don't do the same thing again, and can hopefully keep my remaining tank residents healthy. Details of my setup are below, and any advice is very, very welcome...

12 gal fluval edge tank
2 glo-tetras
2 glo-danios
1 julii cory
1 Oto
2 ghost shrimp (deceased)
A varying number of unintentional plant-related snails

Medium gravel
3 anubias barteri plants
Driftwood
2 artificial plants

Deep blue mini-stix heater, temp 74 degrees
Nitrite 0-20
Nitrate 0
Hardness 150
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity 0
pH 6.2

Water changes/gravel vacuum weekly
3 gallons changed per week

Food:
Daily -
Omega One Flakes
2 small Hikari Tropical sinking wafers
Every other Day-
1/4 of a Hikari Tropical Algae Wafer

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!! Your off to a great start! A few simple suggestions will help to get things back in order and keep things running smoothly. First, invest in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Strips are inaccurate at best. Most lfs sell them as well as Amazon and Ebay.

Next, stop worrying about hardness and alkalinity (which are not being measured correctly with strips anyway). No more distilled water either. Distilled water contains nothing but pure H2O- your creatures and your good bacteria need GH (hardness) and alkalinity (KH) to live and thrive. GH and KH are also necessary to keep your ph stable.

Start changing 25% (or 3g) of your tank with temperature matched, properly conditioned tap water once a day. A good water conditioner such as Prime is suggested. Let us know what your parameters for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph read once you have a decent liquid test kit and we can make further suggestions (if necessary). Hopefully, over the course of the next week with daily water changes, your ph, gh and kh levels will start to stabilize back into normal ranges for your tap. No more worrying or trying to alter your tap water's chemistry- it simply is not necessary unless you are keeping very sensitive or difficult fish. Please ask if you have any questions!

 

[Talbott37]

Thanks so much! I've done a three gallon change and I'm getting online now to order the API kit.
This "relaxing" fish tank is a bit more stressful than I expected, but I just adore these little guys.?